Joni Mitchell

Joni Mitchell sang for the better part of a set for the first time in 22 years, with "jammers" Brandi Carlile, Marcus Mumford and Celisse.

Wrote NPR’s Ann Powers after attending the Newport “jam,” describing Mitchell’s current strength of voice and register: “When she turned to the Gershwin classic ‘Summertime’ – according to some insiders, one of the first songs she took up as she recovered from her illness – Mitchell sounded a bit like Nina Simone, or like her longtime hero Annie Ross in Robert Altman’s ‘Short Cuts.’ This wasn’t the first new Joni to emerge in the 21st century. “This scene shall be forever known henceforth as the Joni jam!” Carlile said at the outset. Some of the celebrity guests at Joni Mitchell’s private hootenannies have sworn that she has been an enthusiastic participant in the living room sessions in her Santa Barbara-area home.

Joni Mitchell has kept a low profile since suffering a brain aneurysm in 2015. She joined Brandi Carlile for classics like "Big Yellow Taxi" and "Both Sides ...

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The legend played her first show in 22 years at the Newport Folk Festival, imbuing her early masterpieces with lived experience.

It’s also true that Mitchell could have plucked many other songs from her catalog that would have been equally appropriate to the occasion: tough and tender, hopeful but undeluded, sharing the complicated wisdom gained from a life spent in observation. The words are the same, but their implications are different. Just listen to the version of “Both Sides Now” she released in 2000, 30 years on from the original.

The 78-year-old artist performed a full set, her first in about two decades, at the renowned festival in Rhode Island on Sunday.

She added, “I stand in solidarity with Neil Young and the global scientific and medical communities on this issue.” Mitchell, never one for the limelight, has remained largely out of the public eye since having a brain aneurysm in 2015. “I will never be over this.

The ten-time Grammy Awarding-winning singer-songwriter was joined by country musician and friend Brandi Carlile for the 13-song performance, which included ...

Joni Mitchell's surprise performance at the Newport Folk Festival was just what we needed — a reminder that joy trumps despair every time.

It wasn’t just a testimony to those miracles that can only be achieved through both individual determination and community support; it was a reminder that there is a reason to keep hanging in there, pushing forward, seeing the bows and flows of angel hair along with the rain and snow. For those who had begun to wonder, with troubling regularity, if it is possible for American culture to recover from its wounds, self-inflicted and otherwise — or, even more tragically, if there is even a reason to try — Mitchell’s performance was a brief glimpse of possibility. But it wasn’t just the wondrous and wholly unexpected sight and sound of this Canadian-born American master live that caused throats around the world to catch. Mitchell delivered the song’s conclusion — “I really don’t know life at all” — not in bewilderment or wistful regret but with amused surrender and a glint of delight. “They could never cage or categorize her,” said one of my friends, who has long worshiped Mitchell. “Each of her works is like a little jewel in how it tells its story, and then there is that beautiful unquenchable voice.” There at the behest of Brandi Carlile, Mitchell, 78, who has spent years recovering from a brain aneurysm, sang, played guitar and proved there is a reason for social media to exist.

The last time this artist took the Newport stage was 1969. Heck, her last full concert anywhere was in the year 2000. So yesterday, when folk star Brandi ...

And the painted ponies go up and down. JONI MITCHELL AND BRANDI CARLILE: (Singing) And the seasons, they go round and round. So that moment during the song "Just Like This Train" from her album "Court And Spark" - wow.

Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell stole the show with a surprise appearance at the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island on Sunday, playing her first ...

“Joni’s looked at life from so many sides and she came out of the storm singing like a prophet,” Carlile wrote on Twitter after the show. In January, Mitchell demanded her work be removed from music-streaming service Spotify in protest of coronavirus misinformation she said was being featured there. Mitchell told CBS she taught herself to play again after the aneurysm.

NEWPORT, RI (AP) - Surprise! Joni Mitchell is back onstage. The folk legend performed her first full-length concert on Sunday at the Newport Folk Festival ...

After their rendition of “Both Sides Now,” Carlile was fighting back tears. Mitchell has contended with health complications since suffering an aneurysm in 2015, and her last full show was in late 2002, according to reports. Seated in a wingback chair and wearing a blue beret and sunglasses, Mitchell joined festival headliner Brandi Carlile and a bevy of other artists, including Wynonna Judd, Allison Russell and Marcus Mumford. It was Mitchell's first Newport festival performance since 1969.

At the Newport Folk festival this weekend, the 78-year-old Canadian musician joined younger peers such as Brandi Carlile and Wynonna Judd to perform some of her ...

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The iconic singer-songwriter wasn't able to walk or talk after a brain aneurysm in 2015. Dr. Anthony Wang, a neurosurgeon, explains the challenges she faced ...

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Both Sides Now, the famous song by Joni Mitchell, is full of metaphors and poetic images: let's explore the lyrics and their meaning.

At the end of the day, what do we know about clouds, love, and life? People will look at us differently when things change, and there is nothing we can do about it. Joni mentions, “Moons, Junes, and Ferris wheels,” implying the first, innocent vision of love we all have, which can be full of chichés. She looked at love that way, as she says. What if you cared about the person you loved? Both Sides Now by Joni Mitchell is about the disillusionment of love. Both Sides Now is one of the most beloved songs ever made by Joni Mitchell. The Canadian singer wrote the song at the end of the 60s, and she placed the track at the closing position of her album Clouds, which represented her first commercial breakthrough.