Joan Baez – Day After Tomorrow

Recorded in Nashville, the 10-track album features an all-acoustic band consisting of Tim O’Brien, Darrell Scott, Viktor Krauss, Kenny Malone and Steve Earle. Earle notes the importance in choosing the lineup of players, explaining the need to find musicians that, “would bring the requisite virtuosity, as well as the appropriate reverence, to a record that would celebrate the 50th year of a remarkable career.” Of the assembled group, Earle says, “Within seconds of the first downbeat it was obvious that we had assembled the right crew. The band dug deep and found the pulse of the song and then Joan breathed life into it, and we all knew that we were a part of something special.” Highlights on the record include the Tom Waits-penned title track “Day After Tomorrow,” the Academy Award and Grammy Award-nominated song “Scarlet Tide,” written by Elvis Costello and T-Bone Burnett and “God is God,” one of three songs Steve Earle wrote especially for the project. Of the selected material, Baez notes, “It’s been a long time since I’ve had an entire album of songs that speak to the essence of who I am in the same way as the songs that have been the enduring backbone of my repertoire for the past 50 years.” Tracks: God Is God / Rose Of Sharon / Scarlet Tide / Day After Tomorrow / Henry Russell’s Last Words / I Am A Wanderer / Mary / Requiem / The Lower Road / Jericho Road.