Newport Folk Festival, Festival Field, Newport, RI, 7-25-1968 to 7-28-1968, Part 3 - Joan Baez

Next up at the 1968 Newport Folk Festival is folk singer Joan Baez.

In 1968, Joan Baez was a big star. In fact, I was surprised to recently read that the organizers of the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival - basically, the British version of Woodstock, with lots of big name artists - considered her the biggest name draw of the whole festival. And at this time, she would have been considered hip enough to appeal to both the folk and rock crowds at the festival, in part due to her strident anti-Vietnam War protests.

Baez did an all acoustic set. It's the only set from the festival I'm presenting here that has been officially released. It's notable for the cover of "Gentle on My Mind," made famous by Glen Campbell, because Baez otherwise never recorded it.

For two of the songs, she sang duets with her sister, Mimi Farina. Farina was a well known folk singer in her own right, especially as part of the duo of Richard and Mini Farina, but that ended when Richard died in 1966. As far as I know, Farina didn't do a set of her own during the festival.

Many of the sets were plagued by wind noises, and that was the case here. But I used Izotope 10 to "de-wind" some of the files. If any still remain, please let me know and I'll make another effort.

Note that Baez also sang a couple of songs in a very short set at the festival a day later. I'll include those on the next album, to put them in the proper chronological context.

This set is 37 minutes long.

021 talk by Jean Ritchie (Joan Baez)
022 Carry It On (Joan Baez)
023 Gentle on My Mind (Joan Baez)
024 talk (Joan Baez)
025 Maria Dolores (Joan Baez)
026 talk (Joan Baez)
027 Swing Low, Sweet Chariot (Joan Baez)
028 talk (Joan Baez)
029 Legend in My Time (Joan Baez & Mimi Farina)
030 Morning, Morning (Joan Baez & Mimi Farina)
031 Suzanne (Joan Baez)
032 We Want Our Freedom Now (Joan Baez)

https://www.upload.ee/files/17205354/VA-NEWPRTFLKFESTIVL196803JnBaez.zip.html

alternate:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/fP8EZWgT

The cover photo is from this exact concert.

UPDATE: On October 5, 2024, I upgraded the photo with the use of the Krea AI program.