The Joan Baez Country Music Album

Combining new songs with previously-released material, 1979's double album THE JOAN BAEZ COUNTRY MUSIC ALBUM is divided into four side-long thematic sections: Songs of the South, Love Songs, Roots and Retrospects, and Old-Timey Songs. The definition of "country music" is rather fluid, stretching to accommodate the folk-rock of the Band's "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" and Jesse Winchester's "Brand New Tennessee Waltz," Delaney and Bonnie's R&B-influenced "Ghetto" and Gram Parson's country-rock classic "Hickory Wind," alongside tunes by Kris Kristofferson and Johnny Cash and a handful of traditional folk tunes. With some songs given full-band electric backup, a handful of acoustic bluegrass tunes and others strictly solo, the performances are as wide-ranging as the repertoire. Not quite so much a true country album as a rather idiosyncratic reinterpretation of country music, THE JOAN BAEZ COUNTRY MUSIC ALBUM is nonetheless an intriguing release.