Traveling

On the Path of Joni Mitchell

De: Ann Powers

Narrado por: Hillary Huber

*An Observer Best New Biographies of 2024*

Celebrated NPR music critic Ann Powers explores the life and career of Joni Mitchell in a lyrical style as fascinating and ethereal as the songs of the artist herself.

“What you are about to read is not a standard account of the life and work of Joni Mitchell. Instead, it’s a tale of long journeying through a life that changed popular music: of a homesick wanderer forging ahead on routes of her own invention, and of me on her trail, heading toward the ringing of her voice.”

—From the introduction

For decades, Joni Mitchell’s life and music have enraptured listeners. One of the most celebrated artists of her generation, Mitchell has inspired countless musicians—from peers like James Taylor, to inheritors like Prince and Brandi Carlile—and authors, who have dissected her music and her life in their writing. At the same time, Mitchell has always been a force beckoning us still closer, as—with the other arm—she pushes us away. Given this, music critic Ann Powers wondered if there was another way to draw insights from the life of this singular musician who never stops moving, never stops experimenting.

In Traveling, Powers seeks to understand Mitchell through her myriad journeys. Through extensive interviews with Mitchell's peers and deep archival research, she takes listeners to rural Canada, mapping the singer’s childhood battle with polio. She charts the course of Mitchell’s musical evolution, ranging from early folk to jazz fusion to experimentation with pop synthetics. She follows the winding road of Mitchell’s collaborations with other greats, and the loves that emerged along the way, all the way through to the remarkable return of Mitchell to music-making after the 2015 aneurysm that nearly took her life.

Along this journey, Powers’ wide-ranging musings on the artist’s life and career reconsider the biographer’s role and the way it twines against the reality of a fan. In doing so, Traveling illustrates the shifting nature of biography, and the ultimate contradiction of celebrity: that an icon cannot truly, completely be known to a fan.

Kaleidoscopic in scope, and intimate in its detail, Traveling is a fresh and fascinating addition to the Joni Mitchell canon, written by a biographer in full command of her gifts who asks as much of herself as of her subject.

©2024 Ann Powers (P)2024 HarperCollins Publishers

Listen up, Joni fans!!

Up to this year account of this phenomenal, allusive woman who shaped my 70’s and beyond. Profound and insightful view of this Lady of the Canyon. Grateful to have listened.

Joni + Hillary = bliss

Genius subject, genius narration—what an enjoyable book this is! Go on & try it—you’ll like it!

Well researched, too wordy and too long.

Books is very well researched, but needed editing down to 7 hours. That said, some insights, but too long.

How the Author Revels Joni’s Success!

Ann Powers is a skillful author. She handles Joni’s story delving into private topics with respect and dignity. This book is a joy to read.

good story - the author interjected too much about herself

the author made it too much about her for me for my taste- i feel i learned about as much about the author as i did about Joni

Too Much

Too much introspection, projection, and navel gazing. Well researched book of Canada’s finest and one of America’s best ever.

A Worthwhile Journey

Initially I was unsure if I was going to get into “Traveling” as it doesn’t follow the typical biography trajectory of point A to B. But it works as it expands the Joni Mitchell universe to include most if not all the leaves on the “Joni Tree”. Branches intertwine with the known and unknown in the context of the times. Extremely well researched and written my only aspect that I would not have included is when the author interjects her own life- it seemed intrusive and unnecessary, but thankfully only occurring a few times. I thoroughly enjoyed this listen and highly recommend.

Annoying book, annoying narrator.

The book begins with over an hour of explaining what the author is trying to achieve with her writing, including an excruciatingly long paragraph on how she came to refer to the artist as "Joni" or "Mitchell." There's then a hodgepodge of pop psychology, much of which appears to relate back to the author rather than the artist. Worst of all for me are conjectures about what Joni might have been thinking in various photographs. I gave up after 3 hours. Also, the reader has an edge to her voice that comes very close to vocal fry. it gets old in a hurry! I did not give it one star because she clearly did lots of research and mixed in among all the surmises and wooly pop psychology gleam tiny bits of insight into the songs.