An interview with Joni Mitchell is about as rare as they come in the music world these days. But when Mitchell does give an interview, it might as well be with Elton John, right? Mitchell did just that, sitting down with John for the latest episode of his Rocket Hour radio show and detailed her plans to release a brand new live album.
This past summer, Joni Mitchell gave a surprise performance heard ’round the world at the Newport Folk Festival. Accompanied by Brandi Carlile, Marcus Mumford, Wynona Judd, and Dawes’ Taylor Goldsmith, Mitchell delivered a 13-song setlist which included staples like “Big Yellow Taxi,” “Help Me,” and “Case Of You.” It’s this performance that Mitchell plans to release on her next live album she tells John. “People out there…you haven’t heard things from the Newport Folk Festival yet, but I think there’s going to be an album coming out of that one?” John said, baiting Mitchell. “Yeah, we’re trying to put that out,” Mitchell confirmed.
Mitchell revealed that she didn’t have any rehearsals ahead of the Newport Folk Festival performance and spoke about re-learning how to play guitar following a 2015 brain aneurysm. “I’m learning. I’m looking at videos that are on the net, to see where to put my fingers. It’s amazing… when you have an aneurysm, you don’t know how to get into a chair. You don’t know how to get out of bed. You have to learn all these things again. You’re going back to infancy, almost.”
She says she was proud of herself for standing up to play electric guitar on “Just Like This Train,” even though she can’t sing it anymore. “I couldn’t sing the key, I’ve become an alto, I’m not a soprano anymore, so I couldn’t sing the song. And I thought people might feel lighted that if I just played the guitar part, but I like the guitar part to that song. So anyway, it was very well received, much to my delight.”
Listen to the full episode of Elton John’s Rocket Hour on Apple Music here.