Personnel: Joan Baez (vocals, guitar); Fred Hellerman (guitar).

Producer: Maynard Solomon.

Reissue producer: Mark Spector.

Originally released on Vanguard (9078). Includes original liner notes by Maynard Solomon and reissue liner notes by Arthur Levy.

Digitally remastered by Jeff Zaraya.

This is part of Vanguard's Original Master series.

In retrospect, Joan Baez's 1960 debut doesn't sound like the work of a person who would go on to be proclaimed the queen of folk music, but on the other hand, Bob Dylan's first album doesn't sound like he'd be named the king, either. A plainly-produced, live-sounding voice and guitar album--Fred Hellerman plays second guitar on a handful of tracks--featuring a repertoire of traditional folk songs, VOLUME 1 doesn't sound that different from the debuts of Carolyn Hester, Judy Collins or any number of other female folk singers who first gained prominence around this time. (In fact, Baez's less famous sister Mimi Farina clearly has the better voice of the two.) However, VOLUME 1 is a fine example of traditional folk as it was presented in the coffeehouses of Cambridge and Greenwich Village in the late '50s and early '60s.