I agree with Eddaytona - my wife and I saw her live last year in San Francisco, and the show was excellent. She was great - better than she's ever been, and the band was great. I went mostly because my wife likes her, and I was expecting to yawn through the old school solo acoustic pieces, but mostly it was uptempo rockin' ensemble stuff. She also has a very good stage presence - and the solo pieces she did were very good. It was one of the better shows I've seen and I would definitely go again tomorrow.
As far as her recorded stuff - there's a lot of it and it's not all superb, "Joan Baez In Concert" is NOT a favorite.
I'd say to get an idea of what people see in her:
Diamonds and Rust on Nautilus is probably the best sonically.
If I had to pick only one that's available on CD, it'd have to be "The First Ten Years" - a compilation of her best (up to 1970).
And if you have a vinyl rig then it's, "GOLDEN HOUR PRESENTS JOAN BAEZ" which was a 1976 compilation issued only in UK (pye Records) I believe - but it's available. Here's the track list from that because it contains what I'd say are many of her "must haves":
It Ain't Me, Babe (B. Dylan)
Black Is The Color (J. J. Niles)
The Last Thing On My Mind (T. Paxton)
Help Me Make It Through The Night (K. Kristofferson)
Farewell, Angelina (B. Dylan)
Bachianas Brasilieras No. 5 Aria (H. Villa-Lobos)
The Lady Came From Baltimore (T. Hardin)
It's All Over Now, Baby Blue (B. Dylan)
Hush Little Baby (traditional)
We Shall Overcome (G. Carawan, Hamilton, Z. Horton, P. Seeger)
There But For Fortune (P. Ochs)
Plaisir D'Amour (traditional)
Babe I'm Gonna Leave You (A. Bredon, Smith)
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down (J. R. Robertson)
Don't Think Twice, It's Alright (B. Dylan)
Long Black Veil (M. Wilkin, D. Dill)
A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall (B. Dylan)
As far as her recorded stuff - there's a lot of it and it's not all superb, "Joan Baez In Concert" is NOT a favorite.
I'd say to get an idea of what people see in her:
Diamonds and Rust on Nautilus is probably the best sonically.
If I had to pick only one that's available on CD, it'd have to be "The First Ten Years" - a compilation of her best (up to 1970).
And if you have a vinyl rig then it's, "GOLDEN HOUR PRESENTS JOAN BAEZ" which was a 1976 compilation issued only in UK (pye Records) I believe - but it's available. Here's the track list from that because it contains what I'd say are many of her "must haves":
It Ain't Me, Babe (B. Dylan)
Black Is The Color (J. J. Niles)
The Last Thing On My Mind (T. Paxton)
Help Me Make It Through The Night (K. Kristofferson)
Farewell, Angelina (B. Dylan)
Bachianas Brasilieras No. 5 Aria (H. Villa-Lobos)
The Lady Came From Baltimore (T. Hardin)
It's All Over Now, Baby Blue (B. Dylan)
Hush Little Baby (traditional)
We Shall Overcome (G. Carawan, Hamilton, Z. Horton, P. Seeger)
There But For Fortune (P. Ochs)
Plaisir D'Amour (traditional)
Babe I'm Gonna Leave You (A. Bredon, Smith)
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down (J. R. Robertson)
Don't Think Twice, It's Alright (B. Dylan)
Long Black Veil (M. Wilkin, D. Dill)
A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall (B. Dylan)