Joni Mitchell to Be Honored With Gershwin Prize and Tribute Concert - The New York Times

Music|Joni Mitchell to Be Honored With Gershwin Prize and Tribute Concert

Joni Mitchell, the revered singer-songwriter who has precocious begun tiptoeing backmost into the nationalist eye, has been named this year’s recipient of the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, an grant delivered by the Library of Congress, the instauration announced Thursday.

Mitchell, 79, has received a question of accolades implicit the past fewer years, including designation astatine the Kennedy Center Honors; a tribute from MusiCares, a Grammy-affiliated charity; and an honorary doctorate from the Berklee College of Music. The commendations person made once-rare nationalist appearances by Mitchell not truthful rare. In July, she performed successful public for the archetypal clip since she suffered a encephalon aneurysm successful 2015, stunning attendees astatine the Newport Folk Festival — and viewers of the viral videos filmed there.

As portion of the Gershwin Prize, Mitchell volition beryllium honored with a tribute performance connected March 1 successful Washington, D.C., that volition aerial connected PBS connected March 31. Typically, honorees execute astatine slightest 1 opus astatine the event.

Mitchell, who was 1 of the defining singer-songwriters of the 1960s and ’70s, was already expected to instrumentality to performing aboriginal this year. The instrumentalist Brandi Carlile, whom Mitchell has referred to arsenic her “ambassador,” announced past year that Mitchell would header a performance astatine the Gorge Amphitheater successful Washington State successful June, a time aft Carlile anchors her ain amusement there.

Recognition for Mitchell’s originative achievements has surged successful caller years, arsenic her 1971 medium “Blue” was wide celebrated for its 50th anniversary and the instrumentalist started an ongoing task called the Joni Mitchell Archives, which unearths affluent collections of antecedently unheard music.

Performing alongside Carlile astatine the Newport Folk Festival successful Rhode Island, Mitchell sang immoderate of her astir beloved songs, including “Big Yellow Taxi,” “Both Sides Now” and “A Case of You.” Writing successful The New York Times, the professional Lindsay Zoladz called Mitchell’s resurgence “heartening,” noting that “it allows a beloved if somewhat underappreciated creator to person her laurels portion she’s inactive living.”

“Younger artists got the accidental to wage earnest homage to their elder; a mature pistillate who was not yet finished reinterpreting her life’s enactment reclaimed the stage,” Zoladz wrote.

The Gershwin Prize was established successful 2007 to grant surviving philharmonic artists whose contributions to fashionable euphony “exemplify the modular of excellence associated with George and Ira Gershwin.” The recipient is chosen by the librarian of Congress — presently Carla Hayden — who receives proposal from scholars, producers, songwriters and different euphony specialists. Previous recipients see Tony Bennett, Emilio and Gloria Estefan, Carole King, Smokey Robinson and Stevie Wonder.