Sunday Morning with Joan Baez

When I am looking for music for the Sunday morning posts, I am always looking for a new song or style to deliver the beauty and solemnity of the occasion. So when the name Joan Baez popped into my head, I was stunned I hadn't thought of her before. Aside from being the Queen of Folk for much of her career, the clear and lovely tone of her voice never lost the crisp and precise nature, delivering decade after decade. I will showcase that delicate beauty of her voice in the first clip, when she sings Amazing Grace with Aaron Neville. This was recorded on the Conspiracy of Hope tour in 1986.



Next I will offer up a true classic. In 1963, Joan Baez released a live album, and included on it was a stirring version of The Battle Hymn of the Republic. The song was written in 1861 by Julia Ward Howe using the music from the song John Brown's Body. Baez often sang the song throughout her career, especially in the 1960s while she was going on civil rights marches. Listen to the live performance.



And, finally, how could I not include the great spiritual, Swing Low Sweet Chariot. Again, she often sang it while on civil rights marches, including while she was marching with The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King. The following clip was recorded in 2009, when Baez was 68 years old. As you will hear, time did nothing to diminish her gorgeous voice.



For more about Joan Baez, visit her official website. You can purchase the music from How Sweet The Sound, a movie documenting the life and times of Joan Baez. The music is available on iTunes and Amazon.

Sunday Morning With Johnny Cash

I thought I might included a couple of songs by the great Johnny Cash for the weekly nod to gospel music. While the Man In Black might have been better known for his Country stories, he was certainly no stranger to singing Gospel music. The first clip is God Must Have My Fortune Laid Away, which Johnny recorded in 1962 as part of the Hymns From The Heart album. It was written by Ted Harris.



This is a clip from television, although I do not know much about it. It was recorded in 1962, on the same album as the first song. He certainly does a great job with the traditional standout, Swing Low Sweet Chariot.



And, finally, this is a clip from a 1971 episode of The Johnny Cash Show. Johnny and June Carter Cash are joined by the Carter Family, the Statler Brothers, Carl Perkins and the Tennessee Three on Albert E. Brumley's 1929 favorite, I'll Fly Away. It was originally recorded by Cash on his 1959 release, Hymns By Johnny Cash. It was his first of eleven gospel albums Cash released.



Have a great Sunday.

Sunday Worship - Swing Low Sweet Chariot

Swing Low Sweet Chariot is an old spiritual written by all accounts sometime before 1862. It is considered a 'Negro spiritual,' thought to come out of the slave community and passed along the generations through worship. It was first recorded in 1909 by the Fisk Jubilee Singers. Despite this rather traditional roots of the song, I am offering up a somewhat less traditional version, by the reggae band UB40. In 2003, UB40 recorded Swing Low Sweet Chariot as the official song for the England Rugby Wold Cup. Enjoy.