Joan Baez & Earl Scruggs -- A Beautiful Time Together

[BlackBearTexas]

This is awesome!

[pavelham]

Fell in love with her during The Free Speech Movement at Berkeley 1964 where she performed on the steps of Sproule Hall.

[porkinwitz]

Thank you for posting all these clips.

A person can't go wrong listening to Earl Scruggs and whoever he happens to be playing with.

[manso006]

Sorry, I accidently disliked the video! I tried to change it.

My favorite duet of the documentry. Trying to play this tune on my banjo.

[MrRonnieG]

@allinaday ~ Believe me, the pleasure is all mine. I marched with Joan in Santa Monica, California in 1968 against the war in Vietnam and had the opportunity to see her in concert in the Fall of 1971 in Long Beach, California. I remember, well, when her husband was jailed (anti-war). Joan Baez has been my hero for all these many years because of her belief that personal committment and sacrifice are necessary in the noble struggle for peace and civil rights. What year was this made, please?

[allinaday]

@MrRonnieG i believe that I shot it in 1971 or 1972.

David Hoffman - filmmaker

[MrRonnieG]

I keep coming back to this VID and magical is the only word I can come up with. Cudos to Earl's son (Randy) at about 3:00 when even Joan is moved by his special gutiar picking and (dad) Earl has this big grin because he knows that Joan realizes how unique & special this musical "moment" is. This is really really special.

[allinaday]

@MrRonnieG Thank you for your comment. When I was filming this, I knew right away that the moment was indeed special. Beautiful. Joan's husband was in prison as a draft protester. Randy was and still is a magnificently unique flat picking guitar player. Earl was courageous and gentle and kind. And Joan's home was a beautiful hideaway in the hills near Palo Alto. What a moment it was.

David Hoffman–filmmaker

[MrRonnieG]

There are 2 people who don't like this? That is almost impossible for me to believe. I mean, seriously, you have the world's greatest picking banjo player EVER and the voice of Joan Baez, perhaps the most beauitful voice in all of folk music. This is just magical, so much fun to listen to ~ over and over and over. :)

[PercivalGull]

This is a wonderful part of a great documentary. The Byrds feature also.

[oracleofottawa]

Nothing like living room music with the dog and the young'ins....

[eggnogfrog]

This is beautiful, I can't stop listening to it.

[DLJGREER]

Joan Baez lived ! I have the greatest respect for her! And Earl Scruggs what a great banjo...no comparison, even those whom you might compare to him, learned from him (like Charlie Daniels).

[greanteawoman]

@coolkitty271 That is Earl's son Randy playing guitar, not Dylan. Randy is a great musician as well as a fantastic producer. Thanks for this great footage!

[allinaday]

@greanteawoman You for your response. I found and still find Randy Scruggs a magnificent musician and I'm sure he is a fine producer.. David Hoffman–filmmaker

[blueridger28]

@greanteawoman and thats earls son on the bass

[coolkitty271]

is that bob dylan playing the guitar next to her?

[MrStarbucks10001]

Thank you very much for sharing this video with us. I was looking for an earlier live videos of Joan Baez. This is so rare!

[ahsall10002]

Wow, this is really good:)

[ZZZZAS]

Joan Baez, I think that you are Bob Dylan's Twin Soul....he may have made an ego based mistake...I'll bet you know that to be true and I'll bet he does too....

[Fluticus]

I love this version. Just fantastic. Thank you.

[WendyLynnMartin]

There is just something about Earl Scruggs that sends me to the moon....and of course Joan Baez is a gift from God. Bless them all, thank you so much for filming and recording this session. What a beautiful house too. Almost like a church, it has that feeling. Talk about love, I would fall in love with Earl Scruggs on first meeting.

[a46474647]

Bet Randy fell in love with her that day!  I know I would have...

[allinaday]

@a46474647 Thank you for your comment. In fact, we were an all-male crew and we all fell in love with Joan. She was fantastic. To be in her presence and hear her just singing to herself in front of her mirror was unbelievably thrilling and appealing.

David Hoffman - filmmaker

[TheEarldog]

@a46474647 I got this on LP when it came out,and had to play that on the banjo,and its still one of my fave.albums.

