American Songwriter

Joni Mitchell’s First Top 40 Hit Came on Demand From Her Record Label

Joni Mitchell certainly had the critical acclaim. But she didn't manage a big radio hit until she literally wrote a radio ...
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Joni Mitchell's Woodstock

Joni Mitchell’s “Woodstock” became one of the defining anthems of the 1969 music festival—yet she never attended the event. Instead, Mitchell wrote the song based on stories from her then-boyfriend ...
American Songwriter

The Story Behind “Woodstock,” the Song Joni Mitchell Wrote About the Festival She Didn’t Attend

Mitchell was given a recount of the festival from then-boyfriend Graham Nash. Then, she wrote the song in her hotel room while watching reports of the festival on TV. Despite not attending the ...
American Songwriter

Joni Mitchell’s National Television Debut That Forced Her to Miss Woodstock 1969 and How It Inspired a Classic Song

In mid-August 1969, hundreds of thousands of people swarmed Max Yasgur’s Farm in upstate New York to attend the Woodstock Music and Art Fair, but Joni Mitchell sadly wasn’t one of them. Despite being ...
American Songwriter

Grace Slick Says Joni Mitchell Got This Wrong About Woodstock—and Honestly, Mitchell Would Likely Agree

Under different circumstances, Joni Mitchell probably would’ve been at Woodstock. However, as fate would have it, the rising Canadian star was making her Dick Cavett Show debut right after the ...
American Songwriter

Watch Joni Mitchell Perform Beautifully on the Famous Post-Woodstock Episode of ‘The Dick Cavett Show’

On this day (August 19) in 1969, Joni Mitchell made her first U.S. TV appearance on The Dick Cavett Show. The memorable episode also featured some of Mitchell’s musical friends and contemporaries, the ...