The earliest recordings of Joan Baez fed a host of traditional ballads into the rock vernacular and she's continued to lend her voice to songwriters of various generations and causes ever since. 1987's Recently was her first release of the 1980s. Here the 'Madonna of Folk' presents sterling interpretations of modern artists like Mark Knopfler, U2, Peter Gabriel and Johnny Clegg.

• Limited Edition
• Analog cut by Kevin Gray
• Mastered at Cohearent Audio
• Cut from the Original Master Tapes
• 180 Gram Audiophile Vinyl
• Pressed at QRP, USA

Joan Baez. A musical force of nature - who unselfconsciously introduced Bob Dylan to the world in 1963, marched on the front lines of the Civil Rights movement with Martin Luther King, Jr., inspired Vaclav Havel to fight for a Czech Republic, and sang on the first Amnesty International tour. She brought the Free Speech Movement into the spotlight at Berkeley, took to the fields with Cesar Chavez, organized resistance to the war in Southeast Asia, then 40 years later saluted the Dixie Chicks for their courage to protest the Iraq war.

Her earliest recordings fed a host of traditional ballads into the rock vernacular and she's continued to lend her voice to songwriters of various generations and causes ever since. 1987's Recently served as both her first release of the 1980s and first in nearly a decade. Here the "Madonna of Folk" offers up sterling interpretations of material by more modern artists like Mark Knopfler, U2, Peter Gabriel and Johnny Clegg to go along with a pair of stunning originals ("Recently," "Jame and the Gang"). Her take on Clegg's "Asimbognagna" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Recording.

"Baez returned to U.S. record shops with a vengeance here, delivering her interpretations of songs by Dire Straits, Johnny Clegg, U2, and Peter Gabriel, performers whose political consciousness had been formed by listening to old Joan Baez albums. And on the title track, a stunning original, she boldly answered ex-husband David Harris' downbeat memoir of the '60s, Dreams Die Hard, as well as other '80s revisionists." - William Ruhlmann, All Music

Track Listing:

Side A
1. Brothers In Arms (Mark Knopfler)
2. Recently (Joan Baez)
3. Asimbonanga (Johnny Clegg)
4. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress (Jimmy Webb)
5. James & The Gang (Joan Baez)

Side B
6. Let Us Break Bread Together/Freedom (traditional)
7. MLK (U2)
8. Do Right Woman, Do Right Man (Penn & Moman)
9. Biko (Peter Gabriel)

Click here to listen to samples on YouTube.com ♫