[xXkingPurpXx]

rhandy is such a ghetto noob wit dat jerry curl. he grew up around where i did though so ya gotta represent. r.i.p jimi hendrix

[stevep0508]

Dear David,

Apologies, I tried to post the weblink in the reply to you, but I kept on getting error messages.

The site where I saw the reviews was A****n.co.uk

Thanks & Regards

Steve

[allinaday]

@stevep0508 can you send it to my email at allinaday At ail.com. sorry but youtube does not allow me to post urls

[allinaday]

@stevep0508 should be aol.com

[stevep0508]

Dear David,

Thanks very much for your very prompt & helpful reply.

Having lookled on a well known website, there does appear to be a DVD, but - rather surprisingly - the reviews I saw were rather lukewarm.

Still worth buying though !

Thanks & Regards

Steve

[allinaday]

@stevep0508 Thank you for your comment. I sell the DVD through my website- thehoffmancollection. I have never seen a lukewarm review. Please send me a hotlink if you have seen one.

David Hoffman -- filmmaker

[stevep0508]

A question primarily for David - which I hope has not been asked before, & then another question which anyone might hopefully be able to help me with !

I think I read somewhere that the child briefly seen in the clip is Gabriel, Joan & David Harris's son. The person holding the baby is Mimi Farina ?

I have the original LP - not easy to find here in the UK - but I don't know if it has been released on CD ?

Great music by the way - this is my favourite track on the album.

[allinaday]

@stevep0508 The baby shown in the film is indeed Gabriel. The person holding Gabriel is not Mimi. I do not know if a CD has been released as I believe that that is controlled by RCA. The filming was done at Joan Baez home in Portola Valley California I believe although I am not sure where I was when I filmed it. We were taken up a mountain near Palo Alto.

David Hoffman -- filmmaker

[Rapappport]

It's wonderful to see the bast banjo and blue grass player/singer ever to move out of his box and play songs with the great folksingers and others. Besides here, if you have any doubts about Baez' playing skills, check out on You Tube "Joan Baez 1975 Diamonds and Rust" live. We all loved her back then.

It's a shame that the Dylan-Scruggs video was deleted, "East Virginia".

Do you know (and we did not at the time) that Baez cud and did sing many songs in fluent Spanish? Thanks, allinaday!

[harleydream]

Wonderful!

[Rapappport]

Baez was the quintessential folk singer, and started it. TY 4 Scrugs backing her up. Even tho' it's a Dylan song, this is the best version ever.

OMG what music with feeling.

[Rapappport]

There is no comparison to this - raw, unscripted and beautiful with great Scruggs & friends backing up.

[Rapappport]

my G_d, what a beautiful woman and singer

[blueridger28]

what a cool vid David thanks for postin. Im drinkin whiskey and beer to this.  Do u think thats a good idea?

[hardkace42]

joan baez the most lovely

[fritigoerd]

Damn you !!! you just brought tears to my eyes , beauty full , you made me miss my old man ....

[Kibalover1992]

Wow...just...wow.

[Marleyites]

I love Randy Scruggs, and of course all the rest there too. But he's such a great talent on so many levels. Who filmed this ... and so many other great bluegrass clips - David Hoffman? Good job. Great. Excellent.

[allinaday]

@Marleyites Thank you. Indeed I am the director and the cameraman.

David Hoffman -- filmmaker

[blueridger28]

Drinkin Anceint Age whiskey and listening to this buetiful song thanks

[MissLolaElle]

That was great! Folk music is great!

[TheHoverman]

What great sounding music by the Scruggs and Joan,that sure is some jam session, thank you David Hoffman for putting that on film

[TigerLoewi]

Truly a piece of history caught on film. Thanks so much. Joan's voice can take me back to 1960 and the almost painful purity that captured my attention on the Veritas album Folksingers 'Round Harvard Square and continues to captivate it. Please, who is the third and excellent guitarist? I'll go to sleep with a wonderful 67th birthday present and maybe I'll dream.

[allinaday]

Tigerloewi - the group is Joan, Earl, Earl's sons, Randy Scruggs, great flat picking guitars, and Gary Scruggs, an up-and-coming singer at the time.

