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.
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"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
