Making each song her own

(Globe Staff Photo / Evan Richman)

Joan Baez

Day After Tomorrow (Razor & Tie)

ESSENTIAL "Rose of Sharon"

A half century into her career, folk icon Joan Baez is making a return of sorts - not to vintage material, but to songs that evoke the spirit and message of her defining early work from the 1960s.

Baez has always had a keen ear for quality songwriting (way back when she introduced a kid named Dylan to the world), and for her 24th studio album she's chosen songs by Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Patty Griffin, Eliza Gilkyson, her producer Steve Earle, as well as relative newcomers Diana Jones and Thea Gilmore, that by and large focus on the toll of war and questions of faith.

The tunes here are a diverse bunch. Gilkyson's "Rose of Sharon" evokes an old English folk song, while Griffin's "Mary" is a smart coffeehouse cut and Earle's "Jericho Road," starkly arranged for voices and handclaps, feels like an old spiritual.

But a clearly reverent Earle has created a cohesive collection, suitably measured and stately. And with help from an assemblage of top-shelf acoustic players like Tim O'Brien, Darrell Scott, and Viktor Krauss, Earle's organic settings provide some of the warmth with which the singer is not generously endowed.

Still, it's the woman at the microphone who turns everything she touches into a Joan Baez song. A fistful of high notes have been shaved off the top of her legendary soprano, and a tone that was once smooth and ringing is now rougher and more textured. To these ears, that's good news. Baez has never sounded wiser, or more deeply human. [Joan Anderman]

Joan Baez plays at the Berklee Performance Center Nov. 1-2.