however, had fueled Joni’s song, “Michael From Mountains.” New love was a powerful creative force for Joni and her songwriting, as would be shown time and time again throughout her career. Meanwhile on the club/coffeehouse circuit, Chuck and Joni continued to appear together, honoring their commitments through early 1967. But by that time, their marriage was over. Their last joint appearance came in May 1967. Joni Mitchell then moved to New York City to pursue her dream of becoming a solo artist. She eventually settled in New York’s Chelsea district as her home base. While in New York during the summer of 1967 and performing at the Café Au Go Go she met Steve Katz who played with the house band there, The Blues Project. She had a brief romance with Katz who in turn, introduced her to Roy Blumenfeld, the Blues Project’s drummer. Blumenfeld and Joni then spent a part of the summer of 1967 together until Blumenfeld’s French girlfriend came home from Europe. “I was crazy in love with JoanMitchell,” Roy would tell author Sheila Weller in her 2008 book, Girls Like Us. “The way I felt about her….it scared me…” Joni’s song, “Tin Angel,” using the name of a New York restaurant, is in part about Roy. Roy would later say that Joni Mitchell’s music “was more original than Dylan’s.” Another of Joni’s Blues Project band member friendships turned out to be Al Kooper, the group’s keyboardist, lead singer, and chief composer. Kooper was also a friend of Judy Collins, who would invite Joni to the Newport Folk Festival, in Newport, Rhode Island. The July 1967 program at the Newport Folk Festival then included the likes of Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Tim Hardin, Fred Neil, Odetta, Phil Ochs, Tom Paxton, and others. Joni, after being introduced at the festival by Judy Collins, played a short set that included “Michael From Mountains,” “Chelsea Morning” and “The Circle Game” – a set that stunned the audience, and according to Lachlan MacLearn who was there – prompted “a tumultuous andprolonged standing ovation.” It was also at the Newport Folk Festival that summer that Joni met Judy Collins’ Canadian friend, Leonard Cohen, by then a rising poet and singer. Joni was much taken with the 42 year-old Cohen, and the two began a romance. This affair, like others, is credited with fueling Joni’s “love muse,” helping to inspire her songwriting. Among the Joni Mitchell creations credited in whole or part to her time with Cohen, are said to be: “Rainy Night House,” “The Gallery” and “A Case of You.” As became her practice, Joni wrote snatches of material based on what moved her at the moment, these figuring into songs she might not complete until months or years later. The Cohen affair, in any case, ended within a year or so, after Joni discovered Cohen wasn’t everything she thought he was. Still, Cohen described Joni as “prodigiously gifted,” and a “great painter too.” Through 1967, Joni continued her performances in various U.S. and Canadian venues, among them: The 2ndFret in Philadelphia, Le Hibou Coffee House in Ottawa, The Riverboat in Toronto, The Living End in Detroit, and The Gaslight Café in Coconut Grove, Florida. David Crosby Those who heard Joni Mitchell sing in those early years were typically blown away. David Crosby was one of those smitten by her sound — and her good looks. Crosby himself was already a famous singer-songwriter who had successfully performed with the Byrds (e.g., “Mr.Tambourine Man” 1965, “Turn Turn Turn,” 1965,” Eight Miles High” 1967). He would also soon become a founding member of another folk-rock group, Crosby, Stills & Nash. But it was sometime in late August/early September 1967 when Crosby had his first encounter with Joni Mitchell. By this time, he had left the Byrds over personal differences and had gone to Florida to sort things out. David Crosby, Joni Mitchell, and not shown, Graham Nash, en route to Big Bear Lake, California, February 1969. Photo, Henry Diltz Joni Mitchell and David Crosby, California,City” on Reprise. In terms of the other songs in this album, ‘I Had a King,’ takes it cues from the ending of her first marriage, and is her statement of moving on and becoming independent, with no regrets or blame. “Michael From Mountains’ is about a new-found love, described earlier, a song that some listeners find very moving. ‘Night in the City’ is regarded by many as the best song on the album. In some countries, this song was released as a single with “I Had A King” on the B side, as shown in the French release at left. Joni does the guitar and piano work on this track, along with her great vocal range, and Stephen Stills provides the backing bass guitar. Other songs on the album include: “Marcie,” “Nathan La Franeer,” “Sisotowbell Lane,” “The Dawntreader,” and “The Pirate of Penance.” David Crosby, meanwhile, fared well in the album, as Joni referenced him in some way in at least three of the songs: the first stanza of “Cactus Tree,” a line in “Dawntreader,” and parts of “Songto a Segull.” Following the recording sessions for Song to a Seagull, Joni was on the road for a good part of 1968. In March she was playing Le Hibou in Ottawa. In June she had twelve shows at The Troubadour in Los Angeles, and through early July 1968 she played seventeen dates at The Bitter End in New York. In August she appeared at the Philadelphia Folk Festival. Back at her new home in California’s Laurel Canyon, Joni Mitchell’s personal life was about to take a new turn. Joni Mitchell and Graham Nash. Joni Mitchell and Graham Nash at the Miami Folk Festival, 29 December 1968. Photo, Henry Diltz Joni Mitchell at Laurel Canyon house, 1968. Baron Wolman David Crosby, Stephen Stills & Graham Nash first harmonized together in Laurel Canyon, CA, and as Joni Mictchell recalls, first at her house. “Willy” It was August 1968 when Graham Nash arrived at the house Lookout Mountain Avenue in Laurel Canyon section of Los Angeles. He had just flown in from London and was in the process ofperformances were later featured in the film, Celebration at Big Sur. In late September, Canadian Broadcasting (CBC-TV) aired the earlier performances at the Mariposa Folk Festival (July 25-27) with Joni, Joan Baez, Ian and Sylvia, Doc Watson, and others. Through the last quarter of 1969, there were more performances, among them an October 19th Gala 50th Anniversary Concert at the Pauley Pavilion, at UCLA in Westwood, CA where Joni performed nine songs alone and three with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. On October 27th, 1969 she did a performance at the Rockefeller Chapel, at the University of Chicago. On November 1st it was on to her hometown of Saskatoon, SK where she performed at Centennial Auditorium. More college and university concerts followed in November and December: California State University at Fullerton on November 22nd, where John Fahey opened for her; an afternoon concert at Holy Cross College in Worcester, MA on November 29th; and an evening concert that sameday at Alden Memorial Auditorium at Worcester Polytechnic Institute also in Worcester. 