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When the New York Times ran a list of the greatest living American songwriters earlier this year, the ranking was greeted with a lot of reader flack for not including Joni Mitchell. The newspaper’s explanation at the time
was that Mitchell was — and remained — a Canadian citizen, despite residing primarily in California, thus the exclusion.
Now, the Times may need to update and amend the list after all, because the legendary singer-songwriter is now a U.S. citizen.
On her Instagram Tuesday morning, Mitchell posted a photograph of herself, smiling as she held an American flag, standing in front of dual United States and Department of Homeland Security flags. Along with that, she posted a short video of herself being applauded as she was called up to be sworn in as a citizen.
Her simple caption: “A journey that began 62 years ago.”
No further information was immediately forthcoming from Mitchell or her reps about the surprise move to dual citizenship after six-plus decades.
Some may wonder why Mitchell picked now, of all times, to officially align herself with the U.S., given how many musicians of her generation and ilk have come out with statements suggesting that the Trump era has not been America’s proudest moment. But there’s a possibility that the current climate had something, or everything, to do with her decision.
Two years ago, in an appearance fronting a “Joni Jam” at the Hollywood Bowl, Mitchell blurted out “Fuck Donald Trump,” then added, “I wish I could vote…I’m a Canadian. I’m one of those lousy immigrants.”
Mitchell was born Roberta Joan Anderson in 1943 in Fort McLeod, Alberta. Her family moved to Saskatoon when she was 9. She enrolled at Calgary’s Alberta College of Art in 1963. Biographies generally cite her move to the U.S. as occurring in 1965, when she married Chuck Mitchell and the couple moved to Detroit, both becoming part of the folk scene there. She made her first appearance in New York at the Gaslight the following year, then moved to Chelsea in 1967 following a marital separation. She headed west to the Laurel Canyon area of Los Angeles in 1968, then bought a home in Bel Air in 1975.
But she maintained close Canadian ties and, amid her U.S. adventures, set up residency in British Columbia around the time “Blue” was released in 1971. Most recently, she has been known to host private “Joni jams” with fellow musicians in the Santa Barbara area.
Mitchell suffered a brain aneurysm in 2015 and was considered retired from public performance for years after that, but made a remarkable, if gradual, recovery that led to her performing at the Newport Folk Festival in 2022 as part of an all-star “Joni Jam” organized by Brandi Carlile, followed by similar group performances at the Gorge in Washington state in 2023 and the Hollywood Bowl in 2024.
