Joni Mitchell sings at length at Newport Folk Festival surprise show

Some of the celebrity guests at Joni Mitchell’s hottie parties swore that she was an enthusiastic participant in the living room sessions at her home in the Santa Barbara area. But so far, most fans have had to take these reports on faith. At the Newport Folk Festival on Sunday, a concert in honor of Mitchell’s All-Star proved to also include the same star’s surprising return to public singing.

Mitchell had 13 hits from “Joni Jam” with a little help from guest singers Brandi Carlyle, Marcus Mumford, Siles, Winona Judd and Taylor Goldsmith from Dawes, but she was the star of the group because she took numbers from the classic originals “Both Sides Now” and “Big Yellow Taxi.” and “The Circle Game” for a few of her favorite songs: “Why Fools Fall in Love”, Gershwin’s “Summer” and “Love Potion No. 9”.

While seated for most of the group—as was the case with those around her, in a group that also included Lucius, Allison Russell, Blake Mills, Shutter Jennings, Phil and Tim Hansroth—she and the others stood momentarily like a little guitar playing she did in “Just Like This Train.”

It was Mitchell’s first performance at the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island since 1969, but it was the least historical stat that surprised festival-goers.

Mitchell had a brain aneurysm in 2015, but had largely retired from public performing even before that, giving her last full concert when her last tour wrapped up in 2000 and her short, choppy appearance after that.

Mitchell’s healthy comeback was evident in her MusiCares tribute before the Grammys earlier this year, during which she performed in group vocals and impressed the audience with a few singles reads. But that was much less than the full song readings she did on Newport Sunday.

As far as Newport attendees knew, the climax of the three-day festival was “Brandi Carlile & Friends,” before the term “Coyote Jam” came out, until it finally got its proper name. “This scene should forever be known from now on as Johnny Jam!” Carlyle said at first.

At first, it seemed to audiences as though her engagement would be mostly in singing mode for her recent appearance at MusiCares, as the show kicked off with a lyrical group version of her song “Blue” Carrie, with Mitchell chiming only isolated singles lines. But soon she appeared in the group as its lead singer.

Wrote NPR’s Ann Powers after attending Newport “jam”, describing Mitchell’s current strength in sound and recording: “When I turned to Gershwin’s classic Summertime—according to some insiders, it was one of the first songs she took while recovering from illness—Mitchell sounded like Nina Simone.” A bit, or as her longtime heroine Annie Ross in Robert Altman’s Short Cuts. This wasn’t the first new Johnny company to emerge in the 21st century. Two decades ago, Mitchell surprised fans with a record that was made evocatively dark by years of smoking cigarettes. Another suggestive voice, showing signs of her recent health suffering and determination to recover, was astonishing in its honesty.”