Joni Mitchell Returns To Spotlight For Canadian Songwriters Hall Of Fame Induction

An impressive assortment of artists contributed to the Joni Mitchell tribute album coming this spring from Nonesuch, but there was just as much star power on stage at Toronto's John Bassett Theatre on Sunday night to pay respect to the newest inductee into the Canadian Songwriters Hall Of Fame.

The 63-year-old native of Fort MacLeod, Alta. was honoured for her overall contributions to music, with the hits "Big Yellow Taxi," "Both Sides Now," "Help Me," "Woodstock" and "You Turn Me On, I'm A Radio" being singled out for induction.

While the reclusive Mitchell tuned and strummed a few chords on a custom-made acoustic guitar presented to her by Robin and Claude Boucher backstage before the show, she didn't actually perform as part of the gala event.

That was left to the audience — comprised largely of songwriters, artists and music industry representatives — which was asked by show co-host Andrew Craig to sing along with him to "Big Yellow Taxi." Almost everyone in the theatre obliged, and seemed to know all the words, which brought a big smile to Mitchell's face as she sat beside manager Sam Feldman in the front row.

More polished tributes came from Herbie Hancock (piano) and Chaka Khan (big vocals and hair) on "Help Me," and James Taylor, who received a standing ovation for his rendition of "Woodstock." Rising Canadian opera star Measha Brueggergosman closed the show with a unique operatic arrangement of "Both Sides Now," and also earned a standing O.

After a video presentation and Hancock and author Margaret Atwood waxing poetic about Mitchell and her eclectic talents, the artist took the stage for a brief acceptance speech. She said that she wrote her first song when she was 21 and has completed "a lot of them" since then.

"I need to explore and discover and so that has given me, really, to some what seems like courage, but really it's just in my stars, there's nothing I can do about it."

Mitchell said that she had friends dating back to fourth grade in attendance and that it was a huge honour to be recognized as a key element in Canada's rich songwriting history. She concluded by saying, "I guess I'll just take my award and run now," before leaving the stage to more rousing applause.

Quebecois singer/songwriter Jean-Pierre Ferland was also in attendance and inducted along with his songs "Je Reviens Chez Nous," "Le Petit Roi," "T'es Mon Amour, T'es Ma Maitresse," "Ton Visage" and "Un Peu Plus Haut, Un Peu Plus Loin." Marc-Andre Fortin, Laurence Jalbert, Mario Pelchat and Isabelle Boulay performed Ferland's songs, while Florence K, Veronic DiCaire and Marie-Eve Janvier sang other francophone songs that were honoured.

I can now safely say that I've reached my lifetime quota of listening to French ballads.The one exception was Karkwa's performance of Georges Langford's 1980 song, "Le Frigidaire." I've never heard the original, and just learned that Karkwa is currently one of Quebec's most popular bands, but I was impressed by the group's rock-infused rendition of the hooky pop song.

The late Wilf Carter, who was better known to American fans as Montana Slim, was honoured for his pioneering work in Canadian country music. Corb Lund performed his "There's A Love Knot In My Lariat" while George Canyon sang his "My Old Canadian Home."Early 20th century Broadway lyricist Raymond Egan was the fourth inductee, and Emm Gryner charmed the crowd with her interpretation of one of his old nuggets, "Sleepy Time Gal."

David-Clayton Thomas opened the show by belting out "Spinning Wheel," the massive hit he wrote and sang with Blood Sweat And Tears in 1969. Crooner Michael Buble was an appropriate choice to sing "How About You?," a number written by Ralph Freed and popularized in the 1941 Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney film, Babes On Broadway.

But the most enjoyable song of the night, as far as I was concerned, was Jim Cuddy and Oh Susanna's spirited take on Sylvia Tyson's '60s gem, "You Were On My Mind," which helped unglaze my eyes after some of those aforementioned chansons d'amour.

CBC-TV will air an edited one-hour version of the show at 8 p.m. on March 5.