David Hoffman - filmmaker

[awsariti]

@TigerLoewi From the same era, I remember a PBS program about 1962. Against a black background, sitting on a stool, Joan would sing a song. Then, on his own stool, Lightnin' Hopkins would play one of his. Talk about Purity being juxtaposed to Purity of a different sort. I have searched in vain for a YouTube version...but it now only exists in my mind.

[hereyesclose]

@TigerLoewi somebody else remembers Folksingers round Harvard Square. That had Jackie Washington too, whom I adore. Veritas? Wasn't it Vanguard?

[colindominy]

In her own way .. and in her own genre of music-making .. the brilliant Joan Baez has probably the sweetest, strongest, purest & perfect multi-scale female singing voice that I think I've ever heard. The same can be said for the peerless Brian Wilson's god-given 1960s falsetto singing voice. They both make it seem so damn easy .. when it's not in fact easy at all (always the mark of an elite artist). This footage of Earl & Joan together is so precious that it's hard to put a price on it.

[allinaday]

I completely agree with your comment and thank you for the insights. I was the cameraman and director and remember feeling at the time that I was recording musical history with two beautiful people inside and out.

David Hoffman -- filmmaker

[GaelicPrince1]

I can listen to her sing for the simple, incredible purity of her voice. Almost don't need words! After fifty some years and still true!

[Rapappport]

@colindominy Baez has that perfect pitch and was gutsy in starting the folk music national movement, followed up with/by Bob Dylan, probably the best lyrics creator and guitar/harmonica artist ever. Joan introduced Dylan at her live concerts and stayed with him. They were born for each other. They should have gotten married. Dylan wanted to. It was a simple misunderstanding over a phone call that led to their break-up. He asked her to marry him, and she laughed, not at him, but at the idea.

[TedMichaelMorgan]

This is fine ancient wiskey--at its best. Bless them.

[blueridger28]

Im drinki Anceint Age whiskey and listening to this buetiful song. I sure am in sad shape but this song is buetiful.

[joemp1]

wonderful..just magical..

[resot540]

I used to have the album he recorded with this on it. It also had a great version of a Bridge Over Troubled water on it

[HtlSales]

There were many country recording artists in the sixties who felt the same as Joan Baez, politically. Sadly, they weren't allowed to say it for fear of destroying their careers.

[ultrasage]

Joan was certainly a beauty in those days.

[tiooso123]

She's 68 and still beautiful!

[joaniephonie]

There are 2 kinds of people,those who make freedom possible,and those who enjoy it.

[joaniephonie]

Bob Dylan dumped her miserable butt because she never would shave that shrub.Well thats what I heard anyway.

[Cielamouroux]

Such greatness and beauty make it a pleasure to be alive.

[terigower]

sharing this today with my friend echo.... just love this from long ago,,,,and still do....keep watching i'll be close by...mary

[krysant50]

It's a wonderful morning to begin it with LADY JOAN and the song i've admired whole of my life here in Poland.

To democratic opposition in '70s and later Solidarity movement in '80s she is Exceptional Persona and we shall never stop thanking Her for being Herself.

krysana

[allinaday]

Thank you for your comment. And the effect that Joan had on you and your people. My wife and I come from Polish ancestry. I believe my mother came from a town called Orinion which may no longer be in Poland. Good luck to you.

David Hoffman -- filmmaker

[krysant50]

David, pls feel frww to email me on any theme u feel fine about to talk with me. i'll send u my personal address.

have many good days my friend!

krysana

[fuddmo]

I loved Joan back "then" and love her now. What a treat to see Earl and Joan together! thanks

[antipitese]

I have this DVD, yet here i am, enjoying this once again- thanks!

[geohabe]

What a fantastic listening experience to hear these two giants of music together!

Thanks for posting.

[deadstrings01]

Sounds fantastic. I am really not that big of a Baez fan but this is wonderful. However...

[dictionar1]

sweet voice that joan. earl hung out with the byrds too. can find it on youtube. the darn hippie!!! LOL

[allinaday]

Yes. Earl did hang out with the Byrds. That Byrds clip is part of the same movie which you can see on my website, thehoffmancollection. What a time.

David Hoffman - filmmaker

[fairgirl7]

thanks guys for sharing this. it's very appreciated.

[ozzyscruggs1]

Earl Scruggs -- bday 1-6-24

Joan Baez -- bday 1-9-41.

