Since her debut album arrived in 1968, Joni Mitchell’s songs have been embraced across generations, inspired multitudes of artists around the world, and earned every conceivable accolade. She is now opening her vault for the first time to create the Joni Mitchell Archives, a new series of boxed set releases that will span the next several years, featuring deep dives in to unreleased content from different eras of her storied career. Mitchell has been intimately involved in producing the archive series, lending her vision and personal touch to every element of the project.

The series debuts on October 30 with JONI MITCHELL ARCHIVES VOL. 1: THE EARLY YEARS (1963-1967), which features nearly six hours of unreleased home, live, and radio recordings that flow chronologically to paint a rich portrait of Mitchell’s rapid growth as a performer and songwriter during the period leading up to her debut album. This treasure trove of unheard audio includes 29 original Mitchell compositions that have never been released before with her vocals. The collection will be available as a deluxe 5-CD set.

The collection begins in 1963 with her earliest-known recording as a 19-year-old Mitchell performs at CFQC AM, a radio station in her hometown of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The box culminates with a stirring, three-set 1967 nightclub performance recorded at the Canterbury House in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

 Through a wealth of unreleased live performances, home recordings, and radio broadcasts, ARCHIVES VOL. 1 brings into focus the period when Mitchell was finding her voice artistically. It shows her moving away from the folk standards of her early days (“John Hardy” and “House Of The Rising Sun”) and starting to write and sing her own songs (“Day After Day” and “Urge For Going.”)

The 5-CD collection includes a 40-page booklet that features many unseen photos from Mitchell’s personal collection as well as new liner notes featuring conversations between writer/filmmaker Cameron Crowe and Mitchell, who recently spent a couple of Sunday afternoons together discussing her archives. Crowe will continue to provide liners for future releases in the series.

Looking back, Mitchell reflects on her early label of “folk singer”: “The early stuff, I shouldn’t be such a snob against it. A lot of these songs, I just lost them. They fell away. They only exist in these recordings. For so long I rebelled against the term, ‘I was never a folk-singer.’ I would get pissed off if they put that label on me. I didn’t think it was a good description of what I was. And then I listened and…it was beautiful. It made me forgive my beginnings. And I had this realization…I was a folk singer!”

Tracklist

Disc One

Radio Station CFQC AM, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada (ca. 1963)

1. “House Of The Rising Sun”
2. “John Hardy”
3. “Dark As A Dungeon”
4. “Tell Old Bill”
5. “Nancy Whiskey”
6. “Anathea”
7. “Copper Kettle”
8. “Fare Thee Well (Dink’s Song)”
9. “Molly Malone”

Live at the Half Beat: Yorkville, Toronto, Canada (October 21, 1964)

First Set

1. Introduction
2. “Nancy Whiskey”
3. Intro to “The Crow On The Cradle”
4. “The Crow On The Cradle”
5. “Pastures Of Plenty”
6. “Every Night When The Sun Goes In”
7. Intro to “Sail Away”
8. “Sail Away”

Second Set

1. “John Hardy”
2. “Dark As A Dungeon”
3. Intro to “Maids When You’re Young Never Wed An Old Man”
4. “Maids When You’re Young Never Wed An Old Man”
5. “The Dowie Dens Of Yarrow”
6. “Deportee (Plane Crash At Los Gatos)”

Joni’s Parents’ House: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada (February 1965)

1. “The Long Black Rifle”
2. “Ten Thousand Miles”
3. “Seven Daffodils”

Disc Two

Myrtle Anderson Birthday Tape: Detroit, MI (1965)

1. “Urge For Going”
2. “Born To Take The Highway”
3. “Here Today And Gone Tomorrow”

Jac Holzman Demo: Detroit, MI (August 24, 1965)

1. “What Will You Give Me”
2. “Let It Be Me”
3. “The Student Song”
4. “Day After Day”
5. “Like The Lonely Swallow”

Let’s Sing Out, CBC TV: University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada (October 4, 1965)

