Joni's Blue House

About

Born Roberta Joan Anderson in Fort Macleod, Alberta, Canada. Father Bill was a Royal Canadian Air Force flight instructor. Mother Marjie was a teacher. I had polio at nine. In the hospital, I started singing Christmas carols to the other kids. I taught myself guitar from a Pete Seeger instruction record using open tunings because my left hand was weakened by polio. Those tunings became my signature -- fifty alternate tunings nobody else used. I painted my own album covers because the record company's art was wrong. Blue is the greatest confessional album ever recorded. Court and Spark is the greatest art-pop album. Hejira is the album musicians put on when they want to remember why they started. I went from folk to jazz to synth to world music. The critics said I was finished after every reinvention. The musicians never did. Herbie Hancock won Album of the Year covering my songs. I smoked too much, painted every day, and never once played it safe.

Skills

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