and going to jail for her anti-Vietnam draft protests.Īpologizing for dumping her during that infamous 1965 British road trip (all caught on camera in D.A. The normally reticent Dylan refers to Baez as 'Joanie' throughout the film, and generously heaps praise upon her abilities and her commitment to social causes, which included marching for civil rights with Martin Luther King Jr. The film includes numerous new interviews with the men in Baez's life, interspersed with archival concert footage and newsreel images of her 51-year career as a performer, pacifist and social activist.

He barely mentioned her in his recent autobiography and made only a cryptic comment in the 2005 Martin Scorsese doc No Direction Home: Bob Dylan.īut honesty and full disclosure is the watchword of Joan Baez: How Sweet the Sound, directed by Mary Wharton. She has long been coy about their relationship, referring to him as her 'special friend.' Dylan has also avoided the topic. The astonishingly candid film pulls back the curtain on a painful chapter of Baez's life that she had long avoided talking about: her split from Dylan in the spring of 1965, during a British tour where he treated her as excess baggage, refusing to allow her onstage with him.īefore that, the two had been inseparable as the king and queen of folk music, and one of the most talked-about young couples of the decade.Īlready a global star, Baez launched Dylan's career after their first meeting in 1961 by inviting him to share her stage and tour with her at every opportunity, often scolding her fans who found his nasal singing a poor complement to her soaring soprano tones.

It was followed by a free mini-concert performance by Baez herself. The occasion, and the source of the confession, was the world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival of Joan Baez: How Sweet the Sound, a PBS documentary set for broadcast next month. 'I was sorry to see our relationship end.' It took 44 years, but Joan Baez finally got a public apology from Bob Dylan for the callous way he treated her when he broke up their 1960s love affair.Īnd it happened, of all places, at Toronto's Yonge-Dundas Square on Friday night.

And a Voice to Sing With by Joan Baez