I was born the year previous, 1940, and I am 68 at last check - at least until August. I recall seeing Joan Baez at the World's Fair in Seattle, in around 1961. To that time, I had never heard such a pure voice from a folk performer since Ronnie Gilbert of The Weavers. I was a G.I. stationed at Ft. Lewis and spent a lot of weekends at and around the fair and various Seattle folk and jazz venues. A lot of performers gravitated to the area during the fair's run. Some of the natives are still very active in the northwest - Nancy Quense, Don Firth and Bob Nelson, to name three.

I have known a number of female singers who claim to have been influenced, at least initially, by Joan Baez and her approach to the material, as well as her vocal stylings. Along with Bob Dylan, nee Zimmerman, she remains a central figure in the early rise of folk performers in the public consciousness.