Released in 1971, Blue is Joni Mitchell’s fourth album and considered by many critics to be among the best albums of all time. The content is introspective and revealing. Many songs deal with love and relationships. It feels like Mitchell is holding nothing back. Indeed rumor has it Kris Kristofferson said upon first listen, “Joni! Keep something of yourself!” Mitchell was bouncing between relationships. She had just had a rough breakup with Graham Nash, and before finishing the album she began seeing James Taylor (who plays guitar on three of the tracks). The arrangements are stripped down and quiet, often just piano, guitar and Appalachian dulcimer. The vocals are clear and plaintive. In her quietly powerful way, the Canadian songwriter manages to write deeply personal songs that seem to speak to all of us. Mitchell told Rollingstone in 1979 that “there’s hardly a dishonest note in the vocals. At that period of my life, I had no persona defenses. I felt like a cellophane wrapper on a pack of cigarettes. I felt like I had absolutely no secrets from the world, and I couldn’t pretend in my life to be strong. Or to be happy.” According to the New York Times the album was one of the “turning points and pinnacles in 20th-century popular music.”

Lineup

• Wrenn
• Adron
• Shana Tucker
• Casey Harper