Most of the little I understand of the female psyche I’ve learned from Joni Mitchell.

David Crosby.
Sometimes he gives you a high.
Sometimes he makes you want to jump off something high.
In 1993, he and Joni Mitchell wrote a beautiful, enigmatic song together.

You don’t need Thile and Mehldau to justify the standing of Dylan or Mitchell. But their fresh new readings may still amplify and even enhance the originals.

A close reading of the harrowingly intimate Joni Mitchell masterpiece, ‘Blue’.

50 years ago I was at the Woodstock festival, in the mud and the mire and the morass. Joni wasn’t, but she got it right in the song. True Woodstock is in the mind.

50 years ago the Woodstock festival took place in upstate New York. I was there. I got wet and muddy and cranky and went back home after one night to listen to some of the same artists on my headphones.

The albatross of fame and fortune. Young Joni crafting her disillusion into a gem, 1970.

Joni Mitchell’s songs can be deceptive, because they’re so darn attractive. But she is also a mistressful artisan who happens to possess a magnanimous soul. Her works aren’t merely moving – they’re also marvels of craft.