Personnel: Joan Baez (vocals); Stephen Stills, Grady Martin, Ken Buttrey, Norbert Putnam, Junior Huskey, Hargus Robbins, Pete Drake, Hal Rugg, Pete Wade, Tommy Jackson, Buddy Spicher, Harold Bradley, Jerry Reed, Jerry Kennedy, Bill Purcell, David Briggs, Fred Carter, John Gimble.
Originally released in 1968, ANY DAY NOW: SONGS OF BOB DYLAN finds Joan Baez in a Nashville studio cutting country-inflected renditions of 16 Dylan favorites, backed by Pete Drake, David Briggs, Norbert Putnam, Jerry Reed, Stephen Stills, and others. Foreshadowing the country direction of Dylan's forthcoming NASHVILLE SKYLINE and reflecting the rootsy sound of the Band's recent MUSIC FROM BIG PINK, ANY DAY NOW shows that once again, Baez was in the right place at the right time in terms of the musical zeitgeist.
But where the Nashville cats on 1971's BLESSED ARE occasionally came close to overpowering Baez, the singer is more firmly in control on this earlier album, as witnessed by a remarkable a cappella reading of "Tears of Rage." Liberally salted with BASEMENT TAPES-era songs that were at the time otherwise unavailable, including a sly, almost flirty take on "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere," ANY DAY NOW: SONGS OF BOB DYLAN shows Baez not just as an interpreter and a close friend, but a fan.
