Joni Mitchell

Joni Mitchell (born Roberta Joan Anderson, November 7 1943, Fort McLeod Alberta) is a Canadian musician and painter. Initially working in Toronto, but mainly associated with the burgeoning folk music scene of the mid-1960s in New York City, through the 1970s she expanded her horizons, predominantly to rock music and jazz, to become one of the most highly respected singer-songwriters of the late 20th century.

Originally a painter brought to music by her folk singer husband, the songs her first releases Song for a Seagull (1968) and Clouds (1969) were archetypes of the nascent singer-songwriter movement of the time. Fey, wordy, and often self-conciously "poetic", they were redeemed by Mitchell's extraordinary wide-ranging voice and unique guitar playing, tuning the instrument in both orthodox and unorthodox manners to produce a distinctive rhythmic, driving sound that carries the recordings. Clouds represented a commercial breakthrough, containing her first two classic tracks "Chelsea Morning" and "Both Sides, Now".

By her third album, Ladies of the Canyon (1970), maturity had eliminated her more sophomoric tendencies, resulting in a record infused with the spirit of California life (the canyon of the title is Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles) as well as containing her first major hit single, the environmental "Big Yellow Taxi", and her song "Woodstock", about the music festival, which was later a hit for Crosby, Stills and Nash. Also of interest "For Free" is the first of Mitchell's many songs focusing on the dichotomy between the benefits of her stardom and its costs, both in terms its pressure and the loss of privacy and freedom it entails.

This more mature, confessional approach was continued on Blue (1971), widely considered the best of this period. From exploring the various facets of relationships: from infatuation on "A Case Of You" to insecurity on "This Flight Tonight", the songs, many piano led, exhibit some of the rhythms associated with rock music, quite possibly due to the influence of collaborator David Crosby. The rock influence was still strong on her next two albums, her first for her new label Asylum. For The Roses (1972), whose title track continued her exploration of the themes of "For Free", sold well, supported by the hit single "You Turn Me On, I'm A Radio" and 1974's Court and Spark was a huge success, producing the international hit "Free Man In Paris" and remaining her best selling work to this day.

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