The congregation of the church of St. Joan of Folk Music was treated to a generous, spirited 95-minute performance by Joan Baez on Thursday at the State Theatre. She was talkative, gracious, funny and in a good mood and pretty good voice (she doesn’t have the crystalline high notes much anymore but her mid-range is very appealing and effective).

Baez offered a few songs from her excellent new CD “Day After Tomorrow,” produced by Steve Earle (”Rose of Sharon” was wonderfully old and fresh). But mostly she did songs identified with her 50-year career, from “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” to “Jerusalem,” which was poignant and powerful.

She was playful and tolerant of people who kept shouting out song requests.  Truth be told, she was in great spirits, often cracking wise. She ended “Diamond and Rust” by saying “I’ll take the Grammy.” She sang a verse of “Love Is a Four-Letter Word” in perfect Bob Dylan voice and announced afterward, “[Imitating him] is a lot easier than touring with him.”

It seemed as if the election of Barack Obama liberated Baez’s spirits. She told a story about being with her band in an Alexandria, Va., hotel on election night. The hotel had a jungle theme, complete with animal-print bathrobes for guests. Baez and her band, wearing their robes, decided to take a cab to the White House to join in the celebration. She instructed the cabbie to honk his horn all the way. And when she stood in front of the Presidential place, she said a black woman came up to her and said, “You’re gonna have a black black president in the White House!” Baez then sang Earle’s “Christmas in Washington” about how we need Woody Guthrie more than ever.

“We need you,” a male concertgoer shouted to Baez after the song.

“I’m here,” she said. Indeed.

What did you think of the concert? Please post your comments here:Â

This entry was posted on Friday, November 14th, 2008 at 11:36 am and is filed under Concerts, Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.