WOKE UP, IT WAS A JONI MORNING

Joni Mitchell’s surprise performance at last year’s Newport Folk Festival will be released as AT NEWPORT by Rhino Entertainment on 7/28. Her performance of “Both Sides Now” is out now.

The live album, produced by Brandi Carlile and Mitchell with liner notes by Cameron Crowe, will be issued on streaming and other digital formats and as two-LP and two-CD sets.

“Mitchell emerged from the side of the stage, swaying smoothly, in fine summer style with beret and sunglasses," writes Crowe. Her good-natured mood instantly set the tone. This performance would be an intimate gathering of friends, not unlike the Joni Jams she’d been hosting in her own living room over the last few years of recovery [from a 2015 brain aneurysm].

"Smiling broadly, Mitchell made her surprise appearance, taking her on-stage seat alongside Carlile. Within minutes, the news had rocketed around the globe. Mitchell was back, sparkling with enthusiasm, delivering a tender and passionate set of 13 songs, ending with a joyful sing-along of ‘The Circle Game.’”

The performance was Mitchell's first in 20 years. Her next will be a “Joni Jam” on 6/10 at the Gorge Amphitheater in Quincy, Washington, with Carlile chief among the jammers.