Today, Baez cringes at the thought as she sits in her light-filled kitchen in her house close to Palo Alto, California, which has a view of the Santa Cruz Mountains and a painting of a naked lady above the fireplace. I apologized and said, “Of course, I’ll sign it,” feeling bad. The 76-year-old Baez enjoys playing against the stereotype of the peaceful, overly serious matriarch of folk music.
Why did Joan Baez stop singing?
Nearly 60 years after making her theatrical debut at the 1959 Newport Folk Festival, Joan Baez made it offstage at the Teatro Real in Madrid, Spain, on July 28th, 20219 capping her career as a live artist. The performance marked the end of a farewell tour that had her on the road for the previous 12 months.
She has performed songs from all phases of her career each night, including timeless songs like “Diamonds and Rust,” “Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos),” “No More Auction Block,” and “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.”
Although Baez is unsure if she will record again, she claims that the upkeep required to keep her voice in good condition led her to decide to stop touring after Fare Thee Well comes to an end in May.
