Joan Baez celebrates 50th anniversary with US shows

Folk singer Joan Baez has started to assemble spring dates for her first US tour since last year.

So far, the trek is scheduled to launch March 21 in Albany, NY, and stick to the East Coast through early April. Details are listed below.

Baez and Boston-area nightclub Passim will celebrate their 50th anniversaries together as the venue hosts the singer/musician/social activist for the March 27 "A Conversation with Joan Baez." The following night, the songstress will play a concert at Harvard University, where Club Passim will present her with a lifetime achievement award.

Earlier this year, The Recording Academy also recognized Baez with the Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award.

The performer, who spent the spring and summer touring Europe, is working on a new album produced by Steve Earle, according to Country Music Television. Her latest studio set, 2003's "Dark Chords on a Big Guitar," marked her first album of new material in six years.

In 2005, Baez released "Bowery Songs," a collection of live recordings from her Nov. 2004 performance at New York City's Bowery Ballroom. That set includes four songs the singer had never recorded before: "Seven Curses" (by Bob Dylan), "Jerusalem" (by Steve Earle), "Finlandia" and "Dink's Song."