Bob Dylan says he listened to Joan Baez’s self-titled album “a lot” at the time of its release.
The legendary songwriter, who says Baez had a “very unusual” way of playing the guitar, shared his thoughts on her work in the How Sweet the Sound documentary. Dylan and Baez collaborated frequently from the 1960s to the 1980s, with their efforts together now legendary and immortalised by their Newport Folk Festival performances and The Rolling Thunder Revue. One album from Baez appears to have left an impression on Dylan, who said he continually listened to the album like everybody else at the time of its release.
Speaking during an interview for How Sweet the Sound, Dylan confirmed he, like everybody else in the folk circle, was listening to Joan Baez. He said: “Joanie was at the forefront of a new dynamic in American music. She had a record out, circulating among the folk circles, I think it was just called Joan Baez.
“Everybody was listening to it. Me included. I listened to it a lot.” Baez later shared her thoughts on how Dylan’s music changed her life. She said something in her life had been missing, and though she was unsure of what it was, it may have been that music which filled it.
She said: “I was certainly aware something was missing, particularly when I heard what it was. This is the link between me and the world and music and politics and all of it. I heard that music and that made it clear that was the direction to go.” Baez and Dylan would go on to collaborate over the years. They would also write songs relating to one another, most famously with Baez’s Diamonds and Rust track.
Baez had previously written To Bobby but Diamonds and Rust stands out, with her 1987 autobiography using excerpts from the song to explain her relationship with Dylan. She later confirmed he was the inspiration for the song. The “booth in the midwest” mentioned on the song allegedly relates to Dylan calling Baez from a phonebooth to read her the lyrics to Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts.
Later in How Sweet the Sound, Dylan shared his thoughts on being featured in Baez’s songs. He said: “I love that song ‘Diamonds & Rust’. I mean, to be included in something that Joan had written, whew, I mean, to this day it still impresses me.”
