The Concertgoer Joan Baez

Last Friday night Joan Baez and Eric von Schmidt sang folk songs in Agassiz Theatre, under the aegis of the Harvard Liberal Union. Young Liberals hoping to hear even one "song of social protest" were disappointed, for the program was arranged under the widely-held and peculiar assumption that everything sung by a folk singer (even essentially conservative songs like many of the ones that Miss Baez sings) partake in some way of the yeasty liberal mythos.

In any event, Miss Baez sang with the casual magnificence that is well known to Cambridge audiences. She sings without ever forcing a note, jes' letting that cool voice float out of her slightly open mouth. Although the humorous songs in the Baez canon are superb, the quieter ones are even better, and Mary Hamilton, which Miss Baez sings softly with very little modulation in volume, was clearly the high point of the evening...

Some of the most delightful moments of the evening came in songs which Miss Baez and Mr. von Schmidt sang together. Mr. von Schmidt revealed himself as an adept at the harmonica and both singers played on a cylinder of paper which makes a sound doubtless rarely before heard in the civilized world...