In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Canada's Joni Mitchell did much to bring the torch song into the rock era. Her albums Ladies of the Canyon (1970), Blue (1971), and Court and Spark (1974) are classics of an era when singer-songwriters achieved prominence. Few have matched her ability to compose musical short stories of such vivid clarity.
Guitarist, vocalist, and keyboards player, Mitchell (who was born Roberta Joan Anderson, on ) first began writing and performing on...