Joni Mitchell shares first known recordings for new archival series | NME

Joni Mitchell has announced a new series of archival releases from across her 50-plus year career.

The first edition, ‘Joni Mitchell Archives Vol. 1: The Early Years (1963 – 1967)’ will be released October 30. The album is composed of recordings prior to the release of her 1968 debut album, ‘Song to a Seagull.’

‘Vol. 1’ will be a five-disc set containing over six hours of unreleased material. 29 of the songs included in the box-set have never been released with Mitchell’s vocals.

The release also comes with new 40-page liner notes, comprised of Mitchell’s conversations with former Rolling Stone journalist Cameron Crowe discussing the archives. Crowe has interviewed Mitchell throughout her career, and will purportedly continue to contribute to subsequent entries into the series.

Ahead of its release, the first known recording of Mitchell has been shared. Mitchell, 19 years old at the time, is performing a cover of ‘House of the Rising Sun’ at the Saskatoon radio station CFQC AM.

Listen to it below:

In a press statement, Mitchell said the release saw her overcome misgivings about her early material.

“The early stuff, I shouldn’t be such a snob against it,” she said.

“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. I had this realisation… I was a folk singer.”

‘Joni Mitchell Archives Vol. 1: The Early Years (1963 – 1967)’ is now available to pre-order on Mitchell’s website in a variety of editions.