''Honest Lullaby'' is the nineteenth studio album (and twenty-first overall) by

Joan Baez Joan Chandos Baez (; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing more ...

, released in 1979. It would be her final album on

CBS Records CBS Records may refer to: * CBS Records or CBS/Sony, former name of Sony Music, a global record company * CBS Records International, label for Columbia Records recordings released outside North America from 1962 to 1990 * CBS Records (2006), founde ...

Portrait A portrait is a portrait painting, painting, portrait photography, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, Personality type ...

imprint; it also stood as her last studio album issued in the U.S. until the release of her 1987 album, ''

Recently ''Recently'' may refer to: * ''Recently'' (album), by Joan Baez * ''Recently'' (EP), by Dave Matthews Band {{Disambig ...

''. The autobiographical title song was written for her son, Gabriel Harris, and was performed on ''

The Muppet Show ''The Muppet Show'' is a sketch comedy television series created by Jim Henson and featuring the Muppets. The series originated as two pilot episodes produced by Henson for ABC in 1974 and 1975. While neither episode was moved forward as a ser ...

'' in 1980. In addition to her own compositions, the album contained work by

Janis Ian Janis Ian (born Janis Eddy Fink; April 7, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter who was most commercially successful in the 1960s and 1970s. Her signature songs are the 1966/67 hit " Society's Child (Baby I've Been Thinking)" and the 1975 Top T ...

and

Jackson Browne Clyde Jackson Browne (born October 9, 1948) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and political activist who has sold over 18 million albums in the United States. Emerging as a precocious teenage songwriter in mid-1960s Los Angeles, he h ...

. "Let Your Love Flow" was originally a 1976 hit for

The Bellamy Brothers The Bellamy Brothers are an American pop and country music duo consisting of brothers David Milton Bellamy (born September 16, 1950) and Homer Howard Bellamy (born February 2, 1946), from Dade City, Florida. The duo had considerable musical succ ...

. In her 1987 memoir, ''And a Voice to Sing With'', Baez speculated that she was likely dropped from CBS due to a political disagreement she'd had with the label's then-president. Baez dedicated the album to the memory of journalist

John L. Wasserman John L. Wasserman (August 13, 1938 – February 25, 1979) was an American entertainment critic for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1964 until the time of his death in 1979. Known more for humor and originality than in-depth analysis, he's best k ...

. (Wasserman, who had died the previous February, had written the liner notes to Baez's 1977 compilation, '' The Best of Joan C. Baez''). Cover photos were taken by famed photographer

Yousuf Karsh Yousuf Karsh, FRPS (December 23, 1908 – July 13, 2002) was a Canadian-Armenian photographer known for his portraits of notable individuals. He has been described as one of the greatest portrait photographers of the 20th century. An Armenian ...

Track listing

Let Your Love Flow "Let Your Love Flow" is the debut single by country music duo the Bellamy Brothers, recorded in the autumn of 1975 and released in January 1976. The song was written by Larry E. Williams and produced by Phil Gernhard and Tony Scotti. It became an i ...

" (Larry E. Williams) #"

No Woman No Cry "No Woman, No Cry" is a reggae song by Bob Marley and the Wailers. The song was recorded in 1974 and released on the studio album ''Natty Dread''. The live recording of this song from the 1975 album '' Live!'' was released as a single and i ...

" (

Vincent Ford Vincent Ford (c. 1940 – 28 December 2008), known as "Tata" or "Tartar", was a Jamaican songwriter best known for receiving writing credit for "No Woman, No Cry", the reggae song made famous by Bob Marley & The Wailers, as well as three othe ...

) #"Light a Light" (

) #"Song at the End of the Movie" (

Pierce Pettis Pierce Pettis (born April 14, 1954) is an American singer-songwriter from Fort Payne, Alabama. Biography A former staff writer for PolyGram Publishing in Nashville, Pettis' musical career was started in 1979 when Joan Baez covered one of his ...

) #"Before the Deluge" (

) #"Honest Lullaby" (Joan Baez) #"Michael" (Joan Baez) #"For Sasha" (Joan Baez) #" For All We Know" (

Sam M. Lewis Sam M. Lewis (October 25, 1885 – November 22, 1959) was an American singer and lyricist. Career Lewis was born Samuel M. Levine in New York City, United States. He began his music career by singing in cafés throughout New York City, and be ...

J. Fred Coots John Frederick Coots (May 2, 1897 – April 8, 1985) was an American songwriter. He composed over 700 popular songs and over a dozen Broadway shows. In 1934, Coots wrote the melody with his then chief collaborator, lyricist Haven Gillespie, for t ...

) #"Free at Last" (Baez, George Jackson)

Personnel

*Joan Baez - lead vocals,

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

(5-8) *

Larry Byrom Steppenwolf was an American-Canadian rock band that was prominent from 1968 to 1972. The group was formed in late 1967 in Los Angeles by lead singer John Kay, keyboardist Goldy McJohn, and drummer Jerry Edmonton, all formerly of the Canadian b ...

- acoustic guitar (1,3,7) *

Pete Carr Jesse Willard "Pete" Carr (April 22, 1950 – June 27, 2020) was an American guitarist. Carr contributed to successful recordings by Joan Baez, Luther Ingram, Bob Seger, Paul Simon, Willie Nelson, Joe Cocker, Boz Scaggs, The Staple Singers, ...

- acoustic guitar (2,4,5,7),

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

(3) * Jimmy Johnson - electric guitar (1-3, 4) *

Barry Beckett Barry Edward Beckett (February 4, 1943 – June 10, 2009) was an American keyboardist, session musician, record producer, and studio founder. He is best known for his work with David Hood, Jimmy Johnson, and Roger Hawkins, his bandmates in th ...

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

(1-3, 5-7,9,10) * David Hood -

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

(1-7) * Roger Hawkins -

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

(1-3, 5-6) *Hill Abrahams -

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

(4) *James Crozier -

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

(4) *

Charlie McCoy Charles Ray McCoy (born March 28, 1941) is a Grammy-winning American session musician, harmonica player, and multi-instrumentalist. In 2009, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Based in Nashville, McCoy's playing is heard on r ...

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...

(4) *Ava Aldridge - background vocals *George Jackson - background vocals *Lenny LeBlanc - background vocals *

Mac McAnally Lyman Corbitt McAnally Jr. (; born July 15, 1957), known professionally as Mac McAnally, is an American country music singer-songwriter, session musician, and record producer. In his career, he has recorded ten studio albums and eight singles. ...

- background vocals *Cindy Richardson - background vocals *George Soulé - background vocals *Eddie Struzick - background vocals *Marie Tomlinson - background vocals

References

*Baez, Joan. 1987. ''And a Voice to Sing With: A Memoir''. Century Hutchinson, London. {{Authority control 1979 albums Joan Baez albums Albums produced by Barry Beckett Portrait Records albums