Music history is rife with stories of lavish love, spectacular breakups, and impassioned odes to fellow musicians. Love is undoubtedly the most inspirational emotion. At its best, it’s a thrill unlike any other, seemingly endlessly inspiring songwriters. At its worst, sorrow is just as effective a motivator as anything else. However, when it came to Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, their mutual inspiration was vivid, but their relationship status was far from evident.
Baez and Dylan are among music’s most influential duos. They rose to prominence as folk’s new wonder kids in the early 1960s, utilizing their work to raise awareness and address social and political injustices. They spent years touring the festival circuit, singing duets and becoming closer and closer.
But, by the mid-1960s, a schism had split the couple apart. It was never as straightforward as a traditional breakup or heartbreak. Because their relationship was always inextricably intertwined with their music, and they collaborated in life, love, and art, their apparent divorce could never be isolated from their work. For years, if not decades, both sides appeared to address one another through their music.
That would not be the end for them. The Baez and Dylan story is a long one that never appears to finish since they are perpetually in each other’s creative orbit. It would be hard to capture every single incident or milestone, but here is a summary of the complicated story of two folk stars in love.
Meet the Madonna
While Dylan is typically regarded as the ultimate and best folk singer, Joan Baez was there first. Her career began in 1959, when a performance at the Newport Folk Festival startled audiences. People were immediately captivated by Baez’s lovely looks and the gorgeous folky flutter of her voice as she took the stage with Bob Gibson for a duet. It gained her the nickname “the barefoot Madonna,” and she quickly became the new star of the scene.
Then, in 1961, Dylan met Madonna. After her first CDs were a huge hit, she invited a new folk band to open for her on tour. Each night, he did his own performance before joining Baez for a duet of one of their songs. For the first few years, they shared a microphone at festivals all over the world. “I always liked singing and playing with her,” Dylan said. “I thought our voices blended really well; we could sing just about anything and make it make sense.” It has always sounded wonderful to me, and I believe it did the same for her.
Their strong love and affection for one another, as well as their respective music, began then. Joan Baez’s 1962 live CD Joan Baez in Concert has her first recorded cover of a Dylan song. Since the recording of ‘Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright,’ the folk singer has recorded other Dylan covers.
“Joaney was at the forefront of a new dynamic in American music,” Dylan remarked about the musician, “She had a record out that was circulating in the folk circles, I think it was just called Joan Baez and everybody was listening to it, me included, I listened to it a lot.” He continued his admiration, saying, “She had that heart-stopping soprano voice, and I couldn’t get it out of my mind.”