April 15 2011

With regard to 1960s' rock, both the music and its culture were resolutely fraternalistic and, as Janis Joplin's example so poignantly reveals, women were either excluded from the inner circle or were drawn into being 'one of the boys'. Folk, and more particularly the folk protest movement of the 1960's, however, provided a more viable space , not least for women with sweet voices.

It seems that the early 1970s was a propitious time for women to break into the solo folk singers market, we have Carole King emerged as a performer on her highly successful album "Tapestry", we also have people like Janis Ian and Carly Simon whose also enjoying success as solo artists. Yet, as Joni Mitchell's album "Blue" reveals, being independent, creatively single minded and original continued to raise problems, not least those of grappling with a career while, at the same time, maintaining relationships.

Joni Mitchell's musical career started in Calgary, where she trained as a commercial artist and sang traditional folk songs in local coffee bars. In March 1970 "Clouds" won Joni Mitchell her first Grammy Award for Best Folk Performance, Joni Mitchell started to gain success from mainstream. And in 1971, "Blue" was released and sold over a million copies. Mitchell's distinctive harmonic guitar style, and piano arrangements all grew more complex through the 70s as she was deeply influenced by jazz, melding it with pop, folk and rock on "hejira" which released in 1976.

Mitchell's work is highly respected by musicians, Rolling Stone called her "one of the greatest songwriters ever", even Janis Mitchell stopped recording over the last several years, but in 07 she released "Shine", her first album of new songs in nine years.