14 Sept 1969: From left, John Sebastian, Graham Nash, Joni Mitchell, David Crosby and Stephen Stills at Big Sur Folk Festival. It appears that Joni and Stills may be having a little “dueling guitars” contest. Photo Robert Altman On December 5th 1969, she performed at Symphony Hall in Boston, and on the following day she did two evening performances at Crouse College Auditorium in Syracuse, NY. Two days later she performed at the University of Hartford in Hartford, CT and on December 10th at Springfield College in Springfield, MA. Over the next four days, December 11th through the 14th, she performed at Brandeis University in Waltham, MA; M.I.T in Cambridge, MA; the Kleinhans Music Hall in Buffalo, NY; and The Masonic Temple Theater in Detroit, Michigan, where she was a surprise guest performer at a CSN&Y concert. By April 1970, Joni Mitchell’s 3rd studio album, Ladies of the Canyon, had beenreleased, and in addition to “Woodstock” it also included “The Circle Game,” and “Big Yellow Taxi,” the latter known for the line, “they paved paradise and put up a parking lot.” The song was written by Mitchell on a trip to Hawaii, seeing the beautiful paradise-like islands, but also, out her hotel window, a huge, never-ending parking lot. An environmental anthem for some, the song also references the — “Hey farmer, farmer, but away that DDT now.” Released as a single, “Big Yellow Taxi” became a Top 20 hit in several countries. Ladies of the Canyon, meanwhile, became quite popular on FM radio, and it sold well over the summer and into the fall, eventually becoming her first gold album, selling more than 500,000 copies. “For Free” Joni Mitchell 1970 I slept last night in a good hotel I went shopping today for jewels The wind rushed around in the dirty town And the children let out from the schools I was standing on a noisy corner Waiting for the walking green Across the street he stoodAnd he played real good On his clarinet for free Now me I play for fortunes And those velvet curtain calls I’ve got a black limousine And two gentlemen Escorting me to the halls And I play if you have the money Or if you’re a friend to me But the one man band By the quick lunch stand He was playing real good for free Nobody stopped to hear him Though he played so sweet and high They knew he had never Been on their T.V. So they passed his music by I meant to go over and ask for a song Maybe put on a harmony I heard his refrain As the signal changed He was playing real good for free Among other songs on the album is one titled “For Free,” the second track, written by Mitchell. It’s a song about a traveling music star in an anonymous city who comes upon a local musician playing a clarinet on a street corner — “for free.” Music Player “For Free” – Joni Mitchell Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version . You alsoneed to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. The song’s narrator – a music star like Mitchell, presumably – comes to this town for a gig. While there, she is out and about walking through town doing some shopping, and in the course of her outing, comes to an intersection with a traffic light – “waiting for the walking green” – where she sees a street musician across the way plying his craft. The scene has her thinking about her own career by comparison – “now me, I play for fortunes, and those velvet curtain calls.” She is also driven to her concerts in a limo and escorted by two gentlemen, bodyguards, no doubt. And if you want to attend one of her shows, it will cost you a fair penny. But the guy playing on the street that day – the one by the quick lunch stand – “he was playing really good for free.” She laments the fact that “nobody stopped to hear him,” and attributes this lack of interest to a fickle public that knew “he had never been on their T.V.,” so they passed his musicby. She had in mind to join him – “maybe put on a harmony.” But the signal changed, and life went on. Still, “he was playing read good for free.” "...He was playing real good for free.." The song is emblematic of Mitchell’s style at the time, likely something she experienced in her travels. It is also a simple story, with a poignant tale, accompanied by a basic piano and Mitchell’s gorgeous voice; a perfect little song and vignette. It’s also shows her good eye for scenes from daily life, and how to find poetry there. In this piece there are touches of jazz in the clarinet playing and arrangement, a harbinger of her emerging interests to come. On YouTube, there is at least one video clip that has Mitchell at the piano performing “For Free” in a televised segment. Other notable songs on Ladies of the Canyon, include: “Circle Game,” “Rainy Night House”, “The Priest”, “Morning Morgantown,” “Conversation,” “Ladies of the Canyon,” “Willy,” “The Arrangement” and “Blue Boy.” Credited on thealbum for helping with the chorus on “The Circle Game” is “The Lookout Mountain United Downstairs Choir,” i.e, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Among reviewers of Ladies of the Canyon in 1970, Robert Christgau of The Village Voice, gave the album a “B+” finding it “superior to her previous work, richer lyrically and more compelling musically.” He called the album’s second half “almost perfect,” noting that its arrangements “are intelligent throughout.” However, he also noted Mitchell’s voice to be weak at times and her wordplay “inconsistent.” Most of her fans, in any case, were glad to have it. 1970: Joni Mitchell with dulcimer and Cary Raditz on the island of Crete. Time Off In early 1970 Joni Mitchell decided to take some time off to travel and to paint, and renew her creative juices. She was feeling isolated, finding that success had a way of cutting her off from the rest of the world. She would perform at a few festivals in the summer of 1970, but did not take on a regular concertschedule. She felt she needed new material. “I need new things to say in order to perform,” she told one reporter. “You just can’t sing the same songs.” She was also still ending her relationship with Graham Nash. On her sojourn that spring, taken in part with a friend named Penelope, Joni traveled throughout Europe, visiting France, Spain, and Greece. On the isle of Crete she took up the dulcimer and while there began writing a series of songs dealing with her adventures. Among these were “Carey” and “California,” the former song about an American guy, Cary Raditz, who she became involved with while on Crete. Later that summer, Joni agreed to perform at the Isle of Wight Festival off England in August 1970 – a giant festival with 250,000 or so attending, some of whom became rowdy and impolite to performers. Joni, for one, was interrupted during her performance by one stage crasher (actually, someone she knew from Crete who was quite out of line), driving her to near tears. Still, shedelivered her performance while asking the audience to be civil toward performers. July 1969: Joni Mitchell and James Taylor at Newport Folk Festival. Oct 29, 1970: James Taylor and Joni Mitchell in