Lyle Mays passed away this morning in Los Angeles. Lyle was an integral part of Joni's 1979 tour with Pat Metheny, Jaco, Michael Brecker, and Don Alias. He and Pat's hauntingly beautiful transition between Amelia and Hejira stands as one of the enduring highlights of the tour. Lyle was a founding member of the Pat Metheny Group, providing arrangements, orchestration, and the harmonic and metric backbone of the group's musical signature.

Craft Recordings has announced the first-ever vinyl release of Joni’s 2007 album, Shine. Available April 3rd, and pressed on 180-gram vinyl at RTI, the acclaimed title includes such tracks as “One Week Last Summer” (which received the 2008 GRAMMY® Award for Best Instrumental Pop Performance), and an updated version of Mitchell’s iconic 1970 track “Big Yellow Taxi.” More information here.

Hailed as the most important and influential female recording artist of the late 20th century, Joni will receive the prestigious Les Paul Innovation Award at the 35th Annual NAMM Technical Excellence & Creativity Awards (NAMM TEC Awards), being held Saturday, January 18, 2020 in Anaheim, California. The award is given on behalf of the Les Paul Foundation to honor individuals that have set the highest standards of excellence in creative application of artistry in the spirit of the famed audio pioneer, inventor and musician, Les Paul. More information here.

The Barnes and Noble book store chain has selected MORNING GLORY ON THE VINE to be part of this year’s #BNSignedEditions selection for holiday. Copies of the book, hand-signed by Joni, will be at B&N stores and online starting Saturday, November 16.

For all concerned, know that Joni is safe and sound from the fire threatening the area.

I always dreamed of seeing my book in a bookstore window. This feels even better than I imagined.
- Joni Mitchell

Thank you, Book Soup in Los Angeles for this beautiful window display featuring Joni’s new book Morning Glory on the Vine.

In the image, taken on release day, you can see reflected in Book Soup’s window the old sign from Tower Records on Sunset—in that store over 40 years ago Joni had her first window display of an album. Photo courtesy of Hannah K. Johnson.

We saved the best review for last. Our official recap of the stunning Brandi Carlile performance of the entire Blue album on Monday night. Reviewer Sam Stone takes you there.

The Grammys' expansion of their definition of traditional pop resulted in a spike in the number of entries in its best traditional pop vocal album category, from 55 last year to 81 this year.

The expansion brought in such entries as the all-star Joni 75: A Joni Mitchell Birthday Celebration (Live), Barbra Streisand's Walls, Elvis Costello & the Imposters' Look Now and Bryan Ferry and his Orchestra's Bitter-Sweet. The 62nd Annual Grammy Awards will be will be held January 26.

The ‘Joni 75: A Birthday Celebration’ album will be released on vinyl as part of the Record Store Day Black Friday celebrations in the US on November 29! The 2-LP set will be pressed in a limited edition of 3,000 copies and available from any participating local record retailer. A wider release will occur at a later date.

More information on Record Store Day Black Friday is here.

In 1971, as her album Blue topped charts around the world, Joni Mitchell crafted one hundred copies of Morning Glory on the Vine as a holiday gift for her closest friends. For this stunningly beautiful book, Joni hand-wrote an exquisite selection of her own lyrics and poems and illustrated them with more than thirty of her original paintings and watercolors. Hand-crafted, signed, and numbered in Los Angeles, the existing copies of this labor of love have rarely been seen in the past half-century.

Now, as Joni celebrates her seventy-sixth birthday, Morning Glory on the Vine: Early Songs and Drawings is available widely for the first time. In this faithfully reproduced facsimile edition, Joni's best-loved lyrics and poems spill across the pages in her own elegant script. More information here.

Jerry Lawson, who for four decades was the lead singer of the eclectic cult-favorite a cappella group the Persuasions, has died. He was 75. Lawson died Wednesday at a Phoenix hospice after a long illness, longtime friend and sometime Persuasions producer Rip Rense said.

Lawson's smooth baritone led the group of five and later six singers, who were revered as the "The Kings of a Cappella" by their small but devoted fan base. Through 25 albums the Persuasions recorded rock, blues, gospel and pop songs, all with no sound other than their own voices, long after the doo-wop era and long before the "Pitch Perfect" movies, when a cappella was rare. -Andrew Dalton

In October of 1967, Buffy Sainte Marie urged a young talent scout from the Chartoff-Winkler Agency to come listen to Joni perform at the Cafe Au Go Go in New York City. Smitten immediately with her talent, the young man pitched being Joni's manager. "I don't need a manager, I'm doing quite nicely", Joni replied.

But he was a funny man, Joni enjoyed his humor, and before long he was managing Joni's career. And it was just a few months later, in March of 1968, that Elliot Roberts negotiated Joni's first record contract with Reprise Records.

Elliot managed Joni until 1985, and had just recently begun doing so again. A true legend in the music industry, Roberts also landed a record deal for Neil Young, co-managed CSN&Y, conceived the idea of Tom Petty backing Bob Dylan in the 1980s and helped launch the careers of Tracy Chapman and the Cars.

Born Elliot Rabinowitz on February 25th, 1943, Roberts was raised in the Bronx and initially hoped for a basketball career before turning to music. Elliot died this morning at age 76.

