Joni Mitchell joins Gershwin Award winners

Apr. 2—Joni Mitchell is the newest winner of the celebrated Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, placing her alongside the prestigious list of previous honorees.

When the Library of Congress announced her selection, I had to wonder why it had taken so long to recognize an artist widely considered by her peers and many music fans as one of the best songwriters ever.

Mitchell attended an all-star celebration in Washington to accept the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song in-person.

A tribute concert called "Joni Mitchell: The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song" held in Washington was set for telecast by OETA Public at 9 p.m. on Friday, March 31, followed by an encore telecast a few hours later in the early morning hours of Saturday at 1 a.m.

The tribute concert featured an all-star cast. Highlights included James Taylor, performing Mitchell's song "California" from her celebrated album, "Blue," Herbie Hancock and Ledsi, performing "River," also from the "Blue" album" and Marcus Mumford performing "Carey," yet another song from "Blue."

Other performance of songs from "Blue" include Cyndi Lauper singing the title song and Mitchell's former partner Graham Nash, singing "A Case of You."

Songs from some of Mitchell's other albums were performed as well, including Annie Lennox singing "Both Sides Now" and Angélique Kidjo presenting "Help Me," a song from Mitchell's "Court and Spark" album.

Another highlight came as a group of the musical artists came together onstage for an all-star rendition of Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi." Carlili, Kidjo, Lennox, Lauper Ledisis and Lucius joined together for an energetic ensemble performance of one of Mitchell's most well-known songs.

Mitchell's awarding of the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song adds her name to a relatively short list of those honored with the award.

It's been in effect only since 2007, with no winners named during some years.

Previous award winners and the years they received the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song are:

Paul Simon, 2007; Stevie Wonder, 2009; Paul McCartney, 2010; Burt Bacharach and Hal David, 2012; Carole King, 2013 and Billy Joel, 2014.

Also named as winners of the Gershwin Prize for Popular song are Willie Nelson, 2015; Smokey Robinson, 2016; Tony Bennett, 2017; Emilio and Gloria Estefan, 2019; Oklahoma's own Garth Brooks in 2020 and Lionel Ritchie, 2022.

As I look over the list, I can immediately think of several artists whose omission at this point leave me mystified.

Why has Brian Wilson, the famed songwriter and producer behind many of the Beach Boys greatest songs, not yet been awarded the prize? Wilson is one of the most respected songwriters ever among his peers as well as his many fans. He's mentioned many times that the first piece of music he remembers hearing that inspired him to become a musician was George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue."

He even recorded an entire album of Gershwin cover songs in 2010 called "Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin."

The Beach Boys album "Pet Sounds," produced and written by Wilson with lyricist Tony Asher, is routinely listed as among the greatest albums of all time.

What about Bob Dylan? He's recorded three albums of standards — five really, because his album of Great American Songbook standards named "Triplicate" is, fittingly enough, a triple album.

The Gershwin Prize is named for composer George Gershwin and his brother, Ira Gershwin, the lyricist who formed the other part of the songwriting team.

They wrote some of the most celebrated songs ever. A few of them include "Someone to Watch Over Me," "I Got Rhythm," "Embraceable You," "Our Love is Here to Stay," "A Foggy Day" and "I've Got a Crush on You."

As a composer, George Gershwin wrote such vaunted works as "Rhapsody in Blue," "An American in Paris and "Concerto in F."

Although Mitchell is still on the road to total recovery, she's made a remarkable comeback from a brain aneurysm she suffered in 2015 that left her not only unable to play the guitar and sing, but also unable to walk and talk. She's said she's had to learn to do both again.

The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song is not the only musical event Mitchell had attended recently and she's even performed at some of them.

Last July she made a surprise appearance at the vaunted Newport Folk Festival, appearing and singing with a group of friends including Brandi Carlile, Wynonna Judd, Sam Mumford and others. One of the of the best moments occurred when she stood up from her gold-trimmed onstage chair to play a chorded electric instrumental solo on her song "Just Like This Train" from her celebrated album "Court and Spark." It amazed many, because at one point after she suffered the aneurysm, it seemed as if she might not ever able to play guitar again.

But for me, the most electrifying moment came when Mitchell delivered a haunting version of the song," Summertime," written by none other that George and Ira Gershwin.

She delivers another atmospheric rendition of the song during the telecast of "Joni Mitchell: The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song."

Like George Gershwin, Mitchell worked in creative use of chords, some of which she created herself through the many open and alternate tunings she had used through her career. She's said she created her style of guitar playing out of necessity, due to suffering from polio during her childhood. The illness made it difficult at first to master the F chord, usually one of the most challenging chords for beginning songwriters.

Mitchell discovered that by using alternate tunings, she do away with the need to place her index finger across the first two strings at the same time as F is traditionally played.

Although Mitchell eventually mastered the traditional way to play the F Chord, she continued to use her alternate tunings on many of her songs, which sometimes could be a challenge for musicians backing her.

Initially called a folk singer, as most acoustic-based singer-songwriters were at the time, Mitchell soon branched out to other genres, including rock music and most significantly, jazz.

Along the way she created an unparalleled body of work, reflected in her songs such as "Both Sides Now," "The Circle Game," "Help Me" and many more.

She also delivered a powerful group of albums, including "Ladies of the Canyon," "For the Roses," "Blue," "Court and Spark" and "Hejira," to name a few.

Mitchell is not done yet, with more plans for 2023, including the possibility of a live album centered around the July 2022 performance by Mitchell and her musical supporters at that July 2022 Newport Folk Festival.

Mitchell is also booked for a special live performance on June 10 at the Gorge, an outdoor venue near Seattle above the Columbia River. Carlile, who has a June 9 concert at the site, is billed as a special guest for Mitchell's show.

They delivered such a surprise with Mitchell's surprise appearance at Newport, those attending the concert at the Gorge Amphitheatre will no doubt be filled with anticipation about what to expect this time around.

Carlile, Mumford and Allison Russell, who accompanied Mitchell at Newport are billed as Carlile's guests for a June 9 concert at the Gorge.

Presumably, they will stick around the next day for Mitchell's June 10 concert, which features Carlile as a special guest for what is billed as a Joni Jam.

Let the good times roll.