The engaging 2025 documentary Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery recounts that the finale of each day’s concert involved the various artists of the day gathering on stage to sing a familiar tune together. One of these encores happens to be my favorite track by far from the first of Lilith’s live compilation albums, a gorgeous cover of the old folk song “(The) Water Is Wide” performed by Jewel, Sarah McLachlan, and the Indigo Girls.
“Water Is Wide”
Full lyrics:
Another worthy ensemble cover of “The Water Is Wide” is the one by Joan Baez, the Indigo Girls, and Mary Chapin Carpenter that occurred at Baez’s 75th Birthday Celebration. YouTube only has the audio, but PBS offers a shortened video clip on its website.
If you don’t choose to tune in below or at PBS (though you’ll be missing out on greatness), just take a few seconds to hear Baez’s amusing spoken intro.
Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery
Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times, describes the subject of this documentary, named after founder Sarah McLachlan‘s 1997 hit song: “The festival was built around solo artists, female singer-songwriters, who were having a moment; nevertheless, it was a time when promoters wouldn’t even put two women on the same bill and radio stations were loath to play female artists back to back. Lilith, for Adam’s mythological unsubmissive first wife, with Fair standing for equal, beautiful and a celebration, was a wild idea made reality, and one whose success would propel it through three summers, from 1997 to 1999.”
Watch the trailer:
