Music / Visual art
Joni Mitchell
born 1943 · singer-songwriter, guitarist, painter
The Canadian songwriter spent 1965–1967 in Detroit's Cass Corridor, playing the city's folk coffeehouses with her husband Chuck Mitchell and developing her open-tuned guitar style.
- Born
Fort Macleod, Alberta, Canada
age 82- Birth name
- Roberta Joan Anderson
- Detroit years
- 1965–1967
- Field
- Music, Visual art
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
In the spring of 1965 Joni Anderson met Michigan folk singer Chuck Mitchell at a Toronto club, crossed into the United States with him that April and married him in June. The couple settled in the Verona apartments in Detroit's Cass Corridor and worked the local folk circuit as a duo and as solo acts: the Chess Mate coffeehouse on Livernois near Six Mile, the Alcove bar near Wayne State University, the Rathskeller on the University of Detroit campus and the Raven Gallery in Southfield. In Detroit she learned the alternate guitar tunings, shown to her by singer Eric Andersen, that became the foundation of her writing, and she began to build the song catalog that other artists soon recorded. The marriage ended in early 1967 and she left for New York; within a year she had her first album, Song to a Seagull, and her career took off from there.
Highlights
- Lived and performed in Detroit, 1965–1967
- Regular at the Chess Mate coffeehouse on Livernois Avenue
- Learned the open tunings behind her style from Eric Andersen in Detroit
- Eleven Grammy Awards; Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1997)
- Blue (1971) ranked No. 3 on Rolling Stone's 2020 list of the greatest albums
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 5
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Lived here · 1965–1967
Verona Apartments
Status being checked
Apartment building in the Cass Corridor where she and Chuck Mitchell lived.
Performed here · 1965–1967
Chess Mate coffeehouse
Closed
Folk coffeehouse on Livernois Avenue near Six Mile Road where the Mitchells played regularly.
Performed here · 1965–1967
The Alcove
Status being checked
Bar near Wayne State University where the couple performed.
Performed here · 1965–1967
The Rathskeller, University of Detroit
Status being checked
Campus restaurant at the University of Detroit where the Mitchells played.
Performed here · 1965–1967
Raven Gallery
Closed
Southfield folk club and gallery on the couple's regular circuit.