Joni Mitchell

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A Woman Of Influence: Joni Mitchell, Looking Back From 75

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Poet, artist and dreamer, the singer-songwriter has helped light the path of musical creativity across genres and generations
Philip Merrill
GRAMMYs
Sep 7, 2018 - 3:43 pm

Winner of eight GRAMMY Awards and recipient of the Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002, Joni Mitchell epitomizes the singer/songwriter's expressive path. Born on Nov. 7 in 1943, her upcoming 75th birthday will be marked as a special occasion to celebrate her influence and inspiration across the music world in many different genres. GRAMMY winners and nominees will be on hand at Los Angeles' The Music Center on Nov. 6–7 to perform works from all 19 albums in celebration of Mitchell's 75th.

GRAMMY winners performing on the two special nights are Emmylou Harris, Norah Jones, Chaka Khan, Diana Krall, Kris Kristofferson, Los Lobos, Graham Nash, and Seal. "Joni is the reason I became a musician," said Seal, "so the opportunity to take part in this means everything to me." Seal sang as featured artist on Mitchell's track "How Do You Stop" from her Turbulent Indigo, winner of Best Pop Album at the 38th GRAMMY Awards.

GRAMMY nominees performing on the two nights at The Music Center include Glen Hansard and Rufus Wainwright. "When in her presence, the day dissolves and one glimpses something beyond, something very far away, yet oddly more concrete," said Wainwright. "Everything about her is oraculous." In addition to the performers, drummer Brian Blade and pianist Jon Cowherd are co-music directors for the nights and previously recorded with Mitchell as Brian Blade And The Fellowship Band.

So far the two Mitchell albums inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame are 1971's Blue and 1974's Court And Spark. While these albums stand tall as folk classics, Mitchell's creative reach has touched so much more than folk, as the lineup for her tribute suggests.

Skylar Grey is a GRAMMY nominated singer/songwriter who has written hits for Dr. Dre. and Eminem. Grey credits Joni Mitchell as a leading influence for her poetic lyrics, alongside Grey's other influence, Eminem. Although she tries to keep her commercial work away from niches some might find weird, Grey was reassured by Mitchell's freedom and accomplishment that she can go all out herself.

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Skylar Grey Takes Ideas From Weird To Pop

In 1997 Janet Jackson released "Got 'Till It's Gone" combining Mitchell into the mix along with Q-Tip on Jackson's album The Velvet Rope, using an upbeat sample from "Big Yellow Taxi." At the 40th GRAMMY Awards, the song brought Jackson her fourth of five career GRAMMYs to date, in the category Best Short Form Music Video.

The Nov. 7 concert will be followed by a fundraising gala "The Music Center's Soirée: JONI 75," in partnership with Vanity Fair. Tickets for the concerts are now on sale.

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James Taylor and Joni Mitchell

James Taylor and Joni Mitchell

Photo: Vivien Killilea/Getty Images

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Joni Mitchell Tribute 'Joni 75: A Birthday Celebration' Coming To Theaters

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The iconic folk singer celebrated her 75th birthday in style last year, and now, for one night only, you can watch how it all went down
Philip Merrill
GRAMMYs
Jan 9, 2019 - 4:06 pm

Joni Mitchell's 75th birthday celebration last year welcomed a number of GRAMMY-winning performers, including Emmylou Harris, Norah Jones, Chaka Khan, Diana Krall, Kris Kristofferson, Los Lobos, Graham Nash, Seal, and James Taylor. (Not to mention the performing GRAMMY nominees: Glen Hansard, Rufus Wainwright and 61st GRAMMY Awards nominee Brandi Carlile.) Now, Trafalger Releasing is set to release a movie of the tribute concerts — The Music Center Presents Joni 75: A Birthday Celebration — to theaters on Feb. 7.

Variety’s coverage of the night’s performances said, “Carlile had the bravura vocal performance of the night, effortlessly hitting the high notes of 'Down to You' in a casually octave-spanning fashion few others on the bill would have been down with attempting.” She also joined Kristofferson for a duet of “A Case of You.”

Tickets are now on sale for the Feb. 7 showings. A soundtrack album will be released via Verve on Mar. 1. 

A Woman Of Influence: Joni Mitchell, Looking Back From 75

Bobbie Gentry

Bobbie Gentry

Photo: NBCU Photo Bank/Getty Images

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Lady Legends And Newcomers Join Mercury Rev On Bobbie Gentry Tribute Album

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Mercury Rev revisits Gentry's classic sophomore album with female guest vocalists who shine. Catch the album out Feb. 8
Philip Merrill
GRAMMYs
Nov 14, 2018 - 4:34 pm

Indie band Mercury Rev have announced their next album, a tribute to Bobbie Gentry's The Delta Sweete Revisited, will be available on Feb. 8.

