Big Yellow Podcast

Just a few months after winning her first Grammy, Joni Mitchell released 1970’s Ladies of the Canyon, which illustrated both her enchantment with her new, glamorous life in Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles, and her mild disillusionment with her growing fame. Oh, and she’s got a new boyfriend in the mix, a one Graham Nash…

Thanks for listening x

* Allison

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If there’s one thing I love, it’s becoming friends with a Canadian.

I first got connected with singer-songwriter Emm Gryner when she sent me a copy of her book, The Healing Power of Singing: Raise Your Voice, Change Your Life. Over the next couple years, I got to know Emm a bit more — you might recognize her name from David Bowie’s band, which she was a part of in the 2000s, but she’s also got an incredible resume of solo material under her belt — and am so honored that she agreed to come on the show.

Here, Emm and I talk about the parallels between her own path to success in Canada and Joni’s, her singing techniques, and her experience bringing Joni’s music to the theatrical stage.

If you’d like to learn more about what Emm is up to these days, check out her website. (She’s currently working in yacht rock music!!)

Thanks for listening x

* Allison

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Music was not Joni’s first love. Here’s what else she took up in her early days and mostly never let go of.

Thanks for listening x

Allison

Get full access to Big Yellow Podcast at allisonrapp.substack.com/subscribe

A conversation with writer and author Annie Zaleski (Salon, The Guardian, NPR)

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On May 1, 1969, Joni Mitchell released her nearly entirely self-produced sophomore album, ‘Clouds.’ Here are the basics about it…

Thanks for listening x

* Allison

Get full access to Big Yellow Podcast at allisonrapp.substack.com/subscribe

Like others who have been on this show so far, Paul Myers is someone I’ve never met in person, but somehow I felt a kinship with him when we spoke, perhaps because of his roots in Toronto, which I grew up right across the border from in Buffalo.

Throughout his career, Paul has done a little bit of everything: record making, writing, radio hosting, podcasting, etc. Which to me meant I needed to bring my A-game when interviewing him for this episode. Fortunately, another truth about Paul, like many Canadians I’ve known, is he is easy to get along with and felt like an old friend over Zoom despite us never meeting.

Given his musical and Canadian background, Paul was the perfect guest, and I’m still thinking about the sweet story he tells here about passing Joni-lyric love notes between himself and the woman who would ultimately become his wife.

That’s just a small snippet of our conversation. Thanks for listening x

* Allison

Get full access to Big Yellow Podcast at allisonrapp.substack.com/subscribe

If you’re part of the online Bob Dylan community — yes, that’s very much a thing and it’s made up of many wonderful people — then you likely know Laura Tenschert’s name. She’s the host of the Definitely Dylan podcast series, which she started as a radio program several years ago. Laura is also, as it turns out, a fellow Joni fan, whose music she fell in love with before Dylan’s.

The history between Dylan and Joni stretches back decades and displays…the spectrum of artistic connection. Competition, camaraderie, complaining, compliments. Here, Laura and I dive into this history and attempt to make a bit of sense of the relationship between two of the most prolific and influential creators of all time.

You can also follow Laura on Twitter and Instagram!

Thanks for listening x

* Allison

Get full access to Big Yellow Podcast at allisonrapp.substack.com/subscribe

Joni Mitchell released her debut album, Song to a Seagull, in March of 1968. Here are the basics about it…

Thanks for listening x

* Allison

Get full access to Big Yellow Podcast at allisonrapp.substack.com/subscribe

When I first started dabbling in music journalism, more or less all of the writers I was familiar with were men. It took several years of exploration, work, and research to learn of more women in my field, and one of those people was Ann Powers, whom I’ve admired and looked up to since.

Like some of my other guests, Ann and I have never met, but it seemed like fate that she happened to be releasing a book about Joni Mitchell the same year I was launching a podcast about her. That book, Traveling: On the Path of Joni Mitchell, is of course the subject of this episode. It’s an illuminating read — insightful, honest, personal at points — and offers a different kind of “music biography” experience, in my opinion.

But I’ll let Ann and I’s chat fill you in on that…here’s a link to the book for those who are interested: Traveling.

Thanks for listening x

* Allison

Get full access to Big Yellow Podcast at allisonrapp.substack.com/subscribe

Back in 2019, my boyfriend at the time gifted me a copy of David Yaffe’s ‘Reckless Daughter: A Portrait of Joni Mitchell,’ the first book I’d ever read about her.

When I finished that book, a fascinating and much more up close look at Joni than I had previously encountered, I wrote to David to express my thoughts. We’ve been friends since, have eaten meals in the West Village with fellow writers, run into one another at Elvis Costello shows, etc. Now, I’m pleased to have him as a guest on Big Yellow Podcast.

David’s experience interviewing Joni over the course of several years – as you’ll hear him describe in this episode – was not always stress-free. There was bumpy road on both sides, but really, what would a book about an artist like Joni be without that?

I recommend David’s book because it sees Joni talking about periods of her life during a period of her life that was both an ending and a beginning — there was still miles of ground to cover as far as Joni looking backward on her own terms. It was around this time that Joni’s “legacy” really started to solidify.

But here are David’s words.

Thanks for listening x

* Allison

Get full access to Big Yellow Podcast at allisonrapp.substack.com/subscribe