Home ›› 04 Mar 2023 ›› Show Biz
Artists spanning the genres came together Wednesday to celebrate the peerless Joni Mitchell, honoring her vast contributions to popular song.
The pioneering singer-songwriter behind poignant hits including “A Case Of You,” joins an elite coterie of composers including Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, Tony Bennett and Carole King in receiving the US Library of Congress’ Gershwin Prize, which is named for the brothers behind American standards such as “I Got Rhythm” and “Rhapsody In Blue.”
Not one but two of her muses -- James Taylor and Graham Nash -- performed; both were among the lovers and collaborators she counted throughout her storied career.
Wearing a newsboy cap, Taylor perched on a stool with an acoustic guitar to perform the song “California” off her seminal 1971 album “Blue,” to Mitchell’s delight.
The 79-year-old kept the beat with her cane, donning oversized sunglasses along with a metallic gold beret and a long, bedazzled teal dress.
“Her music, it gets into you, and it sort of becomes part of the mix,” Taylor told AFP on the red carpet prior to the event in Washington.
“Blue” saw Mitchell mine her own heartache, including breakups with Taylor and Nash, to produce the record that’s a regular on critics’ all-time-best lists.
Nash later took the stage for a rendition of “A Case Of You” -- another song on “Blue,” which many people believe she wrote about him.
“It’s a very simple song,” he told journalists prior to the event. “I think it’s very profound in what it says.”
