Joan Baez for PBS’ American Masters

Features rare performance footage and candid interviews with David Crosby, Bob Dylan, ex-husband David Harris, Reverend Jesse Jackson, Roger McGuinn, and more.

By Blurt Staff

Joan Baez: Sing Me Home will be premiering nationally Wednesday, October 14 at 8 p.m. (ET) on PBS. Part of the network's American Masters series, it's the first comprehensive documentary to chronicle the private life and public career of Baez, examining her history as a recording artist and performer

The film coincides with the DVD/CD release on October 13th on Razor & Tie. This DVD/CD will feature the film with bonus content and an audio CD of music from the film. The audio CD contains rare live performances and studio recordings that span her career.

"From an early age, Joan Baez had the courage of her convictions," says Susan Lacy, series creator and executive producer. "Her artistry and her commitment to human rights make her a musical and political force as relevant today as when she first started."

Following Baez on her 2008/2009 world tour, the filmmakers captured Baez in performance as well as in intimate conversations with individuals whose lives parallel hers.  From a stop in Sarajevo, Bosnia to revisit the scene of Joan's courageous trip to that war-torn city in the middle of the 1993 siege, to Nashville, Tennessee, where she joined Steve Earle to talk about their collaboration on Joan's 2008 Grammy-nominated album Day After Tomorrow, the film allows viewers an unprecedented level of access to Ms. Baez.

Shot in high definition with a natural, filmic look, Joan is also joined on screen by, David Crosby, Bob Dylan, Roger McGuinn and Reverend Jesse Jackson, among others, to illuminate this extraordinary life. Rich historical archival footage - Baez' controversial visit to North Vietnam, where she is seen praying with the residents of Hanoi during the heaviest bombing of the war; Martin Luther King Jr. outside a California prison where he visited Joan to offer his support after she was jailed for staging a protest; Joan at her first Newport Folk Festival  in 1959 and Joan as a teenager performing at the historic Club 47 - is woven into the story so viewers can experience scenes from Joan's life that have never been uncovered.