Joan Baez (Broken Record Live)

Broken Record with Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam and Justin Richmond

Pushkin Industries

Music, Society & Culture

4.5 • 4.2K Ratings

🗓️ 15 August 2023

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Of all the groundbreaking musicians to come out of the ‘60s, few were as engaged socially and politically as Joan Baez. A lifelong proponent of non-violent activism, Joan marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and has continued to advocate for non-violent, civil disobedience ever since.

With the release of her debut album in 1960, Joan Baez became the preeminent female folkie. With just her exquisite soprano and her guitar, she reworked classic American folk songs and eventually wrote songs that helped fuel her activism. By the time she helped launch Bob Dylan’s career by inviting him on stage with her in the early ‘60s, Joan was already an international sensation.

In 2019, after a career that spanned nearly six decades, Joan announced she was no longer performing live. In recent years, she’s turned her creative attention to visual art. Her new book of drawings titled “Am I Pretty When I Fly” features sketches rooted in humor, freedom, and sorrow. But, in classic Joan Baez style, her drawings defy convention—they were all drawn upside down.

On today’s episode you’ll hear a live conversation Justin Richmond had with Joan Baez at the Chicago Humanities Festival in May. Joan spoke about the emotional catharsis she finds in drawing. She also talked about juggling music and activism as a young artist, and what happened when she handed over access to her personal storage unit to a group of documentary filmmakers who are making a movie about her life. And despite giving up live performance, she took a moment to serenade the crowd all with her beloved voice.

You can hear a playlist of some of our favorite Joan Baez songs HERE.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello everyone, Malcolm Gladwell here. Before you hear this episode, I want to let you
0:14.8	know about another podcast that you might be interested in. This season on Revisionist
0:19.8	History, I'm diving into one of the weirdest and most infuriating corners of American
0:25.1	life, guns. Six episodes that will take you all away from the Supreme Court to 17th
0:32.0	century England, to the wilds of Alabama and to the streets of the south side of Chicago.
0:38.3	It's our biggest series yet and one you won't want to miss. You can binge listen to all
0:43.7	six episodes early and add free by subscribing to Pushkin Plus on Apple Podcasts or by visiting
0:50.4	Pushkin.fm slash plus. Or you can listen to the episodes weekly in the Revisionist History
0:57.3	Podcast feed. Of all the groundbreaking musicians to come out of the 60s, few were as engaged
1:06.5	socially and politically as Joan Baez. A lifelong proponent of nonviolent activism, Joan
1:13.0	marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and has continued to advocate for nonviolent
1:18.5	civil disobedience ever since. With the release of her debut album in 1960, Joan Baez became
1:25.7	the preeminent female folkie. With just her exquisite soprano and her guitar, she reworked
1:32.1	classic American folk songs and eventually wrote songs that helped fuel her activism. By
1:38.0	the time she helped launch Bob Dylan's career by inviting him on stage with her in the
1:41.7	early 60s, Joan was already an international sensation.
1:47.0	In 2019, after a career that spanned nearly six decades, Joan announced she was no longer
1:52.4	performing live. In recent years, she's turned her creative attention to visual art. Her
1:58.6	new book of drawings titled Am I Pretty When I Fly features sketches rooted in humor,
2:04.3	freedom and sorrow. But in classic Joan Baez style, of course, her drawings defy convention.
2:11.3	They were all drawn upside down. On today's episode, you'll hear a live conversation I
2:16.5	had with Joan Baez at the Chicago Humanities Festival in May. Joan spoke about the emotional
	...

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