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Joni Mitchell It has almost 60 years of winning history Grammy awardsbut her first real appearance as a singer at the awards show didn’t come until Sunday night, when she sang “Both Sides Now” for her telecast debut.
In addition to being perhaps her best-known song, “Both Sides Now” had some resonance as a Grammy performance choice. His first Grammy win 55 years ago, back in 1969, was for the album “Clouds,” which featured “Both Sides Now.”
Mitchell performed the song in the format that has brought her back to the stage only a few times since recovering from a brain aneurysm in 2015: It was done “Joni Jam” style, with the singer-songwriter sitting in a comfortable chair. . throne with the recent staff characteristic of it, surrounded by stellar companions seated in a similar way; in this case, Brandi CarlileAllison Russell, Jacob Collier, Lucius, Sista Strings and Blake Mills.
The performance followed an emotional moment at the pre-broadcast premiere ceremony, when Mitchell won another Grammy, collecting the award for best folk album for “Joni Mitchell at Newport.” [Live]”, while the producer of that recording, Carlile, was next to her. It marked the tenth Grammy of Mitchell’s career.
Introducing Mitchell on the broadcast, Carlile said: “Whether we know it or not, any of us who have ever dreamed of becoming a truly revelatory singer-songwriter achieved it on the shoulders of one Joni Mitchell. Joni is one of the most influential and emotionally generous creators in human history. She redefined the very purpose of a song to reflect the content of a person’s soul. Before she made this leap, folk song was observational… But the exhilarating risk we all now take in turning ourselves inside out for all the world to see began, as far as I know, with Joni Mitchell doing it first. She’s like the first person to strip naked at a nude swimming party and take that awkward, scary leap, before everyone else joyfully follows.”
Carlile continued: “In a way, she had no choice but to make these leaps. She was too concerned with basic survival. Having survived poverty, polio and, as of 10 years ago, a near-fatal brain aneurysm, she didn’t dwell too much on how her art was received because she was too busy relearning how to speak, much less how to sing. . She has learned to walk three times. Joni just turned 80, my friends! But we all know she is timeless. If we are so lucky that history remembers any of us, one thing I know for sure is that she will remember that we live in the time of Joni Mitchell. Today she just won the Grammy for best folk album… Please welcome the matriarch of the imagination, a true renaissance woman, my hero and yours, Joni Mitchell.”
The Grammys performance came on the heels of a gradual return to live performances that Mitchell has performed over the past two years: three concerts in which she joined Brandi Carlile and other friends in celebratory sets of “Joni Jam.” , which will soon be followed by a pair of shows at the Hollywood Bowl next October.
Many assumed that Mitchell had retired from public performances after suffering a debilitating brain aneurysm in 2015. Word then spread that she was actively participating in informal musical gatherings at her home that became known as “Joni Jams.” The concept became public when she was at the center of a surprise “Joni Jam” at the Newport Folk Festival in July 2022, a concert captured for posterity on her currently Grammy-nominated live album.
Last year she made two more public concert appearances: an officially announced “Joni Jam” at the Gorge in Washington state last summer, followed by a Brandi Carlile & Friends show at the Hollywood Bowl in the fall that turned out to be in very much another Mitchell. -Focused joint concert.
Mitchell’s previous Grammy Awards span a period from 1969, when she won Best Folk Performance for “Clouds,” to 2022, when she won Best Historical Album for the box set “Joni Mitchell Archives – Vol. : The early years (1963-1967)”. Her only win in one of the top four overall categories came at the 50th Annual Grammys, when she was one of multiple album of the year winners for “River: The Joni Letters,” as one of the guest singers on the Herbie Hancock tribute album. .
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