David's Album (Bonus Track Version)

Joan Baez headed to Nashville in the fall of 1968 to record with some of the city's biggest names in studio talent, and she completed two albums. The first was Any Day Now, a double album of Bob Dylan songs, and the second was David's Album, her gift to her draft-resister husband who was about to be imprisoned for three years for refusing induction. Though there's an obvious political message here, it isn't easily traceable; most of the songs play as Baez singing country music. Traditional material like "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" and "Just a Closer Walk with Thee" add a touch of spiritualism, while "Green Green Grass of Home" aches with a touch of sorrow for David. Baez finds a deep connection in classic songs such as "The Tramp on the Street" and "Poor Wayfaring Stranger," where the characters are as distressed as any in a Woody Guthrie song. The album's centerpieces, however, are versions of Darryl Skrabak's "Glad Bluebird of Happiness" and Gram Parsons' "Hickory Wind." This reissue includes a duet with Baez's sister Mimi Farina on "How Can I Miss You" and a cover of Tom Paxton's "The Last Thing on My Mind."