The album features an array of guest voices. Mercury Rev's incredible selection of guest vocalists on the tracks kicks off with Norah Jones performing "Okolona River Bottom Band." Others lending their voices to the effort are Phoebe Bridgers, Vashti Bunyan, Rachel Goswell, Marissa Nadler, Beth Orton, Lætitia Sadier, Hope Sandoval, Kaela Sinclair, Susanne Sundfør, Carice van Houten, and Lucinda Williams, whose rendition of "Ode To Billie Joe" was added to the original album's tracklist.

"Bobbie is iconic, original, eloquent and timeless," said singer Margo Price, whose guest vocals are featured on "Sermon." "She has remained a strong voice and an eternal spirit of the delta, wrapped in mystery, yet forever here."

The Delta Sweete was Gentry's 1968 follow up to her debut Ode To Billie Joe, for which she won three GRAMMYs at the 10th GRAMMY Awards.

For the full track list and additional details see Bella Union's announcement and Pitchfork. Mercury Rev recently concluded their 2018 U.S. tour and will be playing across Britain in Dec.

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Tune In Tonight On PBS: "GRAMMY Salute To Music Legends"

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Special performances and all-star appearances make tonight's broadcast one to watch
Philip Merrill
GRAMMYs
Oct 5, 2018 - 4:57 pm

Each year the Recording Academy's Special Merit Awards honor the music community's finest. Tonight on PBS, "GRAMMY Salute To Music Legends" presents musical moments and heritage not to be missed.

Sep 12, 2018 – 3:21 pm

"GRAMMY Salute To Music Legends" On PBS Oct. 5

Lifetime Achievement Award recipients for 2018 honored tonight are the Wrecking Crew's Hal Blaine, Neil Diamond, Emmylou Harris, Louis Jordan, the Meters, Queen, and Tina Turner. Master of ceremonies Yolanda Adams and Micky Dolenz will honor Diamond. Trisha Yearwood will perform a duet with Harris. Sheléa will be honoring Turner, Sammy Hagar for Queen, and Herb Alpert honoring Wrecking Crew drummer Blaine. Ledisi is performing a medley in honor of Jordan.

The Trustees Award recognizes those whose leadership may be outside performance and this year's honorees are Bill Graham, Sire Records co-founder Seymour Stein, and the 24-time GRAMMY winner, composer and conductor John Williams. Composer Gustavo Dudamel and violinist  Anne Akiko Meyers will honor Williams.

Technical GRAMMY Award recipients this year are Tony Agnello and Richard Factor, whose company Eventide made an enormous contribution to the craft. This year's recipient of the Music Educator Award is Melissa Salguero.

Check your local listings for the PBS station near you, tonight at 9p.m. "GRAMMY Salute To Music Legends" will later be available at PBS Great Performances online. This is an array of legends honoring legends who represent the finest in music excellence.

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Joni Mitchell

Joni Mitchell

Photo: Steve Granitz/WireImage

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Joni Mitchell 1971 Art & Lyrics Book Coming This Fall

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'Morning Glory On The Vine' began as a holiday gift for 100 of the creative icon's closest friends
Philip Merrill
GRAMMYs
Mar 11, 2019 - 1:14 pm

Singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell turned 75 last Nov., an opportune milestone to reflect on the eight-time GRAMMY winner's musical and artistic gifts. A lifelong visual artist as well as musician, Mitchell created 100 copies of her book Morning Glory On The Vine in 1971 as a holiday gift for friends. On Oct. 22, facsimile reproductions of the original work combining her lyrics and watercolors — created a few months after Mitchell released her album Blue — will be published in the U.S. by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and in the UK by Canongate.

"Joni Mitchell's influence on popular culture is peerless. There is simply no one like her," said Canongate Publishing Director Francis Bickmore. "Her fearless pursuit of honesty and art, her gift for storytelling and her incalculably beautiful melodies and voice — all of these have been inspirations and companions to me, and to so many others, for decades."

Morning Glory on the Vine: Early Songs and Drawings adds a new introduction by Mitchell as well as several of her paintings that did not make it into the original gift volume. Much of Mitchell's visual work is featured on her website below her quotation, "I have always thought of myself as a painter derailed by circumstance."

Mitchell's first nomination and GRAMMY win was Best Folk Performance at the 12th GRAMMY Awards, for her sophomore 1969 album Clouds. Fans appreciated the self portrait Mitchell painted for that album cover and many continued to enjoy her creative path as a mixture of Mitchell's musical and visual art. In Oct. for the first time, the general public will have access to new and intimate insights into her gifted imagination.

Joni Mitchell Tribute 'Joni 75: A Birthday Celebration' Coming To Theaters