The singer-songwriter's astonishing return to the folk festival first played in 1967 was an act of bravery, joy and reinterpretation.
This summer, unexpectedly, two of music's brightest stars aren't new young upstarts, but a pair of semi-only female elders whose talents are being reaffirmed by a new generation of fans.
Pop legend Kate Bush's 1985 anthem "Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)" by 63-year-old pop legend is a legitimate contender for Song of the Summer—it currently sits at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, which was recently ranked as the top spot for Song of the Year. Thanks to its prominent use in Harry Styles and Jack Harlow's smash-hit Netflix series "Stranger Things." And on Sunday night, 78-year-old Joni Mitchell stunned attendees of the Newport Folk Festival (and countless others who have watched viral cellphone videos of the event) when she performed in public for the first time since her 2015 brain aneurysm, Playing him the first full-length live set since 2000.
Acting as an ardent master of ceremonies, 41-year-old musician Brandi Carlile asked the crowd to welcome her friend Michelle "back on the Newport stage for the first time since 1969" - 12 years since Carlyle was born. was earlier.
"Jonnie has not always felt the admiration that exists among humanity for her," Carlyle said in a CBS News interview, explaining his idea for a performance that mimicked the "Jonny James" put up by Mitchell over the years. Will. hosting with peers and young musicians in her Los Angeles living room. "But I wanted her to feel that way."
Carlyle has done much to help his friend and idol feel that love, and to emphasize Michelle's rightful place in the canon. "We didn't live in the time of Shakespeare, Rembrandt, or Beethoven," Carlyle said during one of the many recent concerts in which he performed Michelle's 1971 album "Blue" in its entirety. "But we live in Joni Mitchell's time."
Notably since surviving that fatal aneurysm in 2015, Mitchell's work is enjoying widespread critical reappraisal. ("Brushing with death makes people soft on me," she told CBS News with a laugh.) Over the past year, she's received the coveted Kennedy Center Honors and was named the Recording Academy's Musicians Person of the Year As well as launching an ongoing project called Joni Mitchell Archives, which will see her releasing a rich collection of previously unheard music.
Even though these recent accolades have brought Mitchell back into the public eye, Newport's performance video holds a rare and profound power. In some sense, they are merely a reminder of the exhilarating potential of live music, an experience that remained silent for months during the pandemic.
Beyond that, though, the seemingly endless illness, sacrifice, and loss of the past two-plus years have left so many people hungry for stories of resilience, the strength of hard work, and new beginnings. After an aneurysm, as she contracted polio at the age of 9, Michelle had to teach herself to walk again. This time, however, he had to rediscover his singing voice and learn to play the guitar—which he did triumphantly in Newport during an instrumental performance of "Just Like This Train" from his 1974 album "Court and Spark". did. ,