Q&A; WITH JOAN BAEZ : ‘I Feel Like I’m Having a Second Youth’

In a long and controversial career, singer Joan Baez has been noted as much for her social activism as for her music. So it came as no real surprise when she announced last week her intention to play a series of concerts in war-torn Sarajevo.

Baez, 52, has marched with Martin Luther King, battled the Internal Revenue Service, led anti-war demonstrations internationally, been jailed for civil disobedience and founded the Resource Center for Nonviolence.

As a musician, she was a guiding light of the early-’60s folk movement, performed at Woodstock, and recorded such hits as “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” and “Diamonds and Rust.” And, of course, she had a brief and highly publicized romance with Bob Dylan.

Baez will always be associated with decades past, but she’s also determined not to become strictly yesterday’s news, either musically or as a force for change.

Late last year, Virgin Records released “Play Me Backwards,” her first album of new material for a major label in more than 15 years. On it Baez experiments with contemporary stylings without losing sight of her formidable roots in folk music. Most important, her gorgeous soprano voice sounds untouched by time.

In the midst of a tour supporting the album, Baez announced last week that she would cut short her promotional tour to fly to Sarajevo on Thursday, but her appearance tonight at Theatre East in El Cajon will take place as planned.

During a telephone interview last week with San Diego free-lance writer Buddy Seigal, Baez spoke about her musical comeback and her feelings on the situation in the former Yugoslavia.

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QUESTION: You wrote many of the songs on “Play Me Backwards” in collaboration with others, such as Janis Ian. How did that come about?

ANSWER: This was a grand experiment into unknown territory for me. This was my first attempt at co-writing, along with recruiting songs. It was new for me. My own (songwriting) style has such limitations on it that this was like the reinvention of the wheel. Many people who are only moderately gifted as a songwriter, as I am, need to work with other people sometimes. . . . I’m not trying to be cute or modest, I just don’t think that’s my greatest gift.

Q: Are you happier with the songs you collaborated on?

A: Some of it I like very much, some of it is not exactly earthshaking. This is really a long, slow haul for me in that I was really no longer taken seriously by any major industry people. It’s really courtesy of the Tracy Chapman syndrome that there’s even a format that they will play me. The fact is that when most people hear this album, they are, for the most part, very pleasantly surprised, and some of them are quite shocked. But coming back around was complicated in that I had to come back as me. I had to be comfortable with what I was doing, what I was creating and turning out. One of the most rewarding things was my son (Gabe, 24) going, “Wow, can I have some copies?” He’s always been respectful, but never interested, and this is the first thing I’ve done that’s caught his ear.

Q: In the liner notes for “Play Me Backwards,” you thanked your manager for “insisting that legend is not necessarily a synonym for fossil.” Does being called a legend carry connotations of being put out to pasture?

A: I had to make my mind up on whether to just kind of drift off as a ‘60s legend--which ain’t bad, I’m proud of what I’ve done and the records I’ve made and the activities I’ve been involved in--or whether to get with it and dig into something contemporary. I wanted to be the one making the decisions on whether I retired or not, instead of leaving it up to other forces. Part of that’s ego, and part of it’s like, Jesus, these vocal cords last for just so long. I’ve made some nice records, but nobody’s heard them for the past 10 years.

Q: Is it a more rewarding feeling to make an album for a major label after having had to struggle a bit?

A: It’s very rewarding, and in a sense, we’re still at the beginning of a long journey. Every radio station that accepts a song or two is a major victory.

Q: Which songs have been getting the most airplay?

A: They take liberties and play whatever they want. There was a video made of “Stones in the Road,” and so that’s what’s gotten the big push.

Q: The idea of Joan Baez making a video . . .

A: I know, I know, it’s funny. My friends say, “Oh, that must have been very hard for you.” But I had a wonderful time. I was like an 8-year-old. It’s almost like everything’s happening 20 years late. I’m doing clubs and I love it. I never did them--I started in coffee shops, and then it was time for stadiums and big halls. I feel like I’m having a second youth. I feel very young. Also I’m going to Sarajevo.

Q: What will you do there?

A: If the truce is still on, we’re going to do lots and lots of concerts for people who haven’t had a chance to do anything except get huddled over and run to work.

Q: What do you think U.S. policy should be over there?

A: First of all, I think one really has to talk about more aggressiveness on the part of the U.N. They need to be more aggressive with airlifts. They’re going to have to take risks. That’s really the problem--nobody wants to take any risk over there, (but you) see 4-year-olds having problems getting across the street in Sarajevo. I would begin with that, before you start shooting at anybody. It always seems that the response is nothing, or to start blowing things up. There’s a whole lot to do in the meantime. That’s really why I’m going. I’m going over there with Refugee International, who I worked with back in the Cambodia days. They just spent eight weeks over there, going, “What can we do for the spirits of the people in Bosnia?” Unbelievable people who go on, going to work, dodging bullets, trying to keep their spirits up. They called me, and I said, “Let’s go.”

Q: A lot of artists who came of age in the ‘60s have expressed that as turbulent as the times were then, the world’s a much scarier place today. On the other hand, many have said that they breathed a great sigh of relief at the election of Bill Clinton.

A: Well, I did feel a sigh of relief, and I’m an old cynic. I’ve managed to avoid party politics my whole life, but I felt as if we were taking a giant step out of the Stone Age. It seemed we had (a choice between) a man who was gifted and a man who was a troglodyte. The question (now) is: Are people going to sit around and wait for a miracle to happen, or are they now going to use the power they’ve felt?

* Joan Baez and John Wesley Harding perform tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Theatre East, 210 Main St., El Cajon. $21.50. (619) 440-2277.