New Joni Mitchell Interview

[HejiraNYC]

Originally Posted by markolas

I think interviewers have mentioned it before, but this is the first thing I've read where she admitted that her voice had deteriorated. I heard a noticeable loss of range from Taming the Tiger on. So maybe she sounds closer to how she did on Turbulent Indigo?
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Well, I'm inclined to think that JM is just talking out of her ass and it really boils down to smoking cigs for the past 50 years. But then again, look at Christine! She must have been smoking for over 40 years, yet she sounds better than ever. I guess smoking affects everybody differently. Still... I would hate to see what kind of black sludge must have accumulated in their lungs.

Originally Posted by markolas

Couldn't hurt. Stevie started losing it at the end of the Enchanted tour, and it's almost like she doesn't have any control at all.

I totally disagree. Personally I thought she sounded terrible on the Enchanted tour, as much as I liked the setlist. She was screaming much of the time, and she was basically straining to get through a show. The difference between now and then is that Stevie has defined some rigid boundaries around how she uses her voice every night. Unfortunately, this can seem dull and uninspired, but I think she has much better and more consistent control of her tone and pitch.