London for a BBC radio performance. In 1970, Joni also spent time with James Taylor. She had met him a year or so earlier at the Newport Folk Festival. But during 1970, he was working on a Hollywood film project with the title Two-Lane Blacktop, a road movie also starring The Beach Boys’ Dennis Wilson and Warren Oates. In any case, during this time, as Taylor would later explain in a June 2015 Uncut interview: “Joni Mitchell came along with me [during filming]. We wrote in this camper across the southwest of America and had some of the most outrageous good times. It was really great.” Taylor also noted: “I had played on the album that Joni was making when we met, Blue. I played guitar and backed her up on a few of those songs. It was wonderful working with Joni. We had a great yeartogether, we worked, we traveled.” Mitchell and Taylor were then each writing songs for their respective albums that would appear in 1971 – Mitchell’s Blue and Taylor’s Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon. And each would write songs for and/or about the other: Mitchell for him in “See You Sometime” and “Just Like This Train,” and Taylor for her in “You Can Close Your Eyes.” Although she was not on a hectic touring schedule that latter part of 1970, Joni was still making selected appearances in the U.S. and in Europe. In the fall of 1970, Joni joined actor Dennis Hopper, Michele Phillips of the Mamas & Papas, Micky Newbury and Johnny Cash for a late night of food, fun, and music at a Nashville restaurant after that year’s first taping of The Johnny Cash Show. In London, England in October 1970, she gave a concert of her songs on guitar, piano and dulcimer for the BBC’s “In Concert” series. In Vancouver, British Columbia she, Phil Ochs and James Taylor performed at an October Greenpeacebenefit concert. That month she also joined John Hartford and Pete Seeger for a “folk-rock” TV special in Los Angeles. On October 29, 1970, she and James Taylor appeared together for a BBC radio performance at the Paris Theater, broadcast in late December that year. In early November she appeared during the encore session of a James Taylor concert at Princeton University where she and Taylor sang “You Can Close Your Eyes” together. Cover of Joni Mitchell’s 1971 album, “Blue.” Blue In 1971, Joni Mitchell would record an album that would set her apart from her peers and distinguish her for a major achievement. The album, Blue, covered what some would call her confessional oeuvre, with Joni bearing her soul, wearing her love life on her lyrical sleeve, as it were. Blue was hailed and lauded by critics as well as her musical peers. She had written some of it years earlier, some during her European travels of 1970, and more when she came back home. Blue offered, for the most part, anintimate and painful assortment of her own love and life stories. Stephen Holden, a music critic at the New York Times observed that “Blue just went to a level of psychic pain and honesty that no one else had ever written before, and no one else has written since.” In its lyrics and tone, the album was regarded as inspired, a near masterpiece — albeit depressing and “blue” as its title aptly states. Mitchell would later explain: “At that period of my life, I had no personal defenses. … I felt like I had absolutely no secrets from the world and I couldn’t pretend in my life to be strong. Or to be happy. But the advantage of it in the music was that there were no defenses there either….” Jack Hamilton, commenting on Blue some years later in a retrospective review of Mitchell’s work for The Atlantic magazine, called the album “a 10-song suite that might be the most vivid autopsy of romantic relationships ever put to record.” In fact, Mitchell’s buffeting from the loves of her life onceagain proved the powerful ingredient in her song-making. In its deepest moments, Blue is part Graham Nash, part James Taylor. And as mentioned earlier, even relationships dating to the 1960s, such as that with Leonard Cohen, may have also influenced some of the album’s lyrics. “Blue” From the album, Blue Joni Mitchell 1971 Blue, songs are like tattoos You know I’ve been to sea before Crown and anchor me Or let me sail away Hey Blue, here is a song for you Ink on a pin Underneath the skin An empty space to fill in Well there’re so many sinking now You’ve got to keep thinking You can make it thru these waves Acid, booze, and ass Needles, guns, and grass Lots of laughs, lots of laughs Everybody’s saying that hell’s the hippest way to go Well I don’t think so But I’m gonna take a look around it though Blue I love you Blue, here is a shell for you Inside you’ll hear a sigh A foggy lullaby There is your song from me Graham Nash, writing of Joni and this album in 2012, noted: “Listening toBlue is quite difficult for me personally. It brings back many memories and saddens me greatly. It is, by far, my most favorite solo album, and the thought that I spent much time with this fine woman and genius of a writer is incredible to me. I watched her write some of those songs and I believe that one or two of them were about me, but who really knows?” Prior to the making of Blue, Mitchell had broken up with Nash, and on her travels to Europe had a fling with Cary Riditz on Crete, and then came back to the States where a relationship with James Taylor began. All of that and more figures into the emotional stew at work in this album. Music Player “Blue” – Joni Mitchell Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version . You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. Despite James Taylor’s difficulties with heroin, Mitchell became quite taken with him during their time together and was said to have beendevastated when he broke off the relationship. It was around this time that she began recording Blue. Among the songs on the album believed to be inspired in whole or in part by her involvement with and parting from Taylor are “All I Want” and “Blue,” as well as “This Flight Tonight.” On the song “Blue” – in this instance, Blue being the unnamed subject of the narrator’s plea and love song – there is palpable and powerful emotion. On this song, as well as others on this and previous albums, Mitchell’s performances send out very visceral waves of emotion; feelings unseen of course, but yet somehow moving from voice, piano wire, and guitar string through the air as a kind of empathetic current, deeply penetrating and deeply felt by those who receive it, some brought to tears and/or deep internal feeling as they listen to her songs. Mitchell seems to possess a certain kind of emanating emotional aura that flows out of these performances in a very tangible way. 1971: Joni Mitchell’s“Carey” released as a single with “This Flight Tonight” on the B side. 1971: “California” was the 2nd single from the album Blue, with “A Case of You on the B side. Released in June 1971, Blue was a powerful watershed for Mitchell as well as a critical and commercial success. By September, Blue peaked at No. 15 on the Billboard albums chart, while hitting No. 3 on UK albums chart. In January 2000, the New York Times chose Blue as one of the 25 albums that represented “turning points and pinnacles in 20th-century popular music.” Among the songs on Blue, in order of their appearance are: “All I Want,” “My Old Man,” “Little Green,” “Carey,” and “Blue” on side one, and “California,” “This Flight Tonight,” River,” “A Case of You,” and “The Last Time I Saw Richard” on side two. Reviewing the album in 1971, Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times called it “a marvelously sensitive portrait of love and romance…” He also added that it ran the gamut of emotions – “…There’s happiness in ‘My OldMan,’ tenderness in the poignant ‘Little Green,’ mischievousness in ‘Carey,’ regret in ‘This Flight Tonight,’ longing in ‘River’ and a kind of shattered idealism in ‘The Last Time I Saw Richard.’ “Little Green” – the song available at the top of this story – is autobiographical and dates to 1964 when Mitchell became pregnant by her boyfriend at the time who later left her. Joni had given birth to the child in February 1965, naming her Kelly Dale Anderson, choosing the name after the color, kelly green. The child, initially placed in foster care while Joni struggled as a poor folk singer in Toronto, was later given up for adoption. “I was dirt poor,” she later explained. “An unhappy mother does not raise a happy child. It was difficult parting with the child, but I had to let her go.” Mitchell wrote “Little Green” in 1967. The existence of her daughter was not publicly known until 1993, when a roommate from Mitchell’s art school days in the 1960s sold the story to a tabloid magazine.Kelly’s adoptive parents, David and Ida Gibb, renamed her Kilauren. Joni and her daughter were reunited in 1997 and since then a number of press accounts have appeared about their relationship. Other songs on the album are not sad in the way that “Little Green” is sad, but most are soul-wrenching in other ways. And some, like “California,” describe travels in Europe with a longing to be home. Still, it is the love and loss-of-love songs, such as “River,” that have the deep and abiding power in this album. “River” “River,” the third track on side two of Blue, has become one of Joni Mitchell’s most famous songs. It’s cast in a Christmas setting, believed to be southern California where Mitchell was then living, along La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles. In the song, the narrator is in a painful time, dealing with a recent breakup and not feeling particularly cheery. She longs to escape her emotional difficulties. “I wish I had a river I could skate away on,” she sings, a river so long it“would teach my feet to fly.” In Canada, no doubt, Mitchell – pictured below on her skates – did exactly that on more than a few occasions. But in southern California, no frozen rivers were available to take her away from her sadness. The song’s spare, piano-driven arrangement paints a vivid picture of loss, longing, and some self-blame as well. Joni Mitchell skating on frozen river, 1976. Photo, Joel Bernstein. James Taylor, who had been involved with Mitchell not long before the Blue recording sessions, was quite familiar with “River,” having first heard the song when she played it at her home in Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles. “I’ve known it from the time it was written, and I’ve always loved it,” he told Washington Post reporter J. Freedom du Lac in December 2006. And although “River,” was not intended to be a holiday song, it is now often heard during the holiday season when Christmas music is played. In fact, more than 100 artists have covered the song, including Taylor, who put“River” on his own Christmas album. “River” From the album, Blue Joni Mitchell 1971 It’s coming on Christmas They’re cutting down trees They’re putting up reindeer And singing songs of joy and peace Oh I wish I had a river I could skate away on But it don’t snow here It stays pretty green I’m going to make a lot of money Then I’m going to quit this crazy scene Oh I wish I had a river I could skate away on I wish I had a river so long I would teach my feet to fly I wish I had a river I could skate away on I made my baby cry He tried hard to help me You know, he put me at ease And he loved me so naughty Made me weak in the knees Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on I’m so hard to handle I’m selfish and I’m sad Now I’ve gone and lost the best baby That I ever had I wish I had a river I could skate away on Oh, I wish I had a river so long I would teach my feet to fly I wish I had a river I could skate away on I made my baby say goodbye It’s coming on Christmas They’re cuttingdown trees They’re putting up reindeer And singing songs of joy and peace I wish I had a river I could skate away on Music Player “River” – Joni Mitchell Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version . You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. “Most Christmas songs are light and shallow, but ‘River’ is a sad song,” Taylor explained. “It starts with a description of a commercially produced version of Christmas in Los Angeles . . . then juxtaposes it with this frozen river, which says, ‘Christmas here is bringing me down.’ It only mentions Christmas in the first verse. Then it’s, ‘Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on’ — wanting to fall into this landscape that she remembers.” Taylor also adds: “It’s such a beautiful thing, to turn away from the commercial mayhem that Christmas becomes and just breathe in some pine needles.” But he adds, “It’s a really blue song.” The demise of the personalrelationship is the major point of the song, as Mitchell turns the blame on herself at one point: “I’m so hard to handle / I’m selfish and I’m sad / Now I’ve gone and lost the best baby I’ve ever had.” So she’s thinking maybe she’s made a big mistake here, sending her lover away. And about now, she really needs that river. During his Washington Post interview, Taylor asked rhetorically: “Do I want to know who she made cry, who she made say goodbye?…Well, I haven’t asked her that question. That’s the only mystery in it: Who was it whose heart she broke?