Reckless Daughter

"She was like a storm." —Leonard Cohen The remarkable, heart-wrenching story of Joni Mitchell, the influential artist who left an indelible mark on American music. In Reckless Daughter, music critic David Yaffe tells the captivating tale of how a Canadian prairie girl became a superstar of folk music in the 1960s, a key figure in the Laurel Canyon scene of the 1970s, and a songwriter who spoke resonantly to audiences across the country. Mitchell, a free-spirited artist, never aspired to pop stardom, claiming to be nothing more than "a painter derailed by circumstances." Yet, she evolved into a talented self-taught musician and brilliant bandleader, releasing a series of experimental, challenging, and revealing albums. Her perceptive lyrics and naked emotion, born out of her life, loves, complaints, and prophecies, captivated listeners. As an artist masterfully balancing narrative and musical complexity, Mitchell garnered admiration from legendary lyricists like Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen, as well as groundbreaking jazz musicians such as Jaco Pastorius, Wayne Shorter, and Herbie Hancock. In this intimate biography, Yaffe draws on dozens of unprecedented in-person interviews with Mitchell, her childhood friends, and famous characters to reveal the backstory behind her famous songs. From her youth in Canada and her bout with polio at age nine to the love affairs that inspired masterpieces, Reckless Daughter offers an engaging portrait of an artist who has enthralled listeners, lovers, and friends alike. In this intimate biography, drawing on dozens of unprecedented in-person interviews with Mitchell, her childhood friends, and a cast of famous characters, Yaffe reveals the backstory behind the famous songs—from Mitchell’s youth in Canada, her bout with polio at age nine, and her early marriage and the child she gave up for adoption, through the love affairs that inspired masterpieces, and up to the present—and shows us why Mitchell has so enthralled her listeners, her lovers, and her friends.