Ladies of the Roundhouse
Ahead of an 80th-birthday tribute in London, Vashti Bunyan and Lail Arad tell Uncut about the life-changing impact of Joni Mitchell
“I CAN remember exactly where I was when I first heard Joni Mitchell,” says Vashti Bunyan. “I was living in a very damp cottage in the Lake District in 1968. There was a black and-white television in one of the rooms and I would put on a big coat and watch it. I saw her sitting at a piano and playing –it was probably “Both Sides Now”–and for me it was hugely affecting. I thought, ‘I can never do that.’ It had a huge effect on me, because from that moment on I never ever believed in myself. For about 30 years, I gave up on music altogether. No record player or radio, I didn’t even sing to my children. I felt like such a failure, it’s awful. I don’t like to admit it, but that’s what happened.”