JOAN BAEZ DEBUTS MUSIC VIDEO FOR “CIVIL WAR” AT SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE
PART TWO OF VISUAL ALBUM IN COLLABORATION WITH NYC’S TISCH SCHOOL
WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND OUT NOW TO WIDESPREAD ACCLAIM
LAST YEAR OF FORMAL TOURING
The official music video for Joan Baez‘s “Civil War” is premiering today at the Smithsonian Magazine. Watch/share HERE.
In collaboration with New York University‘s Tisch School of the Arts and produced by produced by Rick Litvin (Associate Arts Professor, New York University), the video was created by Deborah Willis, Ph.D. (University Professor and Chair of the Department of Photography & Imaging), who is a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship recipient, a Richard D. Cohen Fellow in African and African American Art, Hutchins Center, Harvard University, a John Simon Guggenheim Fellow, and an Alphonse Fletcher, Jr. Fellow. Willis’ research examines photography’s multifaceted histories, visual culture, the photographic history of Slavery and Emancipation, contemporary women photographers and beauty (full bio).
The music video is the second piece unveiled as part of a visual album of distinctive short films, which will accompany each of the ten songs from Baez’s acclaimed new album, Whistle Down The Wind. The first video in the series, for “The President Sang Amazing Grace,” was animated by Jeff Scher (whose work is in the permanent collection at MoMA and who has created work for HBO, PBS and The New York Times) and already has over 190,000 views. Watch/share HERE.
Out now on Bobolink/Razor & Tie Records (purchase), Whistle Down The Wind is Baez’s first album in ten years and debuted last month at #18 on Billboard‘s Top Current Albums chart and #4 on the Americana/Folk Albums chart—her strongest chart position since 1975’s Diamonds & Rust. The album is also finding success internationally debuting at #47 in the U.K., #36 in France, #6 in Sweden and #8 in Germany. Watch a recent profile on “CBS News Sunday Morning” here. Read a recent interview with the The New York Times here.
Critical acclaim for the new album…
★★★★
“A moving reflection and summation of Baez’s life as a singer, musician and activist.”
“Joan Baez delivers another pearl, 10 deeply felt interpretations about the human condition and the state of the world. Baez’s voice is in fine form and if her range now is, unsurprisingly, more earth angel than angelic, it serves to enhance her expressiveness, the depth of the lyrics and the strength of the melodies.”
“the reigning queen of folk music”
“The strength of the 10-track offering lies in Baez’s tone and interpretation…
Where some tracks are shrouded in despair, Baez’s steady voice keeps the spirit
of the album balanced.”
“This particular batch of folk songs amplifies Baez ever-present gift for interpretation.”
“She chooses songs that convey a sense of ambivalence about our country’s fate, as though she must now work to muster something resembling hope. That struggle is what makes this album so compelling and ultimately so rewarding.”
“She’s at least leaving us with something special to remember her by with Whistle. Produced by Joe Henry, the record features a mix of songs…that look back warmly on the past and graciously on the present.”
“Whistle Down the Wind may be Joan Baez’s best album, for it showcases her way with a song: her emotional engagement with the lyrics, her passionate delivery of the story in the song, her somber or soaring musical setting of the lyrics. There are moments of purity, clarity, and grace on Baez’s album delivered powerfully and poignantly through her vision and her voice.”
In support of the release, Baez will begin a run of North American dates starting on September 11 in Ithaca, NY. The extensive run of shows, following 50 U.K. and European dates, marks Baez’s last year of formal touring and includes stops at the historic Beacon Theatre in New York City and Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. As a special offer to fans purchasing tickets for Baez’s U.S. tour, a CD or digital download of Whistle Down The Wind is included with every ticket purchased. See below for complete tour details.
Recorded over a ten-day period in Los Angeles, Whistle Down The Wind was produced by three-time Grammy Award-winner Joe Henry (Bonnie Raitt, Allen Toussaint and others) and includes songs written by Tom Waits, Anohni, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Josh Ritter and Eliza Gilkyson. Of working with Henry, Baez says, “It was a hunch on both of our parts that we could make an album together. As it turned out it was a no brainer. We both work fast and were musically on the same wavelength. I work best with musicians who are as willing as I am to wing it and he assembled a group of players who did just that. Meaning: invent each song from scratch.”
The new music marks the first release from Baez since 2008’s Grammy-nominated album Day After Tomorrow. Its release, which ignited an extraordinary decade of achievement for Baez, coincided with the 50th anniversary of her legendary 1958 residency at the famed Club 47 in Cambridge. Milestones over the past ten years include:
- 2009: PBS American Masters premiere of her life story, Joan Baez: How Sweet The Sound, which underscored the 50th anniversary of Baez’s debut at the 1959 Newport Folk Festival.
- 2011: Baez’ seminal debut album of 1960 honored by the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences in 2011, which inducted it into the Grammy Hall Of Fame.
