Joan Baez - Day After Tomorrow

Another ace offering from folk’s favourite songstress

Baez’s first studio recording since 2003’s critically acclaimed Dark Chords On A Big Guitar is, as you might expect, incredibly accomplished. Now 67, her voice has mellowed with age, but the loss of her trademark soprano vibrato has not lessened her emotional impact. In fact, like Johnny Cash on his later recordings, Baez’s more subdued tone lends her performance gravitas.

On Day After Tomorrow Baez lives up to her reputation as a musical curator with compositions from US country singer Diana Jones and UK folk artist Thea Gilmore, as well as three from the album’s producer Steve Earle. The stand-out track, however, is a cover of Tom Waits’ Day After Tomorrow from his 2004 LP Real Gone. Simply orchestrated, with Baez playing guitar, the song has a pared-down elegance, with Waits’ dark lyrics perfectly suiting Baez’s mezzo soprano.

In the 50th year of her career, Baez has made a reflective album littered with religious imagery and biblical allusions. She sings as convincingly as when she intoned “We shall overcome” nearly 50 years ago. With its disparate composers it’s surprising how consistent Day After Tomorrow is. In the words of Steve Earle: “It sounds like Joan Baez.” Lynn Roberts

5 stars 5 stars 5 stars 5 stars 5 stars

Proper | PRPCD 024

Reviewed by Lynn Roberts
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