This fourth episode of this season of the VMP Anthology Podcast is devoted to Joan Baez, whose self-titled Vanguard debut is the third album in your VMP Anthology box set devoted to Vanguard and the folk explosion. It’s hard to put into context now, but when Baez hit the folk scene in 1959, she was like a one-woman atom bomb, the biggest star the scene had ever seen, by a considerable margin. Where the Weavers could put a single on the charts on random larks, Baez’s self-titled debut was a chart behemoth, to date still the best selling record in Vanguard history.

To help put Baez in proper context, we talk with Elizabeth Thomson, who in 2020 published The Last Leaf, an extensive biography of Baez that culminates in her final shows before Baez retired. Here, Thomson checks in from her home in London and discusses how Joan became famous, her debut album, her relationship with Bob Dylan and why Thomson wrote her book on Baez.

Listeners can order Joan Baez: The Last Leaf from IPG and get $10 off by either by phone or email using offer code JoanBaez21 by contacting one of the below:

Phone: (800) 888-4741

E-mail: orders@ipgbook.com