When Joni Mitchell arrived on the scene within the ’60s, many artists weren’t positive what to make of her intricate guitar tunings, full of life vocal vary and achingly private lyrics.
“At the time, I took a lot of flak if anything – people thought that [my songwriting] was too intimate,” she informed Elton John in 2022. I believe it upset the male singer-songwriters. They’d go, ‘Oh, no. Do we’ve got to reveal our souls like this now?’ I believe it made folks nervous.”
It also excited them, because there was now a singer-songwriter who not only tapped into the depth of human emotion in a way that was both individual and universal but who was also unafraid to work in strange keys, integrate jazz techniques and later, re-imagine her work in orchestral forms.
Mitchell’s music is most closely associated with the folk singer-songwriter movement, but her impact and influence have reached artists from all walks of life – from heavy rockers Led Zeppelin and Tool to guitar greats like Jimi Hendrix and Steve Lukather to punk powerhouses like Elvis Costello and Chrissie Hynde.
Many of these artists, being a decade a two younger than Mitchell, came of age on her music. “Having obtained her first LP as a present from my father,” Costello recalled in Vanity Fair in 2004. “Each subsequent Joni Mitchell document was significantly anticipated, saved for and acquired on or near the day of the discharge.”
We’ve collected quotes from some of these people in the below list of 40 Artists Praise Joni Mitchell.
40 Artists Praise Joni Mitchell: ‘She Saved My Life’
Examining the wide-ranging affect of the legendary Canadian singer-songwriter.
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