Joni: The Lyrical Life of Joni Mitchell

As the title would suggest, Joni: The Lyrical Life of Joni Mitchell is a biographical picture book about the eponymous singer-songwriter. Alko gives a thorough overview of Mitchell’s peripatetic life from her childhood in Saskatchewan, to art school in Calgary, to travelling to Toronto, moving to Detroit with her then partner, to New York City’s Chelsea district, and finally to California. Readers see the major events, moments, and people that shaped Mitchell’s life and the inspiration for many of her hits, including “Both Sides Now”, “Big Yellow Taxi” and “Chelsea Morning”. The book concludes with the release of Mitchell’s 1979 experimental album Mingus, even though, as the discography points out, she has released a dozen albums since then.

The writing is flowery and rife with metaphor and simile. Alko is constantly connecting Mitchell’s music to visual art – paintings are “poems on a page”, she paints her feelings into a song, etc. – reminding the reader that Mitchell is also a visual artist. Alko is clearly a fan writing for other fans. She is almost evangelical about her subject, crowning Mitchell as a sage, a truth- teller who bestows her wisdom upon us through her music. The last image of Mitchell has her adorned with wings and flying above the earth while the text says that “truth gives us freedom”.

Alko’s ornate words are matched with equally elaborate illustrations. She uses acrylic paint, collage, found objects, and wildflowers to create colourful and busy illustrations that are often so jam-packed with images and text they distract from the story. The collage work is intricate, using book pages and patterns and stamps to create depth and texture. There are images of the natural world that repeat throughout - birds, insects, and flowers – which add consistency from page to page.

While it may take a bit of effort for readers to wade through the elaborate text and images, Joni: The Lyrical Life of Joni Mitchell does a good job of introducing readers to this folk hero and may encourage new and existing fans to rediscover her music.