From ANDRAS JONES: To bring this episode to a close we come to the Joni question.

We tried to get the great lady herself to furnish us with a query but she’s obviously not an easy person to get to. In lieu of a her question we asked The Pop Oracle for Joni’s message for us. By this time in the course of the show, since all the other songs had been chosen, we knew the answer (“Ladies Of The Canyon”) and the artists who would be performing it.

CALICO are KP HAWTHORN & KAITLIN WOLFBERG. Historically Calico also includes Manda Mosher but she couldn’t be there so KP’s husband JOHNNY HAWTHORN filled in on guitar.

I’ve acknowledged Kaitlin several times already for being the genesis of this Joni tribute, and she did more than that. Lending her credibility to my vision, Kaitlin invited several of her friends and fellow Joni lovers to join the action for this show, and the first person she suggested was KP. Not to diminish anyone else but KP, aka Kirsten Proffit, has been the musical MVP of this episode. From pre-production to the recording session to post-production to the release.

Allow me to count the ways.

1. KP was the first guest (after Kaitlin & Syd) to say yes to being on the show.

2. KP had multiple Joni songs at the ready so when we fell one performer short, she and Johnny were able to step right up.

3. Calico’s was the last song chosen so KP and her crew waited around until everyone else had gone and they did so with a great attitude.

4. When I needed someone to sing and record the Joni-style R8B Theme to Gabriel Gordon’s guitar I asked KP and she totally nailed it. Best R8B theme yet!

5.  I was feeling insecure about the messy parts of this episode when KP and I had a call, and  when I asked her what she thought about the messines in our previous reading with Syd she told me, “That’s rock and roll” in such a way that it lifted a 3,000 pound boulder off my brain.

Thank you KP!

If this were a game show, and the winner got to meet and play a song for Joni, I’d say the Pop Oracle chose KP, and if Joni’s listening, she just did.

Thank you to all the musicians who contributed their talents to this show: Gabriel Gordon, Carla Olson, Bart Davenport, KP & Johnny Hawthorn, Tara Austin, Kaitlin Wolfberg, Syd Straw, Calico, David Goodstein, Fuzzbee Morse & Emily Elkin

And to those who asked a question: David Jenkins, Jody Porter, Steve Gregoropoulos &  Sarah T. Russel

And all of you who wish you could have been there. Luckily this is an entirely non-local experience and if you heard it you WERE there.

Most of all, thank you Joni Mitchell.

For the songs
and the stories
and the passion you’ve inspired in these great musicians.

Every Pop Oracle session is a healing and this one is all for you.

Presently Yours,
Andras Jones

LADIES OF THE CANYON

Trina wears her wampum beads
She fills her drawing book with line
Sewing lace on widows’ weeds
And filigree on leaf and vine
Vine and leaf are filigree
And her coat’s a secondhand one
Trimmed with antique luxury
She is a lady of the canyon

Annie sits you down to eat
She always makes you welcome in
Cats and babies ’round her feet
And all are fat and none are thin
None are thin and all are fat
She may bake some brownies today
Saying you are welcome back
She is another canyon lady

Estrella circus girl
Comes wrapped in songs and gypsy shawls
Songs like tiny hammers hurled
At beveled mirrors in empty halls
Empty halls and beveled mirrors
Sailing seas and climbing banyans
Come out for a visit here
To be a lady of the canyon

Trina takes her paints and her threads
And she weaves a pattern all her own
Annie bakes her cakes and her breads
And she gathers flowers for her home
For her home she gathers flowers
And Estrella dear companion
Colors up the sunshine hours
Pouring music down the canyon
Coloring the sunshine hours
They are the ladies of the canyon