Saturday, June 13, 2009

Covered in Folk: Joni Mitchell
(17 Singer-songwriter covers from countrygrass to indiefolk!)





Joni Mitchell’s early influence on her peers is part of the mythos of her era, and their support a major factor in her future success; it’s telling that David Crosby, Fairport Convention, Tom Rush, Judy Collins, Buffy St. Marie, and Judy Collins all thought enough of Joni’s songwriting to cover her work long before she won the Grammy for Best Folk Performance in 1970 — or indeed, in many cases, before she had a chance to record those songs herself.

But though Joni Mitchell’s emergence is often lumped in with the transformation of folk into a mass and popular musical form in the American seventies, her impact on what folk music would become is more than just that of the crowd. For while traditional folk songs generally tell third-persona narratives, and though earlier singer-songwriters such as Bob Dylan or Sandy Denny often use the self as a narrator and observer of the universe, it is Joni who is generally thought of as introducing feelings themselves as the primary subject in song.

Whether or not she was truly the first to take this approach, Joni’s establishment of the confessional in folk music is unparalleled. Her explicit exploration of the inner emotional core — those conflicted, inward-looking lyrics, so powerful that they seem to be constantly on the verge of overwhelming the singer’s soft, soaring vocalization of them — did more to create the sense of modern folk music as intimately about the self, longing and faults and all. And the universalization of those emotions defined new ways in which folk music could connect artists and the cultures which they spoke to. Where previous folk music had evoked through narrative and metaphor, Joni’s music strung a direct line from emotional core to emotional core, from her lips to our hearts.


If Joni is over-covered — and certainly her songs are at least as familiar in the mouths and hands of other artists as any female singer-songwriter I can think of — it is because her deceptively plain lyrical poetry has resonated with subsequent generations of musicians struggling with their own voices and emotions, just as it has with her fans. And as singer-songwriter folk music has continued to trend towards the confessional and the local since Joni’s best-known albums have become such staples of the folk canon — the folk imagery and narrative of Clouds, the starkly personal inner darkness and jazztones of Blue, the almost cheerful pop voices of acceptance and celebration in Court and Spark — the covers just keep coming.

I’ve long been a fan of Joni’s — in fact, one of our very first Single Song Sundays here at Cover Lay Down featured an exploration of River, which has become a part of the melancholy side of the holiday canon. Today, we take a broader look at her influence, through some sweet, mostly lesser-known tributes to the seminal singer-songwriter who helped us see that folk doesn’t need to dance around the inner truth to reach every heart and soul.


As always, folks, Cover Lay Down exists to support artists, and the best way to do that is to buy direct from the artists themselves wherever possible. Joni’s work is available everywhere, and if you don’t have at least the aforementioned disks you really should, but all links above lead directly to label- and artist-sanctioned stores and purchase sources; follow ‘em to hear more of what you love. And don’t forget to pre-order Jay Brannan’s new CD to hear his incredible cover of All I Want.


Previously on Cover Lay Down:

Special thanks to fellow coverblogger quietcore of Blowin’ Your Cover, who first posted the Natalie Merchant and Cat Powers covers above way back in January of last year.

Category: Covered in Folk, Joni Mitchell

10 Responses to “Covered in Folk: Joni Mitchell
(17 Singer-songwriter covers from countrygrass to indiefolk!)”

  1. Jen
    June 13th, 2009 at 11:08 pm

    What an excellent post! Thanks for all of the great covers.

    Can the Mark Erelli link be fixed? It’s such a gorgeous rendition, and I’d love to download it!
  2. Owyn
    June 14th, 2009 at 5:18 am

    404 for Mark Erelli: A Case of You(acasemark.mp3)
  3. boyhowdy
    June 14th, 2009 at 7:50 am

    Fixed, thanks Owyn!
  4. Zach Maxwell
    June 14th, 2009 at 1:52 pm

    Diggin the Lauper cover of Carey…SUPER different from the original…just like a cover ought to be.
  5. ilpensionante
    June 15th, 2009 at 3:36 am

    Great! Thanks!
  6. Curious George
    June 15th, 2009 at 10:34 am

    The Sufjan Stevens cover is really fantastic - thanks for another amazing collection of covers!
  7. stuc
    June 17th, 2009 at 12:09 pm

    thanks for this post! i love the bonnie raitt…
  8. AMD
    June 21st, 2009 at 1:17 pm

    Fantastic selection. I can’t abide by Joni Mitchell’s voice, so I’ve got to enjoy her songs via the interpretations of others.

    And, yeah, big up Jay Brannan. I love the guy (and interviewed him on my blog when Goddamned came out).
  9. Susan
    June 21st, 2009 at 10:15 pm

    Hey, BH ~

    You know I’m a Joniholic… and I’m a bit late chiming in here… but no less sincere - thanks for a great write-up and wonderful selection of under-the-radar-covers!

    Her official website, http://www.jonimitchell.com, has just been redone and always has current news to offer, as well as a terrific backcatalog of her artwork, articles and discography - she continues to learn and grow, and her fans along with her… :-)
  10. Mark
    August 30th, 2009 at 12:10 am

    You need to check out Luka Bloom’s version of Urge for Going - I’m too lazy to look up the discography at the moment, but it’s pretty darn great, too.

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