… There were a lot of us.” In fact, some believe the song is actually about Graham Nash, as she wrote this particular song in 1969, and sang it publicly in late 1969 as “River/Willy.” “River” is also one of Mitchell’s songs that has received wider exposure through its use in Hollywood films and TV shows. Over the years, the song has been used in televised episodes of: Thirtysomething(1987), The Wonder Years(1988), Ally McBeal(2000),Alias(2002), and ER(2007). It was also used in the films Almost Famous(2000) and Love Actually(2003). In fact, many of Mitchell’s songs have been used in various films, TV programs, and documentaries over the years – garnering at least 85 soundtrack credits to date, according to Imdb.com, the movie data base website. In other cases, her music has made it into the film’s narrative or dialogue as in the 1998 film, You’ve Got Mail, in which there are numerous references to Mitchell’s songs by Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. April 1972: Joni Mitchell with, among others, James Taylor and Paul Simon for benefit concert for Democratic Presidential candidate, Senator George McGovern. Sometime after Blue, Joni Mitchell sold her house in Laurel Canyon, and purchased a piece of property near Half Moon Bay in British Columbia, Canada where she could have privacy and quiet not available to her in Hollywood. In the latter half of 1971 she retreated to this property for a time where she built a small house.When she needed to be in L.A. for recording or other business, she would stay with her agent, David Geffen. By February of 1972, Joni resumed performing, beginning a 13-city North American tour. Jackson Browne, then a rising singer-songwriter, became her opening act for the tour, and the two became involved in what would be something of a stormy relationship. After her North American tour, she began residing at David Geffen’s house in Los Angeles. She would also sometimes travel in Geffen’s social circles. In 1972 she and Geffen attended a fundraiser for Democrat George McGovern’s presidential campaign. There she met Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty, among others. She and Jackson Browne by this time were ending their relationship, and Geffen sought to cheer up his friend and housemate by taking her away from the L.A. scene for a time with a trip to Paris. Joni Mitchell’s “For the Roses” album, produced on the Asylum label and released in November 1972. Joni would later write aboutGeffen and Paris in one of her songs, described below. At this point in her career, her contract with the Reprise record label had ended, and coincidentally, housemate David Geffen was then starting his own recording label, Asylum, which Joni signed on with. Mitchell’s albums following Blue kept her career on an upward trajectory. Her fifth album, For the Roses, released in October 1972, did well on the music charts, rising to No. 11 on Billboard and also going gold. A single from the album, “You Turn Me On, I’m a Radio,” peaked at No. 25 on Billboard for two weeks in February 1973, her first American hit single. Two other songs of note from this album – “Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire,” about a heroin addict, and “Judgment of the Moon and Stars” (Ludwig’s Tune), inspired in part by Beethoven – were also popular tracks. In 2007, For The Roses was one of 25 recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry – the only one of her albumsso far selected for that distinction. Joni Mitchell’s 6th and most successful studio album, “Court and Spark,” released on Asylum, January 1974. Joni Mitchell’s sixth album, Court and Spark, came in January 1974 and would become her most commercially successful album. It went to No. 2 on the Billboard albums chart and No. 1 on the Cashbox chart. Mitchell by this time was breaking away from her earlier folk and acoustic sound, adding more musical hardware to the production of her songs, and delivering, in some cases, more of a rock `n roll sound. She hired a jazz/pop fusion band, L.A. Express, to back her up on Court and Spark. In the PBS documentary, Joni Mitchell: Woman of Heart and Mind, singer-songwriter Eric Andersen observed of Joni’s move to working with a band: “People have this image and idea of this fragile, Nordic goddess who’s descending from the mountains, like wisps of Wagner, and Tiffany wind chimes… But later on, you know, I think when she got infected with rock androll, well she turned [out] like a red-hot mama, flesh and blood.” The new band helped power songs like “Raised on Robbery,” which cast Mitchell as a hard rocker. Backing her now on a tune like “Robbery” were fellow Canadian Robbie Robertson on guitar (later of The Band) and also Tom Scott on saxophone. David Crosby and Graham Nash contributed background vocals on “Free Man in Paris.” And several other musicians also contributed throughout the album. Joni Mitchell, Mama Cass & David Geffen, possibly at Laurel Canyon gathering, late 1960s. Photo, Henry Diltz David Geffen and Joni Mitchell sometime in the 1970s. Photo, Julian Wasser Geffen: Free Man Another popular song and hit single from Court and Spark was “Free Man in Paris,” a song Mitchell wrote about her agent and friend, David Geffen. Part of the inspiration for this song came about when she, Geffen, Robbie and Dominique Robertson made the trip to Paris mentioned earlier. “Free Man in Paris” went to No. 22 on the Billboard Hotand sparking,” as she would later put it, beginning a relationship with L.A. Express drummer John Guerin. In 1974, Joni purchased a Spanish style home on a private road in the Bel Air section of L.A., and she and Guerin set up house there. Maclean's, June 1974. Time, December 17, 1974. Court and Spark – and the L.A. Express – helped make Joni Mitchell a popular touring act over some 50 dates in the U.S. and Canada during 1974, generating good notices and also producing a live, two-record set album, Miles of Aisles, in November 1974. Joni was also a mainstream music star by this time, sought out for magazine features and cover stories. In June 1974, Maclean’s magazine of Canada featured her in a cover story, and Time magazine also put her on the cover of its December 17th, 1974 issue, featuring “Rock Women: Songs of Pride and Passion.” Through the second half of the 1970s the Joni Mitchell albums kept coming: The Hissing of Summer Lawns in November 1975, Hejira in 1976, and Don Jaun’sReckless Daughter in December 1977. By now, Joni Mitchell was well into the jazz and experimental stage of her career, and she had lost some of her previous fans who preferred her acoustic style. Nov 1975: Joni Mitchell’s “Hissing of Summer Lawns” album, the title and lyric phrase derived from the sound of L.A. lawn sprinklers. As Tom Casciato would put it in one later online review: “Hissing was where a lot of people got off the Joni bus.” But Joni Mitchell, like Bob Dylan, was not about to be circumscribed by her fans’ preferences. She had to follow her muse and move into new territory; that was just who she was. So the music continued, and so did the poetry, now in a different form. She began working with some of the best musicians in the jazz and fusion worlds, composing new music, and winning their respect, among them – bass player Jaco Pastorius, drummer Don Alias, saxophonist Wayne Shorter (all of whom worked with the progressive jazz group Weather Report), jazz guitarist PatMetheny, and others. In late 1978, Charles Mingus, the famous jazz bassist, composer, and orchestra leader, asked her to work with him on his last project. Mingus was then in the final stages of Lou Gehrig’s disease. The album Joni helped produce and compose for him, Mingus, was released after his death in June 1979. In 1982, Joni Mitchell married jazz bassist and sound engineer Larry Klein. They were married for about 10 years. December 1995: Joni Mitchell with the Billboard Century Award, for “distinguished