- 2015: Library of Congress selects Baez’s debut album to be preserved in the National Recording Registry.
- 2015: Amnesty International bestowed its highest honor on Baez, the Ambassador of Conscience Award, in recognition of her exceptional leadership in the fight for human rights.
- 2016: Baez’s 75th birthday was celebrated at New York’s Beacon Theater in January, where Paul Simon, Jackson Browne, Emmylou Harris and others joined her. The concert premiered on the PBS Great Performances series in May 2017.
- 2017: Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame induction
- 2017: Baez’s first solo exhibition of paintings, entitled “Mischief Makers,” was presented in Mill Valley, CA. The bulk of the exhibit was subsequently purchased by the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria and donated to Sonoma State University, where it will eventually be displayed at an envisioned new social justice learning center on campus.
Baez remains a musical force of incalculable influence. She marched on the front line of the civil rights movement with Martin Luther King, shined a spotlight on the Free Speech Movement, took to the fields with Cesar Chavez, organized resistance to the Vietnam War, inspired Vaclav Havel in his fight for a Czech Republic, saluted the Dixie Chicks for their courage to protest the Iraq war, stood with old friend Nelson Mandela in London’s Hyde Park as the world celebrated his 90th birthday and, most recently, protested the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. To this day, she continues to stand passionately on behalf of causes she embraces.
WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND TRACK LIST
1. Whistle Down The Wind (Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan)
2. Be Of Good Heart (Josh Ritter)
3. Another World (Anohni)
4. Civil War (Joe Henry)
5. The Things That We Are Made Of (Mary Chapin Carpenter)
6. The President Sang Amazing Grace (Zoe Mulford)
7. Last Leaf (Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan)
8. Silver Blade (Josh Ritter)
9. The Great Correction (Eliza Gilkyson)
10. I Wish The Wars Were All Over (Tim Eriksen)
JOAN BAEZ: FARE THEE WELL TOUR 2018
September 11—Ithaca, NY—State Theatre
September 12—New Haven, CT—Shubert Theater
September 14 & 15—Boston, MA—The Wang Theatre
September 17—Montreal, QC—Place Des Arts Maison Symphonique
September 18—Toronto, ON—Roy Thomson Hall
September 21 & 22—New York, NY—Beacon Theatre
September 25—Red Bank, NJ—Count Basie Theatre
September 26—Philadelphia, PA—Verizon Hall @ Kimmel Center for the Performing
September 28—Washington, DC—Warner Theatre
September 29—Durham, NC—Durham Performing Arts Center
September 30—Nashville, TN—Ryman Auditorium
October 2—Ann Arbor, MI—Michigan Theater
October 3—Cleveland, OH—State Theatre
October 5—Chicago, IL—Chicago Theatre
October 6—Minneapolis, MN—State Theatre
October 24—Denver, CO—Paramount Theatre
October 25—Santa Fe, NM—The Lensic Performing Arts Center
October 27—Phoenix, AZ—Celebrity Theatre
October 28—Tucson, AZ—Fox Tucson Theatre
October 30—San Diego, CA—Humphreys Concerts
November 4—Seattle, WA—Benaroya Hall
November 5—Portland, OR—Revolution Hall
November 8—Eureka, CA—Arkely Center for the Performing Arts
November 10—Los Angeles, CA—Royce Hall
November 15—San Francisco, CA—The Masonic
November 17 & 18—Oakland, CA—Fox Theater Oakland
September 12—New Haven, CT—Shubert Theater
September 14 & 15—Boston, MA—The Wang Theatre
September 17—Montreal, QC—Place Des Arts Maison Symphonique
September 18—Toronto, ON—Roy Thomson Hall
September 21 & 22—New York, NY—Beacon Theatre
September 25—Red Bank, NJ—Count Basie Theatre
September 26—Philadelphia, PA—Verizon Hall @ Kimmel Center for the Performing
September 28—Washington, DC—Warner Theatre
September 29—Durham, NC—Durham Performing Arts Center
September 30—Nashville, TN—Ryman Auditorium
October 2—Ann Arbor, MI—Michigan Theater
October 3—Cleveland, OH—State Theatre
October 5—Chicago, IL—Chicago Theatre
October 6—Minneapolis, MN—State Theatre
October 24—Denver, CO—Paramount Theatre
October 25—Santa Fe, NM—The Lensic Performing Arts Center
October 27—Phoenix, AZ—Celebrity Theatre
October 28—Tucson, AZ—Fox Tucson Theatre
October 30—San Diego, CA—Humphreys Concerts
November 4—Seattle, WA—Benaroya Hall
November 5—Portland, OR—Revolution Hall
November 8—Eureka, CA—Arkely Center for the Performing Arts
November 10—Los Angeles, CA—Royce Hall
November 15—San Francisco, CA—The Masonic
November 17 & 18—Oakland, CA—Fox Theater Oakland