1. “Favorite Colour”
2. “Me And My Uncle”

Home Demo: Detroit, MI (ca. 1966)

1. “Sad Winds Blowin’”

Let’s Sing Out, CBC TV: Laurentian University, London, ON, Canada (October 24, 1966)

1. “Just Like Me”
2. “Night In The City”

Live at the 2nd Fret: Philadelphia, PA (November 1966)

1. “Brandy Eyes”
2. Intro to “Urge For Going”
3. “Urge For Going”
4. Intro to “What’s The Story Mr. Blue”
5. “What’s The Story Mr. Blue”
6. “Eastern Rain”
7. Intro to “The Circle Game”
8. “The Circle Game”
9. Intro to “Night In The City”
10. “Night In The City”

 

Disc Three

Folklore, WHAT FM: Philadelphia, PA, (March 12, 1967)

1. Intro to “Both Sides Now”
2. “Both Sides Now”
3. Intro to “The Circle Game”
4. “The Circle Game”

Live at the 2nd Fret: Philadelphia, PA (March 17, 1967)

Second Set

1. “Morning Morgantown”
2. “Born To Take The Highway”
3. Intro to “Song To A Seagull”
4. “Song To A Seagull”

Third Set

1. “Winter Lady”
2. Intro to “Both Sides Now”
3. “Both Sides Now”

Folklore, WHAT FM: Philadelphia, PA (March 19, 1967)

1. Intro to “Eastern Rain”
2. “Eastern Rain”
3. Intro to “Blue On Blue”
4. “Blue On Blue”

“A Record Of My Changes” – Michael’s Birthday Tape: North Carolina (May 1967)

1. “Gemini Twin”
2. “Strawflower Me”
3. “A Melody In Your Name”
4. “Tin Angel”
5. “I Don’t Know Where I Stand”
6. Joni improvising

Folklore, WHAT FM: Philadelphia, PA (May 28, 1967)

1. Intro to “Sugar Mountain”
2. “Sugar Mountain”

Disc Four

Home Demo: New York City, NY (ca. June 1967)

1. “I Had A King”
2. “Free Darling”
3. “Conversation”
4. “Morning Morgantown”
5. “Dr. Junk”
6. “Gift Of The Magi”
7. “Chelsea Morning”
8. “Michael From Mountains”
9. “Cara’s Castle”
10. “Jeremy” (Incomplete)

Live at Canterbury House: Ann Arbor, MI (October 27, 1967)

First Set

1. “Conversation”
2. Intro to “Come To The Sunshine”
3. “Come To The Sunshine”
4. Intro to “Chelsea Morning”
5. “Chelsea Morning”
6. Intro to “Gift Of The Magi”
7. “Gift Of The Magi”
8. “Play Little David”
9. Intro to “The Dowie Dens Of Yarrow”
10. “The Dowie Dens Of Yarrow”
11. “I Had A King”
12. Intro to “Free Darling”
13. “Free Darling”
14. Intro to “Cactus Tree”
15. “Cactus Tree” 

Disc Five

Live at Canterbury House: Ann Arbor, MI (October 27, 1967)

Second Set

1. “Little Green”
2. Intro to “Marcie”
3. “Marcie”
4. Intro to “Ballerina Valerie”
5. “Ballerina Valerie”
6. “The Circle Game”
7. Intro to “Michael From Mountains”
8. “Michael From Mountains”
9. “Go Tell The Drummer Man”
10. Intro to “I Don’t Know Where I Stand”
11. “I Don’t Know Where I Stand”

Third Set

1. “A Melody In Your Name”
2. Intro to “Carnival In Kenora”
3. “Carnival In Kenora”
4. “Songs To Aging Children Come”
5. Intro to “Dr. Junk”
6. “Dr. Junk”
7. “Morning Morgantown”
8. Intro to “Night In The City”
9. “Night In The City”
10. “Both Sides Now”
11. “Urge For Going”

Soundwave

https://youtu.be/4wWR3ZkyyGY