Grammy-winning American folk singer, songwriter, musician and activist Joan Baez will perform Saturday, March 19, at the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center.
Baez is arguably the world’s most famous female folk singer, known and lauded for her distinctive, sweeping soprano and her accomplished interpretive skills. Her contemporary folk music often includes protest or social justice messages. She was among the first artists to cover Bob Dylan’s songs in the early days of the 1960s and helped spread his music to a wider audience. Her first three albums, “Joan Baez,” “Joan Baez Vol. II” and “Joan Baez in Concert,” went “gold” and were on the charts for two years.
Baez performed three songs at the Woodstock Festival in 1969, and often covers and interprets other artists’ songs, including songs by The Band, Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Leonard Cohen, Beatles, Allman Brothers Band, Rolling Stones, Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder and many, many more. Her popular hits have included “Diamonds & Rust,” “There But for Fortune,” “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” “Farewell Angelina,” “Love Is Just a Four-Letter Word,” “Joe Hill,” and “We Shall Overcome.” She is beloved by fans for championing civil and human rights, nonviolence, and the environment.
The show, sponsored by Jemison Investing Co., is set for 8 p.m. in UAB’s Alys Stephens Center, 1200 10th Ave. South. Tickets are $43, $53 and $63. UAB students and faculty may purchase $25 tickets; a limited number are available. All members of the UAB family may receive a 20 percent discount on single tickets. Call 205-975-2787 or visit www.AlysStephens.org for more details.
On Jan. 27, Baez celebrated her 75th birthday with a concert at New York’s Beacon Theatre. This very special event honored her 55-plus years in music in an intimate, career-spanning live performance with guests David Bromberg, Jackson Browne, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Judy Collins, David Crosby, Emmylou Harris, Indigo Girls, Damien Rice, Paul Simon, Mavis Staples, Nano Stern and Richard Thompson. The concert was recorded and will be produced for television by Thirteen Productions LLC for WNET New York as part of the Great Performances series on PBS. It is set to air in June 2016.