Since she began her legendary residency at Boston’s famed Club 47 and made her debut at the 1959 Newport Folk Festival, Joan Baez has been a musical force of nature whose influence is incalculable.

In a career now in its sixth decade, she has marched on the front line of the civil rights movement with Martin Luther King, sung on the first Amnesty International tour and stood alongside Nelson Mandela when the world celebrated his 90th birthday in London’s Hyde Park.

Her earliest recordings fed a host of traditional ballads into the rock vernacular, before she introduced Bob Dylan to the world in 1963. Her most recent album, 2008’s Day After Tomorrow was produced by Steve Earle and nominated for a Grammy Award.

More recent accolades include the induction of her 1960 debut LP on Vanguard Records by the National Recording Academy into the Grammy® Hall Of Fame and the presentation of its Lifetime Achievement Award.

She was presented with Amnesty International’s inaugural Joan Baez Award for Outstanding Inspirational Service in the Global Fight for Human Rights on their 50th Anniversary in 2012.

The Times calls her “Simply astounding”