Malcolm John Rebennack Jr., known around the world as Dr. John, initially aspired to be a professional songwriter, producer and sideman. He wanted to work behind the scenes, not out front. But after assuming the persona of Dr. John the Night Tripper in the late 1960s, Rebennack was behind the scenes no more.

His idiosyncratic style and sound – the gravelly growl, the sly, deceptively leisurely phrasing, the original hipster patois, the hybrid Big Easy piano – embodied New Orleans and its music. Rebennack, an icon of the city who remained an active creative force until he abruptly disappeared from public view 18 months ago, died Thursday of a heart attack after years of declining health. He was 77. -Keith Spera

Joni and Dr. John appeared on the same stage at the legendary Last Waltz concert in 1976. And, on her 35th birthday Joni attended a Dr. John concert at the Bottom Line in NYC (pictured), in which he sang happy birthday to her from the stage.

Dr John sings to Joni

Elizabeth “Betsy” Asher, a music industry insider and self-described political news junkie, died Dec. 18, 2018 in Los Angeles. She was 75. She was born April 9, 1943 on Parris Island, SC to Paul Burney Doster and Elizabeth Fredrickson.

Betsy worked in the coffee houses of New York’s Greenwich Village and as a publicist before moving to London. By the time she relocated to L.A., the musicians and songwriters she had known in the Village had become household names in rock music. Journalists and biographers often sought Betsy’s unique perspective on the career arc of some of the most iconic musical artists of the last century.

Betsy is referenced by Joni in Song for Sharon, and perhaps Moon at the Window as well.

A feature-length documentary, Laurel Canyon, is set to premiere later this year. The film, according to a press release, “will pull back the curtain on a mythical world and provide an up-close look at the lives of the musicians who inhabited it.” Alison Ellwood (History of the Eagles) will direct; the film will premiere later this year on EPIX.

Among the artists who will be featured are Joni, Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, the Eagles, the Mamas and the Papas, Carole King, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, James Taylor, the Doors, Frank Zappa and more. More information here.

In 1971, as her album Blue topped charts around the world, Joni Mitchell crafted one hundred copies of Morning Glory on the Vine as a holiday gift for her closest friends (see original book). For this stunningly beautiful book, Joni hand-wrote an exquisite selection of her own lyrics and poems and illustrated them with more than thirty of her original paintings and watercolors. Hand-crafted, signed, and numbered in Los Angeles, the existing copies of this labor of love have rarely been seen in the past half-century.

Now, as Joni celebrates her seventy-fifth birthday, Morning Glory on the Vine: Early Songs and Drawings is available widely for the first time. In this faithfully reproduced facsimile edition, Joni's best-loved lyrics and poems spill across the pages in her own elegant script. The lively, full-color watercolor paintings depict a superb array of landscapes, still-lifes, portraits of friends, self portraits, innovative abstractions, and more. All the paintings from the original book are included, along with several additional works that Joni had intended to include for her friends in 1971. Finally, the refreshed volume features an original introduction written by Joni herself. Morning Glory on the Vine is a gorgeous and intimate keepsake and an invitation to explore anew the dazzling, visionary world of Joni Mitchell. More information here.

In Joni 75, artists gather to celebrate Joni's 75th birthday. The lineup features Brandi Carlile; Glen Hansard; Emmylou Harris; Norah Jones; Chaka Khan; Diana Krall; Kris Kristofferson; Los Lobos with La Marisoul, Cesar Castro and Xochi Flores; Graham Nash; Seal; James Taylor; and Rufus Wainwright. Presented by The Music Center at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, the Joni 75 concerts were recorded November 6 and 7, 2018, with musical arrangements by co-musical directors Brian Blade and Jon Cowherd. Premieres nationwide beginning March 2 on PBS. Check local listings here.

Musicians! The transcription team is expanding its reach. If you are a guitarist, a pianist, a bass player, or just someone who loves Joni's music - you can now follow the team and learn about the magic behind Joni's music.

To celebrate Valentine's Day, RHINO is giving away a copy of Joni Mitchell's LOVE HAS MANY FACES on vinyl and one hardcover copy of Joni - The Joni Mitchell Sessions book by Norman Seeff. The limited-edition, 8LP boxed set is presented in a hard-bound deluxe folio package. Limited to 5,000 individually numbered copies, it includes 53 songs on eight 180-gram LPs. Etchings of Mitchell’s artwork are featured on four individual album sides, each one signifying the end of an act in the ballet. Enter to win!

The International Folk Music Awards (IFMAs) was held tonight at the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montréal, Canada. The Elaine Weissman Lifetime Achievement Awards are presented each year during the annual event. Recipients are determined by the voting members of Folk Alliance International and are presented to a living recipient (Joni), a memorial recipient (Leonard Cohen), and an organization or recognized academic (fRoots Magazine). Joni was not in attendance and long-time friend Eric Andersen agreed to accept the award for her. Eric got stuck on a snowbound train attempting to get to the event, and texted them his acceptance comments. They agreed to read it, but didn't do so.

"I am happy to say that Joni is very grateful to receive this important award and proud as a Canadian to receive it here in this sacred city. She's sorry she can't be here to see everyone and accept it personally. To most of us, she remains the flower in the desert who could always find the truth on other people's lies and beauty in the wreckage. She remains a warrior with a stubborn streak and unrelenting stamina who could drink a case of anyone and still be on her feet!--Thank you with open hearts."

See the video that Folk Alliance International created for the event.