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The Water is Wide and I Can't Cross O'er: Navigating Musical Currents with Joan Baez
Gloeb, Addison W
Gloeb, Addison W
Abstract
Description
Joan Baez occupies a unique place within American popular music. She
epitomizes the resurgent interest in traditional folk music, but also
its conflation with the Civil Rights Movement. Despite the initial
success of this merger, Baez is entombed in the moment and struggles to
move beyond it when hope for social progress wanes. The persona of the
Virgin Mary of folk is always looming. Studying Baez, then, reveals the
socio-cultural forces that help to construct this ultimately restrictive
persona. More than any other figure from the folk revival, examining
Baez provides a better understanding of the limitations of the American
folk revival and the broader musical landscape of the fifties and
sixties. In order to explore her long career, I identify and analyze
three principal moments: one of Baez’s earliest performances in 1958,
two songs performed at the March on Washington in 1963, and a later
concert from 1978. This is a highly interpretative method, but one which
allows me to develop a clear image of Joan Baez as a performer. This
paper offers a new understanding not only of the American folk revival,
but of the artistic consequences of the tumultuous sixties.
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University of Wyoming. Libraries
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Keywords
Joan Baez,Folk music,Popular music,1960s,Civil Rights Movement,Traditional American music