Joan Baez  by Joan Baez

The first album by Joan Baez was simply titled with the name of this great performer and composer of American music. At the age of 19, Joan Baez performs thirteen traditional American songs using her unique voice and acoustic guitar.

Joan Baez, over four nights, performs and records her debut, which was released in October 1960 and immediately made her presence felt. The producer of this historic work was Maynard Solomon. The entire album was recorded in the ballroom of the Manhattan Towers Hotel in New York using only two microphones. One for her voice and one for her acoustic guitar.

This was enough to make Joan Baez a landmark album in American music as it contains performances of songs whose original compositions are lost in the depths of decades. In 2015, the album was inducted into the National Recording Registry, the organization dedicated to preserving recordings that have defined and shaped the American nation.