[raysgr]

Thanks David, really enjoyed it

[pegcage]

When great musicians make beautiful music together it must be a great bonding experience, a great love experience. Like making love with someone you love a lot, I guess.

[allinaday]

Thank you for your comment. I feel that the music is spectacular and viewers can feel the excitement between Earl and Joan. They really admired each other

[allinaday]

Thank you. The film continues to touch the hearts and souls of viewers.  That is very satisfying to me as the filmmaker. And I know it would be to Earl Scruggs and his family as well

David Hoffman

[KristinAnderson]

I first saw this on a DVD that came along with an Earl Scruggs CD....I was touched by the "personal" aspect, like I was sitting right there, in the room with these artists, sharing in the beauty of this impromtu "concert". Thankyou for sharing this w/the rest of us.... God Bless you.

[allinaday]

There was never a grand piano. Two guitars, one banjo, and no mandolin. Gary Scruggs backed up on bass guitar. When they did the first LP from the movie they may have added instruments but my film is the original with noithing added.

David Hoffman

Filmmaker

[waddleduckie1]

Please tell me about the original version when Joan Baez sings to a grand piano, two guitar, one banjo. a mandolin or was another form of instrument that can be played on the lap? If so what was the instrument I just heard?. When was it first recorded? Please help me!

[adadses]

thanxs bob dylan for writing the song!

[adadses]

Awesome! This is what musics all about. sitting around playing, drinking (maybe, even smoking?) and singing to the early morn!

[allinaday]

thank you. I feel that way as well. There are many films of Joan Baez but the reality documentary nature of the mine presents her angelic voice and face nad expresses how she felt that at that moment. What an extraordinary woman.

David Hoffman

filmmaker

[Ampelos69]

I lived in Palo Alto at that time and met her several on several occasions -- and she really was angelic.

[Ampelos69]

So wonderful -- that angelic voice and face, that profound poem set to ecstatic music! Thank you.

[toez2001]

This is a real gem

[azzurres1]

absolutly impressiv..

wonderfull scene and music!

thanks a lot !!

[allinaday]

Thank you from the filmmaker. I was the cameraman and it was a challenge with a single camera and a zoom lens to with sensitivity record this spectacular moment in her living room. She was so kind and Earl so respectful.

David Hoffman

thehoffmancollection

[taddyd1]

Thanks. There were 2 more ES/JB collaborations

available: A soundtrack/movie of a concert called Banjoman and an Lp of duets called ES Anniversary(with JB, Buffy Sainte Marie, Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen, Pointer Sisters, Tracy Nelson etc.)

[mthivier]

I remember having those ES albums on vinyl decades ago...I wonder if they've ever been reissued on CD.

[SigugudPui]

Absolutely classic - I love it! Thanks for posting.

-Al

[wthight123]

David....just amazing. I rented this from Netflix when it came out, so I hope you made a few cents off of it. Also, I was wondering, what is Joan's voice like up close and un-miked? It must be incredible. And was she as nice and unpretentious as she seems on this? Thanks.....

[allinaday]

The comments from people like yourself who have seen my film touch me deeply. I never did make the money back on this one although it does sell well on Amazon. Something about Joan and her gentle kindness and Earl with a similar kindness, both performers who didn't really love performing ironically, make this a classic.

David Hoffman

the filmmaker

[evolaine]

god what memories you must have, Joan Baez is a class woman and you beautifully filmed her there... little details and plans show much respect and love...

Urge everyone to buy the "Sing sing" concert DVD from you and watch it with their heart, it's amazing. Historical piece. Respects, all the best to you.

[allinaday]

Thank you for your comments. I do have those memories and I watch these old films of mine frequently. Always a pleasure. And with the help of Amazon, I am finally making money with them as so many people buy them. Your comments matter.

David Hoffman

[allinaday]

You know there was only one cameraman. Me. And I was a musician and a sort of banjo picker and I hit all of the zoom moves right. And the camera was handheld. I must say. Good timing. Good camera work.

David Hoffman

filmmaker

[banjobilly32]

Great vintage footage.

[allinaday]

Thank you. I made this film 37 years ago. What a classic scene. I still remember the wonderful time with Earl and Joan -- with her husband in prison and he attempting to understand "new music." Two decent and kind people.

David Hoffman

filmmaker