Episode 3 of The Road To Joni picks up a thread from our conversation with Don Was… and leads us to esperanza spalding. In 2021 esperanza collaborated with her mentor Wayne Shorter on Iphigenia, an opera with a revisionary take on Euripides' Greek tragedy Iphigenia at Aulis. It was Ipheigenia that led esperanza to Joni’s living room, though her path on the road to Joni started years prior with a track from the 1976 album Hejira. esperanza tells host Carmel Holt how, at a recent Janet Jackson concert, she was reminded that Joni Mitchell has “literally influenced everyone.”

Joni’s influence on powerhouse string players and Joni Jam members Chauntee and Monique of SistaStrings began with “the lady that sings on the Janet Jackson song. (‘Got Til It’s Gone’).” A move from their hometown of Milwaukee to Nashville immersed the sisters in the Americana scene… which led them to a place in Brandi Carlisle’s touring band… which led to that fateful Newport 2022 performance when Joni took the stage. SistaStrings credit Joni for being an example for women to “stand on your own, be who you are, make weird music and be loud about it.”