I Dream of Joni

The eternal singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell is seen anew, portrayed through a witty and comprehensive exploration of anecdotes, quotes, and lyrics by Henry Alford, the most graceful of humorists (Vanity Fair) and a writer for The New Yorker. Joni Mitchells life, psyche, and evolving legacy are explored here in vivid technicolorfrom her childhood in Saskatoon, Canada, to her arrival in Laurel Canyon that turned her into, as Alford puts it, the bard of heartbreak and longing. Each period of Mitchells life is observed via the artists, friends, family, and lovers she encountered along the way, including James Taylor, Leonard Cohen, Georgia OKeefe, Prince, and, most significantly, Kilauren, the daughter Mitchell gave up for adoption at birth but then reconnected with decades later. Presented in the impressionistic vein of Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret, I Dream of Joni explores in fifty-three essays, with the authors trademark wit and verve, the life of the legendary singer-songwriter.