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IWALKED NEW YORK CITY’S SITE OF RECORDING JOAN BAEZ DEBUT ALBUM Within the confines of the former Manhattan Tower’s ballroom in 1960, a relatively unknown folk singer named Joan Baez recorded her debut album. The album was recorded in three days during which 19 songs were recorded, 13 of which were featured on the album including “House of the Rising Sun.” Baez described the recording session by saying, “We could use the room every day except Tuesday, because they played Bingo there on Tuesdays. It was just me on this filthy rug. There were two microphones, one for voice and one for guitar.” That other microphoned guitar on the session actually belonged to Fred Hellerman of the Weavers. Baez got her musical start by playing in coffee shops in Cambridge, MA near Harvard University. Her big break came when she performed at the 1959 Newport Folk Festival—the same show where Bob Dylan “plugged in” for the first time. Baez’s first album recorded within the Manhattan Tower’s ballroom did eventually go gold, however, it was not until the after the release and success of her 2nd album which was cleverly titled, Joan Baez, Vol. 2. Of course, Ms. Baez went on to have a quite successful career and also at one point dated Apple co-founder Steve Jobs for a period from the late 1970s until the early 1980s. To learn more about the Opera Apartments where the album was first recorded, you may visit here. Website: http://2166broadway.com/ Address: 2166 Broadway, New York City, NY Cost: Free. IWalked Audio Tours To See This Site: New York City’s Upper West Side. (Purchase/download the MP3 tour here. iPhone application tour is available here. Please note, all NYC tours are now available as in-app purchases upon download of our FREE NYC Lite application, which includes a free 1.5 hour tour of a portion of the Upper West Side.)

IWALKED NEW YORK CITY’S SITE OF RECORDING JOAN BAEZ DEBUT ALBUM

Within the confines of the former Manhattan Tower’s ballroom in 1960, a relatively unknown folk singer named Joan Baez recorded her debut album. The album was recorded in three days during which 19 songs were recorded, 13 of which were featured on the album including “House of the Rising Sun.”

Baez described the recording session by saying, “We could use the room every day except Tuesday, because they played Bingo there on Tuesdays. It was just me on this filthy rug. There were two microphones, one for voice and one for guitar.” That other microphoned guitar on the session actually belonged to Fred Hellerman of the Weavers.

Baez got her musical start by playing in coffee shops in Cambridge, MA near Harvard University. Her big break came when she performed at the 1959 Newport Folk Festival—the same show where Bob Dylan “plugged in” for the first time.

Baez’s first album recorded within the Manhattan Tower’s ballroom did eventually go gold, however, it was not until the after the release and success of her 2nd album which was cleverly titled, Joan Baez, Vol. 2.

Of course, Ms. Baez went on to have a quite successful career and also at one point dated Apple co-founder Steve Jobs for a period from the late 1970s until the early 1980s.

To learn more about the Opera Apartments where the album was first recorded, you may visit here.

Website: http://2166broadway.com/

Address: 2166 Broadway, New York City, NY

Cost: Free.

IWalked Audio Tours To See This Site: New York City’s Upper West Side. (Purchase/download the MP3 tour here. iPhone application tour is available here. Please note, all NYC tours are now available as in-app purchases upon download of our FREE NYC Lite application, which includes a free 1.5 hour tour of a portion of the Upper West Side.)