Joni Mitchell’s unexpected return to the stage captured in new album.
By Butch Ross
In 2015 Joni Mitchell suffered an aneurysm, one that left her fairly incapacitated. That she would walk or even speak again was unclear. And singing, performing, or playing her guitar, piano, and dulcimer was out of the question.
But as she convalesced, her dear friend and superfan Brandi Carlisle, began inviting people over to her house for “Joni Jams.” Old friends and new, career artists in their own right (including legends like Elton John, Dolly Parton, and Paul McCartney), would gather in her living room to celebrate her and sing her own songs back to her. It was like she was getting to attend her own wake. Eventually Joni began to sing along, little bits here and there. Baby steps.
Still, no one – save Carlisle – held out hope that she would ever return to the stage. So when the gold Louis XIV-style chairs came out for what had been billed as “Brandi Carlisle and Friends” at the Newport Folk Festival in 2022, the audience had no clue what was about to happen.
But it happened. 79 years old and with the aid of a cane, Mitchell took to the stage to perform for the first time in over 2 decades. Amongst a cavalcade of stars – a group of people as diverse and eclectic as her music – they romped through 10 of her best-known songs and three surprising covers. Most of that is captured on the new album “At Newport.”
Butch Ross
The exuberance of this first performance is as infectious as it is surprising; Mitchell’s never been known for toe-tappers.
The album kicks off with a rousing version of “Big Yellow Taxi.” Singing along with Brandi Carlile, Mitchell generally sings an octave down or finds a low harmony (years of smoking having crushed her soaring soprano).
But Carlisle steps aside to let Joni joyously sing the iconic last line.
The exuberance of this first performance is as infectious as it is surprising; Mitchell’s never been known for toe-tappers. But this is a band of all-stars who are huge Joni fans. Who are absolutely thrilled to share some of their favorite songs with their idol. Brandi Carlisle is the driving force throughout, acting as bandleader, cheerleader, occasional lead singer, and one-woman support group. She sings about half the songs with Mitchell, splitting verses, occasionally dueting, and shouting out encouragement. Mostly she provides the melodic path that Mitchell uses to find her way back home. When, in each song, Mitchell starts to find her footing vocally, Carlisle backs off.
The differences between the show and the album’s tracklist are my only minor complaints. The album doesn’t really follow the show’s set list closely. Understandable, as decisions made towards a live set list are different from an album experience. You would never open a set with a song as upbeat and popular as “Big Yellow Taxi” and follow it with an even bigger, and way sadder song like “Case Of You.” But here it works, as Mitchell trades verses with Carlisle, and occasionally Marcus Mumford, both stepping aside to give Mitchell key lines.
Gone is the Joellen Lapidus’ dulcimer that anchored the original track, but rather it is rendered as a lush, piano-driven ballad. There’s not a lot of dulcimer on the album but it does show up in a spritely version of “Carey.”
The same approach is applied to her breathtaking rendition of “Both Sides, Now.” First released in 1969, it showed that even as an ingénue, Mitchell had been a very old soul. Here, at the end of a life long-lived, it carries a weight that makes each word drip with poignancy.
Butch Ross
As the penultimate song at Newport, it [“Both Sides, Now”] was the culmination of a journey of healing, growing confidence, and finding stage skills she’d thought were long gone.
As the penultimate song at Newport, it was the culmination of a journey of healing, growing confidence, and finding stage skills she’d thought were long gone. Relegated to halfway through the album, it loses some of the joy of that moment.
But who cares – you can play the album in whatever order you want. It is a triumphant return of someone who was not just tremendously meaningful to music at large, but to the dulcimer as well.
Butch Ross has been gleefully smashing disparate genres of music together for over a decade. The mountain dulcimer maestro has tackled everything from Radiohead to Bach and come away with a renewed appreciation for what the humble dulcimer is capable of. He is an in-demand teacher and performer at festivals both in the U.S. and abroad. Find him online at butchross.com.