Ann Powers on Joni Mitchell

A Book Review of Traveling on The Path of Joni Mitchell by Ann Powers

From the start, this book has puzzled me. A week after I finished reading it, I’m still puzzled. Now, my puzzlement puzzles me. And so, on a beautiful morning, while the nearby Atlantic Ocean is calling, I’m at my desk, ready to analyze exactly why I’m so puzzled.

This is a book about Joni Mitchell, a favorite artist of mine. She is part of my best memories and part of the education I needed to define myself in my early teens. I’ve eagerly read numerous books and articles about her. Why don’t I love this book? I have a low bar when it comes to enjoying musician biographies. I am usually happy and satisfied with just a few new tidbits on a favorite. So, where’s the love?

First, it’s not a biography. On page 2, Powers writes she is not a biographer. She opposes the idea of a biographer. Instead, she says, she is a kind of mapmaker, guiding others along the journey that, in this case, Joni Mitchell has traveled, and she, Ann Powers, must also travel to write the story.

The author is present in the first chapter, so I think, as a reader, okay, fine. It’s not a biography; we won’t have to read the same old stuff we already know. Great. We’ll go deeper, like a memoir; we’ll be along for the ride with Ann Powers, who I always respect on the radio when I hear her music reviews. Cool. Let’s go.

Oops. Soon, I discovered this is not remotely a memoir or anything like it. Little of Powers is in the text. When it comes, it’s a sudden burst of the author and cringy awkwardness, making me, honestly, look away, skimming the hell out of there. With each odd personal confession of the author, I wonder why she is writing this book.

From the beginning, Powers is clear that she’s never been a big fan of Joni. She’s more into the punk girls—Joan Jett and Debby Harry. Joni was always too pretty for Ann Powers because she “never felt comfortable with the popular girls in high school.”

This takes a bit to process. Isn’t Joan Jett the hottest rocker ever? Isn’t Debby Harry the definition of a Marilyn Monroe form of beauty? And what do they have to do with Joni Mitchell? There’s some issue here, some personal projection onto Joni that Powers is hiding, I think, not just from the readers but also from herself.

And another thing, we are told, there will be no new interview of Joni by Ann Powers. She will not allow herself to be seduced by the subject, as other biographers have been. Everyone seems to suspiciously fall under Joni’s spell, and so Ann Powers must stay away from her. Ann Powers, we’re assured, will not be trying to impress Joni Mitchell by writing this book. And me, I’m thinking, hmm… methinks thou doth protest too much, but I’ll go along, as there’s a big book still to read, and it will be about Joni, right? Maybe it will be more about the music itself and her musician friendships.

No, we don’t learn much of anything new about Joni’s relationships with other musicians. Powers interviews them, but before each interview, warns us that everyone interviewed has their Joni story memorized; they can not be counted on to see or remember anything in a new way. Lower your expectations, she says, and don’t trust that it’s the full truth. As if by magic, prophecy, or projection, it turns out we don’t learn anything new from any of “the boys,” as Powers calls the male musicians that Joni worked with in her Laurel Canyon days. As expected by Powers, every single one of them says that Joni is a genius. Powers has an issue with that. Why do all “the boys” say Joni is a genius, she asks throughout the book. Um, I don’t know, Ann, maybe because she is a genius? And btw why are you calling these 80-year-old dudes “the boys”?

My last hope for this book was to get deep info on the music itself, album by album or phase by phase. Joni worked with many music greats, created unique guitar tunings, and worked in multiple musical genres. I’d be happy to learn more details about how she created her music. Maybe some actual tuning descriptions?

Nope. Except for detailed information on 1990s sessions from Joni’s ex-husband, whom Powers notes proudly she impressed with her detailed questions, we’re told nothing so specific that a musician could use.

This book about Joni Mitchell followed her life in a sequential narrative from the 1950s to the 2020s. Random time periods were detailed inconsistently. It was not a bookish discography, as some albums weren’t even mentioned, and it never went song by song. The reader was assumed to have knowledge of Joni’s life and work, so it’s not for newbie fans. I am unsure who the book is for, except Powers’ editor, who we are told kept bugging her for “her take on Joni Mitchell.”

I must note that I’m leaving out a clearly unresolved issue Powers has with Joni’s motherhood. It’s a lot. To her credit, she informs us of the issue, not an easy thing to do. Still, truth without insight is awkward to hear. It’s easy to see Powers has blindspots related to her own issues with birthmothers. Unfortunately, I believe those blindspots and projections on Joni affected the writing and the research in this book.

Powers promised a map to guide others as she traveled behind Joni. If so, I am left lost. The map is incomplete, unnamed, and not to scale. The guide herself is hiding behind her own issues that have nothing to do with Joni Mitchell.

This Is Not About is written by Ada Austen, the author of Better Late Than Never, a multicultural second-chance romance set on the beaches and boardwalks of the New Jersey Shore. It is the New Jersey Romance Writers 2021 Golden Leaf Winner - Best Book by NJ Author.