Joan Baez, Vol. 2 was Baez

Joan Baez

Joan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....

's second album. Released in 1961, the album, like her self-titled 1960 debut album, featured mostly traditional songs. The bluegrass band The Greenbriar Boys

The Greenbriar Boys

The Greenbriar Boys were a seminal northern bluegrass music group who first got together in jam sessions in New York's Washington Square Park. Along with the New Lost City Ramblers, their urban traditional country sound inspired a generation of musicians and fans.-Biography:In 1959,...

 provided backup on two songs. Joan Baez, Vol. 2 peaked at #13 on the Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

 album chart and was nominated for a Grammy for "Best Contemporary Folk Performance".

The Vanguard reissue contains three unreleased tracks, "I Once Loved A Boy", "Poor Boy", and "Longest Train I Ever Saw".

Reception

In his Allmusic review, music critic Matt Fink wrote the album "The material chosen is truly exceptional... Without a doubt, Baez's version of "Pal of Mine" is every bit as vibrant as when the Carters recorded it, though here given a more bluegrass sound by the banjo and backup vocal accompaniment of the Greenbriar Boys. Baez is a true master of her craft, and though she hasn't always made the best choices for material, the 14 interpretations here are as timeless as the songs themselves... this is an album that all fans of traditional folk music should seek out."

Track listing

All songs are traditional arranged Joan Baez

Joan Baez

Joan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....

 except where noted.

1. "Wagoner's Lad" (Traditional, arranged Anonymous) – 2:14
2. "The Trees They Do Grow High" (Traditional, arranged Anonymous) – 2:59
3. "Lily of the West
   Lily of the West
   "Lily of the West" is a traditional American folk song about a man who travels to Louisville and falls in love with a woman named Mary, or Flora, the eponymous Lily of the West. He catches Mary being unfaithful to him, and, in a fit of rage, stabs the man she is with, and is subsequently imprisoned...
   
   " – 3:21
4. "Silkie" (Child
   Child Ballads
   The Child Ballads are a collection of 305 ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, collected by Francis James Child in the late nineteenth century...
   
    No. 113) – 4:01
5. "Engine 143" – 3:32
6. "Once I Knew a Pretty Girl" – 2:56
7. "Lonesome Road" – 2:23
8. "Banks of the Ohio
   Banks of the Ohio
   "Banks of the Ohio" is a 19th century murder ballad, written by unknown authors, in which "Willie" invites his young lover for a walk during which she rejects his marriage proposal. Once they are alone on the river bank, he murders the young woman....
   
   " – 3:09
9. "Pal of Mine" – 2:50
10. "Barbara Allen" (Child
    Child Ballads
    The Child Ballads are a collection of 305 ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, collected by Francis James Child in the late nineteenth century...
    
     No. 84) – 4:17
11. "The Cherry Tree Carol" (Child
    Child Ballads
    The Child Ballads are a collection of 305 ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, collected by Francis James Child in the late nineteenth century...
    
     No. 54) – 3:30
12. "Old Blue
    Old Blue (song)
    "Old Blue" is an old folk song, believed to have originated from the minstrel shows of the late 19th century. A 1928 version by Jim Jackson, entitled "Old Dog Blue", appears on the Anthology of American Folk Music album...
    
    " – 2:36
13. "Railroad Boy" – 2:31
14. "Plaisir d'Amour
    Plaisir d'Amour
    "Plaisir d'amour" is a classical French love song written in 1780 by Jean Paul Égide Martini . Hector Berlioz arranged it for orchestra...
    
    " ("The Joys of Love") (Jean Paul Egide Martini
    Jean Paul Egide Martini
    Jean Paul Egide Martini, was a composer of classical music. Sometimes known as Martini Il Tedesco, he is best known today for the vocal romance "Plaisir d'Amour," on which the 1961 Elvis Presley standard "Can't Help Falling in Love" is based...
    
    alias Martini il Tedesco) – 3:11

Reissue bonus tracks

1. "I Once Loved A Boy" – 2:39
2. "Poor Boy" – 2:55
3. "Longest Train I Ever Saw" – 3:15