Ottawa Citizen

TRAVELS with JONI

Renowned critic Ann Powers takes a fresh look at a Canadian legend

Some people, like (David) Crosby or Graham Nash, are very, very happy to talk about Joni, you might even say dine out somewhat on the story. But that's fair, it's their lives as well as hers. Ann Powers

Ann Powers doesn't consider herself a biographer.

It may not seem the best admission to make while on the publicity rounds for her latest book, Traveling: On the Path of Joni Mitchell (Dey Street Books).

But she seems eager to stress that the book, while covering the iconic singer-songwriter's life, is not meant to be seen as a linear biography. For one, thing, it's been done. There are plenty of books, interviews, anthologie­s and musicologi­cal studies about the artist. In her introducti­on to the book, Powers writes: “Devotees and scholars, mostly inseparabl­e from one another, have documented her every guitar tuning, road trip and close encounter.” Mitchell's private life included well-publicized relationsh­ips with Leonard Cohen, David Crosby, Graham Nash, James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Sam Shepard and Larry Klein, and has also been well-documented. Besides, Powers admits she has the “heebie jeebies” about prying. Her impressive career — she is currently a music critic and correspond­ent for NPR but has worked for the Los Angeles Times, New York Times and Village Voice — has mostly centred on criticism rather than delving into celebritie­s' personal lives.

“That's one reason why I don't consider myself a, quote unquote, good biographer,” Powers says. “I feel a bit uncomforta­ble. I also think in order to really be effective as a biographer, you have to violate your subject in (a) sense. It's the same reason why back in the '90s when I was working in New York and worked for places like The New York Times, I always preferred criticism to writing profiles. It felt like a very artificial situation to write a profile. I enjoy talking about ideas with artists, I just don't care about their personal life.”

Still, by necessity, Powers became more of a biographer during the writing process of Traveling. While Mitchell's artistry is certainly fertile ground for discussion, it is also hard to separate from the details of her life and loves.

“With an artist like Joni Mitchell, she is writing very personal songs but has also lived this very public life that in itself is exemplary and is its own story and is kind of a work of art,” Powers says. “You have to explore who the characters are. As it happens, she almost exclusivel­y has partnered with other musicians and not only that but musicians she was working with. So how can you talk about Blue and not talk about James Taylor? Not because he's the subject of the songs but because he is on the record.”

Traveling certainly has biographic­al tidbits, with Powers tracing Mitchell's early life and evolution as an artist. That includes her early days involved in the Calgary folk scene, where she would play coffee houses while a student at Alberta College of Design and Art before heading to Toronto and, later, Los Angeles. She does touch on personal matters, including Mitchell's health problems, such as a devastatin­g 2015 aneurysm and drama involving her decision in 1965 to give up a child for adoption, something that didn't go public until the two met in 1997.

But Powers dedicates more time to unravellin­g the work itself, from classic albums to more obscure material from the 1980s and '90s that she thinks is underappre­ciated. She also interviews a number of Mitchell's peers and a few of her lovers, including Crosby, Klein, Nash and Taylor.

“Some people, like Crosby or Graham Nash, are very, very happy to talk about Joni, you might even say dine out somewhat on the story,” says Powers. “But that's fair, it's their lives as well as hers. Some people are very eager to talk about it. Others are more private. Larry Klein, who was married to Joni for a long time and arguably her most important collaborat­or, didn't really want to talk about their personal life at all and only when I asked him about more technical, musical questions did he really want to respond. That was fine, because I had enough informatio­n about the personal stuff and what I really needed to know, and wanted to know, from him was `which synthesize­rs did you use on this song?' `Why did you make that production decision?' That's what I was interested in. Most people appreciate that. The gossip is out there, everybody knows it. Really understand­ing the music, I think, is where there is still some ground to cover.”

The one person she did not interview was Mitchell. This was not because Powers was turned down. She never asked.

“I've had a lot of experience interviewi­ng artists and interviewi­ng celebritie­s and I know what happens when you engage personally with a famous person,” she says. “It's very easy to get sucked into their wake and kind of lose your own thread.

“The most talented biographer­s and profilers don't necessaril­y do that, but I felt I wanted to maintain this kind of distance and feel free to say something that she wouldn't like.”

Which is not to say that Traveling is overly critical. Like most discerning listeners, Powers was already a fan. But, if anything, doing a deep-dive into Mitchell's life and art only increased her admiration. Still, when she was first approached about writing a book about Mitchell, she was not convinced. As she writes in Traveling, Powers says she had grown tired over the years hearing and reading not only about Mitchell's genius but also that it had never been properly acknowledg­ed.

“As I saw it, she'd had more advantages than most. Her inestimabl­e talent, of course, but also her prom queen looks, her close connection­s to powerful men ... I preferred underdogs,” Powers writes.

While Powers is a feminist, she had always assumed that Mitchell's experience­s with sexism in the industry had been overstated. After doing the research, she changed her mind. The book paints Mitchell as a figure who fought for her vision, particular­ly in the studio.

“Everyone in the music industry is affected by sexism, but I didn't think she was a particular victim of it,” Powers says. “As I write in certain sections, I still think in certain cases maybe putting her at the centre of the story is a bit of an over-exaggerati­on. Definitely it affected other people more than her. But I found many cases where it did affect her and I do think she suffered from a double-standard. That was something I had to adjust. I had to adjust my thinking. It's something I had to change my mind about.”

In the end, Powers acknowledg­es Mitchell as a genius who set high standards that were rarely met by others in lyrics, guitar-playing, compositio­n and studio wizardry.

“I went into the book with the attitude `Oh God, is she really that great?'” Powers says. “I came out very strongly feeling that, yes, she probably is that great. One thing that makes her so great is that the songs are so meticulous­ly constructe­d. Even on the level of the lyrics, no one rivals her. I'm not the first to call Joni a genius and she herself would be happy to claim that title. But what I came around to saying was one meaning of the word genius is someone who captures the spirit of their times. One extraordin­ary thing about Joni Mitchell is that she managed to do that throughout several periods in North America.”