Joni Mitchell has has given very few interviews since suffering a brain aneurysm in 2015, but she just sat down with Elton John for an in-depth conversation that will air on his Apple Music 1 show on Saturday. Elton John’s Rocket Hour.
In the interview, Mitchell revealed she was working on a live record to document her surprise appearance at the Newport Folk Festival in July alongside Brandi Carlile, Taylor Goldsmith, Wynonna Jude and Marcus Mumford. “[We] didn’t have any [rehearsal]”, she says, noting that she played electric guitar on her 1974 Court and Spark classic “Just Like This Train”. so I couldn’t sing the song. And I thought people might feel enlightened if I just played the guitar part, but I like the guitar part of this song. Anyway, it was very well received, at my greatest pleasure.
John and Mitchell also discussed going to the Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2019 to see Carlile perform Blue straight. “I was sitting next to you,” John said, “and the joy on your face was amazing.”
“She did such a great job,” Mitchell said. “There were a lot of covers of my songs, but it’s very faithful to the original. It was like going to my own concert.
Mitchell hasn’t released an album of original songs since 2007 Shine, but John expressed hope that she would create another one at some point. “One day I want you to sit in this room like we do now, but with recording equipment,” he said. “I want you to make an album in this room because it’s so magical. Every corner of this room is Joni. Everything about it is Joni… And I really want you to consider making a record, maybe some new songs, the way you’re going, you’re tearing the world apart right now.
What she’s definitely doing is playing a “Joni Jam” concert with Carlile at the Gorge Amphitheater in George, Washington on July 10, 2023. The show is sold out, and it’s unclear whether or not they’re planning to book More of them.
John, meanwhile, will play the final date of his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour on November 20 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. It has shows booked all over the planet in 2023, ending July 8 in Stockholm, Sweden.