Joan Baez

"I was the right person in the right place at the right time. I could have popped up in the eighties with this voice and nobody would have given it the time of day."

"It was disconcerting after the sixties when everything changed. A lot of what I went through had to do with personal ego. I have heard people lie about it, and I have heard other people be straight about it, but it is ego bashing if you have been a superstar and then you go on an eight-year period when record companies are no longer interested, when you come to terms with yourself and figure out what you do. What do I do with my gift? What's the best way I can use it here and now? How can I cut away all the trash around it?"

Baez signed with A&M Records in May 1972 and recorded the label's first charity single with her "Song of Bangladesh" in 1972. It appeared on her debut album for A&M Come From the Shadows.

In May 1973 her album Where Are You Now, My Son? was released. 

The following year brought the all-Spanish album Gracias a la Vida. For this project, Baez learned to speak Spanish. 

In April 1975 Baez released Diamonds & Rust. This was Baez's first album that did not contain political messages. 

The double live album From Every Stage was recorded during Baez's concerts in July and August 1975. The first album was acoustic and on the second Baez was backed by a band and background vocalists.  It was released in the Spring of 1976.

Joan's final album for A&M Records, Gulf Winds was the first album where she wrote all the songs.

Baez wrote in her memoir, "I made the stupidest 'career move' of my life, leaving A&M...."

OFFICIAL PROMOTION BY A&M RECORDS

Diamonds & Rust New Music On A&M Records
From Every Stage New Music On A&M Records
Gulf Winds New Music On A&M Records
Complete A&M Recordings press release
20th Century Masters press release