With
Blessed Are...
,
Joan Baez
found herself with a hit single on the charts. That song, a cover of
Robbie Robertson
's "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," is just one of the many surprises on
. Once again using some of Nashville's finest pickers and songwriters,
Baez
runs the gamut of such influences as
the Beatles
the Rolling Stones
Mickey Newbury
Jesse Winchester
Stevie Wonder
, and, of course, herself, while sounding nothing more than like
always has. Great music, and a lot of it, too, for when it was released on vinyl, it was a double album with a special 7" single included. Altogether, 22 tracks of some of
Joan
's finest. ~ James Chrispell