creative achievement.” In 1982-1992 Joni Mitchell was married to bassist and sound engineer Larry Klein, and during that decade, with Klein’s help and others, she released more albums, three on Geffen Records — Wild Things Run Fast in 1982, Dog Eat Dog in 1985, and Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm in 1988. In the popular market, however, much of this work did not fare well. The 1980s were also a time when Mitchell broadened her social critique taking aim at televangelists in one of hersongs, while supporting causes such as the plight of Native Americans (Wounded Knee incident). She also continued to level barbs at the music industry. In a 1995 Vogue interview with writer Charles Gandee, she noted: “…Another thing was that in the eighties we moved into a particularly unromantic period in music. Videos had just begun, and they had a tendency to feature cold women with dark lipstick and stilettos grinding men’s hands into the ground. It was an anti-love period, and my work — Wild Things Run Fast, in particular — was a joyous celebration of love, which basically made people sick.” In the 1990s she regained some of her popularity. Night Ride Home, released in March 1991, was closer to her earlier acoustic work. Her next album, Turbulent Indigo, also viewed by some critics as having more accessible material, though still offering social critique at turns, was called a strong comeback. Turbulent Indigo won two Grammy Awards, including Best Pop Album. In the late 1990s shere-united with her daughter, Kilauren Gibb, and her grandchildren. In the year 2000, Mitchell turned out a collection of standards along with a couple of her older songs with Both Sides Now, which received a Grammy award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. In 2007, jazz pianist Herbie Hancock released his River: The Joni Letters, an album dedicated to Mitchell’s music, and also the first jazz album to win Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards. In recent years, Mitchell has collected a variety of honors and awards for her musical and songwriting accomplishments. In December 1995, Billboard honored her with The Century Award, its highest award for distinguished creative achievement. In 1996, she received the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement, Canada’s highest honor in the performing arts. In 1997, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In April 2000, the TNT cable TV network presented a celebration in her honor at the HammersteinBallroom in New York City, with an all-star cast of performers singing her songs, from Elton John to Diana Krall. In 2002 she became only the third popular Canadian singer/songwriter to be appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada, that country’s highest civilian honor. She also received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award that year. In 2007 she was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame and Canada Post also honored her that year with a postage stamp. In 2015, she was awarded the SFJAZZ Lifetime Achievement Award. Yet for Joni Mitchell, perhaps the highest praise has come from her peers and those who have been touched by her words and music. Joni Mitchell, in a pensive moment, undated. Magic & Muse Joni Mitchell’s music and poetry have touched a lot of people. Those who heard her perform or listened to her songs in her early years seem to have been especially moved by her ability to reach into their inner core. David Crosby, awed from the first time he heard her, wouldsimply say of her singing and songrwriting, “there’s some magic that took place there.” Gene Shay from Philadelphia’s Second Fret, where Joni played in her early years, echoed a similar sentiment about her performances: “Everyone was saying that there was a magic to her songs,” said Shay. “She’d come up with these marvelous melodies and wonderful words.” “Joni exorcises her demons by writing those songs,” said Stephen Stills in a 1974 Time magazine story on Joni, “and in so doing she reaches way down and grabs the essence of something very private and personal to women.” True enough, but it wasn’t just women she touched – though women did seem to have an extra sensory something that “got” what she was sending out. 1973: Malka Marom and Joni Mitchell on their way to visit fellow Canadian singer Neil Young at his ranch just south of San Francisco. Malka Marom, a Canadian folk artist and writer, had her own singing act a few years earlier than Joni. She performed in Canada with herhusband, as Malka & Joso. One night in November 1966 Malka discovered Joni when she happened into The Riverboat coffeehouse in Toronto where Joni was playing. Malka was simply knocked out by what she heard: “When I first saw her, hardly anybody was there…I mean the coffeehouse was empty. She was standing almost a little pigeon-toed. She was all involved in tuning her guitar, and she covered her face with her hair. It’s almost like she wants to erase who she is, and just let the voice be, let the songs be who she is. Then she started to sing “I Had a King,” [a poignant song about an ill-fitting marriage with the opening lines, ‘I had a King in a salt-rusted carriage / Who carried me off to his country for marriage too soon…’] I was going through a divorce then. And I just felt, I don’t know what it was about that song. Talk about a new way of conveying–-through music, through words–-a new way of conveying an existential reality… It was really something… And, oh, I just started to sob.…She sang it as if she was singing for me. She was my voice, you know… She was everybody’s voice… I was amazed that she was so young; there was so much wisdom in her work.” Malka that night would talk with Joni after she performed to the mostly empty coffeehouse, telling her she had something special and could become a star. The two became life-long friends and Malka would compile a book on Joni in 2014 based on the conversations she had with her over 30 years, Joni Mitchell: In Her Own Words. Feb 1991: Joni Mitchell, age 47, on the cover of Telegraph Magazine, interviewed in advance of her album, “Night Ride Home.” Among those in the music industry who first dealt with Joni Mitchell, many were also amazed at what she brought to the table and how she created so much material in so short a time. Elliot Roberts, her manager in the early years would observe: “When she first came out, she had a backlog of 20, 25 songs that were what most people would dream that they would do in theirentire career. She had already done it, before she had recorded. It was stunning.” Bill Flanagan of MTV Network, explained in the PBS film, Joni Mitchell: Woman of Heart and Mind: “Joni took this really potent popular image — that had been building for seven or eight years anyway — the California girl, the Beach Boys’ girl, the beautiful golden girl with the long, blonde hair parted in the middle. And Joni not only was the girl, but she was also the Bob Dylan, the Paul Simon, the Lennon and McCartney, writing it. I mean, she was