The Road To Joni

SHEROES is proud to present The Road To Joni - a limited audio series and travelogue devoted to SHERO Joni Mitchell. Our first all-genders series will include interviews with artists and some non-musicians about their own roads to Joni Mitchell, where that road has led them, and how they see Joni’s artistic road as an influence on music and culture as we know it today. In September host Carmel Holt will be embarking on a cross country road trip, stopping along the way in public radio markets where SHEROES Radio airs, with a destination of the Joni Jam at the Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, CA on October 19 & 20, 2024. Ten weekly one-hour episodes will include: interviews, Road To Joni playlists, and a handful of live recorded events produced in partnership with radio affiliates. The first episode drops on September 6th, and the finale on Joni’s 81st birthday, November 7th.  This innovative new series will be hosted and produced by Carmel Holt, former on-air host, interviewer and Asst. Music Director at WFUV in New York City, creator / host / producer of the nationally syndicated radio show SHEROES Radio, the SHEROES Podcast, and the Webby-nominated Sonos Radio podcast SHEROES Mixtape Memoir.

SHEROES is proud to present The Road To Joni - a limited audio series and travelogue devoted to SHERO Joni Mitchell. Our first all-genders series will include interviews with artists and some non-musicians about their own roads to Joni Mitchell, where that road has led them, and how they see Joni’s artistic road as an influence on music and culture as we know it today. In September host Carmel Holt will be embarking on a cross country road trip, stopping along the way in public radio markets where SHEROES Radio airs, with a destination of the Joni Jam at the Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, CA on October 19 & 20, 2024. Ten weekly one-hour episodes will include: interviews, Road To Joni playlists, and a handful of live recorded events produced in partnership with radio affiliates. The first episode drops on September 6th, and the finale on Joni’s 81st birthday, November 7th.  This innovative new series will be hosted and produced by Carmel Holt, former on-air host, interviewer and Asst. Music Director at WFUV in New York City, creator / host / producer of the nationally syndicated radio show SHEROES Radio, the SHEROES Podcast, and the Webby-nominated Sonos Radio podcast SHEROES Mixtape Memoir.

Episode One takes us back to South By Southwest 2024 in Austin, TX where an interview with Kathleen Edwards takes an unexpected and affirming turn, and Kathleen remembers how a case of mistaken identity temporarily changes the backstage rules at Toronto's Massey Hall. Then we travel to Newport Folk Festival 2024, where Joni Mitchell made her big comeback in 2022, and Carmel meets up with Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes who shares how talking to Brandi at Newport a few years ago led him to getting the invitation to jam sessions at Joni's house and getting to play his favorite Joni song with his "forever north star." And Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig of Lucius tell us of the first heartbreaking missed opportunity to go to Joni's house, which soon would turn around into an unforgettable Christmas and six year journey of witnessing the incredible healing power of music and community of the Joni Jams, from living room to stage.

We travel to Los Angeles for the first half of Episode 2, where Carmel talks to legendary producer, bassist, and Blue Note Records president, Don Was about his first gig ever at age 12 opening for Joni Mitchell. Don also shares how he learned an important life lesson from listening to Blue, and discusses the sophistication of Joni's harmonic and poetic compositions, and how this naturally intersected with some of the greats of jazz, including their mutual friend, the late Wayne Shorter. Next, in a heartfelt conversation, host Carmel Holt tells Bonnie Raitt that her own road to Joni began with cassettes of Blue and Bonnie's 1974 album Streetlights, and we learn that her version of "That Song About The Midway" also holds a very special meaning for Bonnie, including performing the song in Joni's living room at one of the Joni Jams. Bonnie shares how inspirational and important Joni has been for her, and the ways she has impacted her work.