Joan Baez began her illustrious career back in 1958, when at age 17 and still at High School, she cut her first songs in San Francisco for a couple of chancers who would later try to cash in on her sixties success. She was well aware of the re-emergence of interest in folk music, acknowledging Pete Seeger and Odetta as primary influences, and by 1959 she had made enough of a name for herself to get invited to appear at the Newport Folk Festival that year. This brought here into the orbit of Vanguard Records and that became her recording home from 1960 to 1971, issuing a string of albums that raised her quickly to the position of the world's premier female folk singer. As the sixties progressed, and the earlier impact of the folk music revival declined, she began to look towards the world of country music along with many of her contemporaries. It was a time when much new material was being written, and many older country styles were being embraced by young musicians. This twenty-track selection of Joan's country recordings for Vanguard Records reflects this wide spectrum, with four distinct sections identified: Songs Of the South, Love Songs, Roots & Prospects and Old Timey Songs. The latter category draws from traditional sources, but sprinkled around the other sections are plenty of songs from the then new wave of writers like Robbie Robertson of the Band, Kris Kristofferson, Gram Parsons, Mickey Newbury and Jesse Winchester. Although well-known as an interpreter of others' songs, Joan was also a writer, and her song 'Outside The Nashville City Limits' is included here.