the whole package. She was the subject and she was the painter. And that was incredibly powerful for people.” Yet women in particular looked up to Joni Mitchell as a trailblazer and would grow up with her music over the years. In 2003, filmmaker Susan Lacy, who made the 90-minute PBS documentary, Joni Mitchell: Woman of Heart and Mind for the “American Masters” TV series, also offered her personal views on what Mitchell meant to her: In my teens, 20’s, and eveninto my 30’s, when I was disturbed or needed to reflect on things, I would sit at the piano and play Joni Mitchell songs. When I had children, my favorite song to sing with them was “Circle Game,” which they learned from the time they could sit up. I loved her music then and still do. Her songs were a touchstone to my own experiences and emotions. I grew up listening to Joni Mitchell – going from my teenage years into adulthood. I saw her as the free spirit we all wanted to be. She represented an incredibly interesting mix of mysticism, beauty, talent, and femininity but, with a backbone of steel. She was doing it her way. Wouldn’t we all like to be like that? “Joni’s Love Muse” 1960s-2000s Love, for Joni Mitchell, during much of her career, was more than just love. Her love relationships fueled her creative process. She loved being in love; it inspired her; it was how she wrote much of her material. “Being in love is extremely important to her muse,” said jazz musician and producerLarry Klein, her husband for ten years in the 1980s. “A lot of her creative impulses come from whatever that phenomenon is that happens to us when we fall in love.” Joni was a free spirit in her dealings with men, given licence in the era of “sex, drugs and rock n roll” to be whoever she wanted to be. And she pushed it to the limit. She acted just like men had for eons. But as a genuine romantic, she also took her relationships to heart, good and bad. And that is clear in her music. Sometimes though, the scars ran deep. A few bad depressions and one rumored suicide attempt appear to be part of that history. When Rolling Stone magazine included her by name in an early 1970s story with a line graphic connecting partners in the Laurel Canyon love nest, Joni was hurt and angry. She saw the age-old double standard at work. And although there were marriages and near marriages in her life’s course, Joni seemed to have a compulsion to stay free. “I remember getting a telegram from Greece fromJoan,” said Graham Nash of his early 1970s relationship with her. “The last line of which was, ‘If you hold sand too tightly in your hand, it will run through your fingers.’ It was Joan’s way of saying goodbye to me.” And so she remained: in love, recovering from love, or on the hunt for love through much of her career. Of course, the record for all of this — or at least some of it — is found in her lyrics, explicit and between the lines, in the hundreds of songs she has written. It’s a legacy of heart and soul, delight and torment, doubt and self discovery; a legacy that remains an open book of one person’s journey with life and love. Gail Sheehy is a New York writer with some 17 books to her credit, including Passages of 1976, and also occasional articles for Vanity Fair and other publications. In 2014, Sheehy spoke to the Wall Street Journal’s Marc Myers about how Joni Mitchell’s music had entered her life, and how one song in particular, “Both Side Now,” helped her grow, celebrate,love, divorce, grieve, and recover in her own various life stages: “Back in 1968, when I was 30, my entire life blew up. I had a life plan and it collapsed for no rational reason. I had been a newspaper reporter in New York but left the job to help editor . My marriage was breaking up and I was falling in love with Clay. The song that carried me through those years and all stages of my life is “Both Sides Now” by Joni Mitchell…” In that song, Sheehy found Mitchell’s voice to be genuine, neither “cynical or put off by life;” she admitted her confusion while still marveling at what she saw around her, though shedding her illusions. “In 1969, after my divorce,” said Sheehy, “I let go of my illusions about marriage.” Some years later, after a second marriage and after her husband had died in 2008, Sheehy was devastated. “I put on Joni’s version [of “Both Side Now”] with strings from 2000 and heard a deeper voice full of sorrow and wine and cigarettes. Eventually I found my way out of thatdark place and dared to love again.” Linda Sanders of Entertainment Weekly, reviewing Mitchell’s Turbulent Indigo of 1994 called that album “the distilled essence of everything she’s done before,” adding of her long career to that date: “all she’s really managed to deliver in the course of sixteen albums is one of the most vivid and delicious chronicles of a woman’s life that’s ever been produced in any medium anytime, anyplace.” Yet Joni Mitchell is more than simply a troubadour of the female soul or a love balladeer – as anyone who has followed her career knows. Whether finding exquisite phrasing to capture an image or some moment of the heart, using her “weird chords” (open tuning) to bend the sound for the right tonal conveyance, or pushing the bounds of experimental jazz, Joni Mitchell has been a thoughtful and pioneering musician. Joni Mitchell, 1968. Photo, Doug Griffin In addition, her interviews, especially in the later years, are full of thoughtful, honest and sometimesstinging critique. She became outspoken on a range of topics, whether the state of the environment or the corruption of modern culture — including her own music industry. Still, for millions, it will be her poetry and music that bear the lasting gifts – whether from the “acoustic Joni” or the “jazzy Joni.” Although this piece has explored more of the early parts of her career, and is meant more for those who know little about her, there is much more detail on the life and work of Joni Mitchell at her website, . See also the various Joni Mitchell biographies, interviews, and profiles noted below in “Sources” at the end of this article. For additional stories on music at this website see the page. See also a topics page with additional story choices on famous women. Thanks for visiting – and if you like what you find here, please . Thank you. – Jack Doyle Please Support this Website Thank You ____________________________________ Date Posted: 15 July 2015 Last Update: 18 April 2016Comments to: Article Citation: Jack Doyle, “Joni’s Music: 1962-2000s,” PopHistoryDig.com, July 15, 2015. ____________________________________ Sources, Links & Additional Information 1960s: Joni Mitchell started out in Canada touring coffeehouses and small clubs in the early years. Advertising poster from The 2nd Fret club of Phila., PA, where Joni Mitchell appeared in the 1960s. Early Joni Mitchell performing with David Rea. 1968: Joni Mitchell, Toronto Star, photo, Doug Griffin. June 1974: Joni Mitchell at photo shoot for Maclean's magazine. 1971: James Taylor and Joni Mitchell providing background vocals in L.A. studio for Carole King's 'Tapestry' album. 