Baez's then husband, David Harris, a country music fan, was about to be imprisoned for draft resistance, and she recorded the album as a gift to him.

It was recorded during the same sessions as Baez's previous release of Bob Dylan songs, Any Day Now.

The Vanguard reissue contains two previously unreleased tracks, "How Can I Miss You", a duet with Baez' sister Mimi Fariña, and Tom Paxton's "The Last Thing on My Mind."

In his Allmusic review, music critic Bruce Eder wrote of the album "the singing and playing still hold up.

Baez also sets aside some of her occasional stridency here, in favor of a more relaxed performance that shows her in the most engaging manner of her career... David's Album has transcended its origins in part because of the sheer range of material on it... David Harris is long since out of jail, and he and Baez parted, but it's still an excellent album.