Joan Baez on Her Final Tour & Why American Politics Are 'Darker' Than Ever Before
The excitement surrounding the news that legendary folk singer Joan Baez would be releasing Whistle Down The Wind,
her first new album in nearly decade, was tempered by the other
announcement that came with it: her upcoming tour of Europe and North
America would be her last.
It’s hard to fault the 77-year-old for
the decision. She has spent nearly six decades—from her early days in
the folk music scene in Boston to her recent appearance at Barclays
Center when she was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of
Fame—performing for audiences all over the world. Along the way, she’s
released 30 albums, featuring elegant and dynamic songs like “Diamonds
and Rust” and her Billboard Hot 100 top 10 cover of The Band’s “The
Night They Drove Old Dixie Down." And she’s lent her voice to a number
of important political causes, finding herself on the frontlines of the
civil rights battle in Selma, Alabama, the Occupy Wall Street protests,
and the battle against the Dakota Access Pipeline at the Standing Rock
Sioux Indian Reservation. Baez deserves the chance to rest a while.
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—some written
expressly for Baez and some covers chosen by the artist—that look back
warmly on the past and graciously on the present, as with her cover of
Zoe Mulford’s “The President Sang Amazing Grace,” which reflects on
hearing President Obama singing the spiritual in Selma. Along the way,
she offers up some sharply modern material as well, tackling a couple of
recent Tom Waits songs and a stunningly spare take on “Another World,” a
track originally found on Antony and the Johnsons’ 2009 album The Crying Light.
Billboard
spent some time on the phone with Baez to discuss her new album,
retiring from touring, and the current state of American politics.
As with many of your previous albums, all the songs on Whistle Down The Wind
were written by other artists. How did you choose what to record this
time around? Were you just looking for songs that resonated with you in
some way?
Well, you’re on the right track because, in the
end, it sounds really trite but it is the song that chooses me. It’s a
no brainer, sometimes, like “The President Sang Amazing Grace.” The only
thing we knew when we went into it was we wanted to make basically a
bookend to the first album. That’s the song written for me -- “Silver
Blade,” because that’s an obvious follow up of “Silver Dagger.” And then
they are some where I think, “Oh, this will be perfect,” and I’ll try
it and if it doesn’t become me, then I won’t do it.
How are you trying these songs out? Are you playing them live or just working them out in the studio?
Not
all of them can be transferred to my guitar because I don’t play that
well. I don’t know chords that well. So, for instance, “Civil War.”
Sounds really simple but it’s really complicated. In which case, I’ll
go, “Okay, you guys do it, and I’ll sing.” Most of them I played with a
finger picking thing. I think I play on six of them. There are three or
four where I don’t. I just turn it over to the guys. They’re all
brilliant. I go sit in a corner of the room and they gather around and
play the song. They take it from there.
The one song
choice that really surprised me was your version of Antony and the
Johnsons’ “Another World.” How did that one come into your life?
My assistant comes up with a lot of stuff and I’m wondering if that’s
where it came from. Sometimes I just hear it on my own or in the car. I
can’t exactly track it. But I do know that it speaks to my condition
really more than anything else on there. Because I really am that dark.
The song is as beautiful as it is dark.
Is that primarily
how you hear new music these days, other people presenting them to you
or do you stumble across things on your own?
It’s
stumbling. And then from my manager. He gets piles of stuff and he
listens to everything. If he thinks it has a chance, he’ll listen 50
times before he’ll send it to me. Because he doesn’t want me to waste my
time. My assistant in the office is a big follower of every kind of
music and she sends me some things. Some I just heard on my own, like
“Whistle Down The Wind.” I listen to a lot of Tom Waits’ work and that
one came back immediately. That was the first thing that came when
talking about this album.
How was it for you working with Joe Henry on this album? Was there anything he brought to the sessions that surprised you?
It’s
all kind of a surprise. The musicians are never surprising. Once you
get in a studio—New York, Nashville, Austin, L.A.—you know they’re going
to be the best musicians around. I don’t even look at their names. I
just know they’re going to happen. During that process, we get to know
and like each other. With Joe, it’s really interesting. Joe and I are
not really in a lot of ways on the same wavelength. And it doesn’t
matter. He’s very formal with his little hat and cravat and I’m not. But
musically we were completely tuned in.