1998: Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell concert at Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, Canada. Joni Mitchell, 1988. Photo, Doug Griffin Joni Mitchell on the cover of 'Billboard' magazine for receiving the Billboard Century Award award, its "highest honor for distinctive creative achievement." 1978: Joni Mitchell and Charles Mingus. Photo, SueMingus “Joni Mitchell,” in Holly George-Warren and Patricia Romanowski (eds), The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll, New York: Rolling Stone Press, 3rd Edition, 2001, pp. 657-659. Stephen Holden, “The Evolution of the Singer-Songwriter”(Joni Mitchell section), in Anthony DeCurtis and James Henke (eds), The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock `n Roll, New York: Random House, 1992, pp. 483-484. Wally Breese, “Biography: 1964-1968, Early Years,” JoniMitchell.com, January 1998. Mark Scott, “Oh, But California…,” 2014 Biography Series, Part 2 of 16, , May 16, 2014. “Joni Mitchell,” . A.L. McClain, “Two Single Acts Survive a Marriage,” , February 6, 1966. RS Editors, “Introducing Joni Mitchell: The Canadian-Born Singer-Songwriter Makes Folk Music Hip Again,” , May 17, 1969. “Joni Mitchell Joins Reprise,” , March 16, 1968. Susan Gordon Lydon, “In Her House, Love,” New York Times, April 20, 1969. “Rock Stars Will Dominate Cavett Show Next Tuesday,” New York Times, August 12,1969. “Woodstock (song),” . Mike Evans, Paul Kingsbury, Woodstock: Three Days That Rocked the World. Gary Von Tersch, Album Review, “Joni Mitchell, Ladies of the Canyon” (Reprise), , June 11, 1970. “Ladies of the Canyon,” . Robert Christgau, The Village Voice, July 30, 1970. Bernard Weinraub, “Isle of Wight Festival Turns Slightly Discordant,” , August 30, 1970. Michael Watts, “Glimpses of Joni,” , September 19, 1970. Robert Hilburn, “Joni Mitchell’s Bid for Top Album,” , June 29, 1971. Lynn Van Matre, “Singing-Songwriters: 1971 Is Woman’s World,” , July 4, 1971. Cameron Crowe, “Joni Mitchell Defends Herself: The Rolling Stone Interview,” , July 26, 1979. Jack Hamilton, “Why Joni Mitchell’s ‘Blue’ Is the Greatest Relationship Album Ever,” , February 14, 2013. John MacFarlane, “Listening Again to Blue Gives Writer a Case of Joni Mitchell,” , March 6, 2013. Mick Brown, “The Flowering of Joni Mitchell,” , February 23, 1991. Stephen Holden, “Joni Mitchell Finds the Peace of Middle Age,”New York Times, March 17, 1991. David Wild, “ A Conversation with Joni Mitchell,” , May 30, 1991. William Ruhlman, “From Blue to Indigo,” , February 17, 1995. Bill Higgins, “Both Sides at Last,” Los Angeles Times, April 8, 1997. J. Freedom du Lac, “Joni Mitchell’s Blue ‘River’ Flows Onto Holiday Playlists,” , Thursday, December 21, 2006. “For the Roses,” . “Free Man in Paris,” . Michael Posner, “Little Green a Little Blue,” Toronto Globe and Mail, April 11, 1998. Andrew Purvis, “Joni, No Longer Blue,” , June 24, 2001. “Joni Mitchell: For Free (Live) HQ,” . “Clouds (Joni Mitchell album),” . David Cleary, , Review of Joni Mitchell’s Clouds. Wally Breese, “A Conversation With David Crosby,” , March 15, 1997. “Inductee: Joni Mitchell,” , 1997. David Wild, “Women in Rock: Joni Mitchell,” , October 31, 2002 PBS-TV, “Joni Mitchell: Woman of Heart and Mind,” American Masters, April 2003. “Filmmaker Interview – Susan Lacy,” , April 2nd, 2003. David Yaffe, (Dance), “Working Three Shifts, AndOutrage Overtime,” , February 4, 2007. Sheila Weller,“The Rebel Angels,” , April 2008; Excerpted from, Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon—and the Journey of a Generation, New York: Atria Books / Simon & Schuster, 2008. George Bulanda, “Sixties Folklore” (interview with Chuck Mitchell), , February 24, 2009. “Joni Mitchell Biography – 1965 to 1967 (Chapter 8),” . Jeff Meshel, “Joni Mitchell, `Cactus Tree’,” , August 5, 2011. David Wild, “Morrissey Interviews Joni Mitchell,” , March 6, 1997. Wally Breese, “A Conversation with David Crosby,” , March 15, 1997. Jason Ankeny, “Album Review, Blue, Joni Mitchell,” . Tom Manoff, “Joni Mitchell’s Stylistic Journey,” , April 2nd, 2003. Barney Hoskyns, “Lady of the Canyon,” , October 15, 2005. Susan Whitall, “Joni’s Journey; From an Apartment in Detroit, Mitchell Composed Some of Her Most Famous Songs,” , June 5, 2008. Tom Casciato, “Loving Joni Mitchell: You Don’t Have to Be Gay,” , March 7, 2011. Rich Kamerman, “Joni MitchellPart 2 – Lady Of The Canyon,” , October 1, 2011. Ruth Charnock, “Joni Mitchell: Music & Feminism,” , May 2012. Katherine Monk, , Greystone Books, September 7, 2012. Brian D. Johnson, “Leonard Cohen’s Tale of Redemption,” (Canada), October 22, 2012. Roger Friedman, “Graham Nash: Listening to Joni Mitchell’s ‘Blue’ is ‘Quite Difficult for Me Personally’,” , November 15, 2012. Graham Nash, “The Beatles: Please, Please Me, and Joni Mitchell: Blue,” in Jeff Gold, 101 Essential Rock Records/The Golden Age of Vinyl From the Beatles to the Sex Pistols, Gingko Press Inc.; 1st edition, November 30, 2012. Leah Collins, “Throwback Thursday: Cartooning with Joni Mitchell and Adrienne Clarkson,” (Canada), June 6, 2013. Graham Nash, “’Come to My House and I’ll Take Care of You': Graham Nash on His Romance with Joni Mitchell and Making Music with Crosby and Stills,” (London), September 14, 2013. Marc Myers, “The Many Sides of Joni Mitchell’s ‘Both Sides Now'; Joni Mitchell’s Classic Speaks to the ManyStages of Life, Says Gail Sheehy,” , August 19, 2014. Caroline Howe, “The Secret Torment of Joni Mitchell: Unflinching Insight into the Reclusive 70s Icon’s Battles…” (London), September 1, 2014. Malka Marom, Joni Mitchell: In Her Own Words, ECW Press, September 2014. Sean O’Hagan, “Joni Mitchell: The Sophistication of Her Music Sets Her Apart from Her Peers – Even Dylan,” , Sunday, October 26, 2014. Judith Timson, “Happy Birthday Joni Mitchell, and Thanks for Everything,” , November 7, 2014. Michelle Davies, “Joni Mitchell’s Colourful, And Often Tragic, Life Story,” , November 2014. Marc Myers, “When Joni Mitchell Met Cary Raditz, Her ‘Mean Old Daddy’,” , November 11, 2014. Marc Myers, Anatomy of a Song, “Joni Mitchell on the Muse Behind ‘Carey’,” , November 11, 2014. Lisa Robinson, “An Oral History of Laurel Canyon, The 60s and 70s Music Mecca,” , March 2015. Kenneth Partridge, “Joni Mitchell: One of Music’s Greatest Singer-Songwriters Creates an Inspired Box Set,” , April 2015.“Joni Mitchell: Seven Essential Songs,” (Canada), April 1, 2015. Maura Johnston, “Joni Mitchell’s Long Battle With ‘Male Egos’,” , April 2, 2015. Jeff Meshel, “215: Joni Mitchell, ‘Blue’,” , April 3, 2015. “Joni Mitchell Through the Years,” Photo Gallery, , April 28, 2015. “Paintings by Year,” Joni Mitchell artwork, . Bridget Oates, “Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan & Doug Kershaw Played Johnny Cash’s First Show, June 7, 1969″( w/video), , June 5, 2015. Tom Pinnock, “James Taylor: ‘It Was Wonderful Working With Joni Mitchell’,” (U.K), June 19, 2015. _____________________________________
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