MY LIFE IN MUSIC
Allison Russell
The folk-roots queen on her formative musical experiences: “We did an interpretative dance performance to Sinéad O’Connor!”
JONI MITCHELL
Ladies Of The Canyon REPRISE, 1970
There’s so many Joni records that have been deeply formative and influential for me as amusician and a writer and ahuman, but the reason I picked Ladies Of The Canyon is because that’s tied to my first musical memory. It was my mum’s favourite record when Iwas in foster care, and Iwould go for these brief visits with my mum at my grandma’s house because she wasn’t allowed to be unsupervised with me at that point. I would be hiding under the piano, listening to her play along to Ladies Of The Canyon. Iwas electrified by the clarinet coda of “For Free”. And then of course, Iended up being aclarinettist –and getting to play clarinet onstage with Joni at the Gorge and at Newport!
TRACY CHAPMAN
Tracy Chapman ELEKTRA, 1988