Another element of this album that stood out for
me is that it sounded like you’ve embraced the changes happening to
your voice, the imperfections that come out as you sing these songs. Was
that something you did on purpose or was that simply something
unavoidable?
It’s unavoidable. I could have said, “How dare you?” [laughs] No, they’re just there.
Does
the fact that your voice has changed play into the decision to stop
touring or is it just to do with not wanting to deal with the grind of
being on the road?
I think probably both. I have to keep
reminding myself that I am my age because I get on tour and I look at
the schedule and it’s the same one I had 15 or 20 years ago. I went
through a period where I couldn’t do three nights in a row and I saw
this amazing vocal therapist. And now, I can’t do many of them, but I
can do three nights in a row. Yes, I’m sure it’s grueling but it’s also
my life. I figured out how to do it. I get first class treatment
everywhere. I’m sure I couldn’t do it if I couldn’t fly business. If I
didn’t have what I call “the Dolly Parton suite” on the bus, I wouldn’t
be able to do it with much grace. So all of those things count. The
other thing I always think of with that question is that anybody who
does any work, their life is grueling. And it’s fun. That I will miss.
My traveling family.
Looking back, is there an album of yours that you feel didn’t get the attention it deserved?
Honest Lullaby
because I had insulted the head of the record company and we had a
fight about Israel and I said something about occupied territory and
that was the end of the album. It just got buried and didn’t get any
advertising. It’s kind of sad. I didn’t think of it at the time that it
wasn’t a very smart thing to say, whatever it was I said. But I didn’t
realize until way later that that’s what had happened. It just got
pulled off the racks in a way. And it’s a beautiful album.
Having lived through some of the darkest days of American politics, how does the current state of affairs look to you?
Darker
than them all. Back in the ‘60s or ‘70s if someone said this was going
to happen we’d say, “It couldn’t get any worse than it is now.” And, lo
and behold, we’re dealing with an evil empire. It’s evil. I won’t say
so-and-so is evil even if I think they are. It’s what they do that’s
evil and it’s so relentless and so lacking in anything resembling
decency or empathy or compassion or anything to do with anything except
making millions of dollars and passing them on to your kids so your kids
can make millions of dollars. And lying is this amazing part of the
program. They’re ahead in the lying battle. They’ll always win because
they’ve been studying how to do it for the last 40 years.
How
has it been for you to see people who fought alongside you during the
‘60s and ‘70s turn their backs on being politically active and chasing
careers and wealth instead?
There were two nights on TV
where one night I saw George Will and the next night I saw Michael Moore
and they both they said exactly the same thing: If there’s any hope for
this country, it’s coming from the grass roots. And that there is hope
in that because it’s already happening and has happened. I do believe
it’s the only hope. The scale of it is greater than any of us would have
dreamed. It’s all people who never did get off the couch before. A lot
of younger people. Even though I’m a big pessimist, I would rather look
at that than think it’s absolutely hopeless. We really need to live in
denial about 80-85% of our lives because it’s too scary. People who
really do get it about global warming are living in grass huts using
bicycles to make enough electricity to read by. I’m not there yet. Right
there you could say I’m not doing enough.
Are you inspired at least by how politically active and aware so many people have become in the wake of the 2016 election?
I
think we have time for victories but they’re going to be really small
victories in the face of what we’re living through right now. But I
think they’re really, really important. Every 19 year old decides they
want to do something, anything. And I’ve met tons of them. I’m always so
surprised. Obviously it’s the circles I travel in but I’m still
surprised. I’m sure there are an equal number of kids who really don’t
care about anything except getting high and listening to music and
getting laid. But I do see the active kids with a great deal of fervor
and humor. The only thing they’re lacking is an anthem, a fresh anthem.
Josh Ritter might have it. He wrote a song called “I'll Carry the
Flame." So I have to nag him about getting easier words to it. It has an
anthemic chorus. What’s missing is a chorus that everybody can sing.
With
the 2018 elections happening this year, do you have plans to get your
voice heard in support of candidates or causes important to you?
I’m not sure what I’ll do. I’ll do what I feel comfortable doing.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments Are Moderated And Saved