Traveling

"A vibrant critical assessment of the eclectic and enigmatic folk/jazz/pop icon...Those simply looking for loving commentaries on Mitchell classics like Blue will find them, but Powers offers more than mere hagiography, positioning Mitchell as 'an embodiment of freedom and singularity, of sorrow and of play.' A top-notch music critic set loose on a worthy subject." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Powers turns the act of documenting someone's life into an artistic endeavor, which makes this book unlike most other titles in the genre...Experiencing this book is more akin to wandering down a scenic path than traveling a timeline of someone's life, and there is no other musician better suited for this style of biography than the ever-changing Mitchell." - Library Journal (starred review)

"A dazzling portrait of a legendary musician." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Ann Powers does [Mitchell's] complex legacy justice, and then some, in this essential book." - ZYZZYVA

"Throughout her smart, exquisitely crafted book, Powers takes what her sources told her and filters it discriminately through her deep knowledge of Mitchell's life and work, American musical culture, and popular culture more broadly. She never lets an inflated claim float unpunctured and declines to tell an over-told tale one more time...Readers of Traveling should expect careful unraveling of the layers of meaning and effect in Joni Mitchell's music, and they'll get it." - The Nation

"Powers offers a deep dive into the work and life of Mitchell. No straightforward biography, Powers talks to everyone she can, charts the life journey of this singular artist and her impact on the world. And it's all done in a freedom, jazzy style Mitchell herself would approve." - Parade

"A smart critical romp." - Boston Globe

"Traveling is a monumental biography--revelatory and compassionate." - Elizabeth DeNoma, Executive Editor, DeNoma Literary Services

"Powers, one of the very best music critics we've got, masterfully guides readers through Mitchell's life and work at a fascinating slant, her approach both sweeping and intimate as she occupies the dual roles of biographer and fan." - Sophia Stewart, The Millions

"A daring, intimate book about a daring, intimate artist, Traveling is a thrilling provocation from Ann Powers, one of the greatest cultural critics of our time. Merging biography, memoir and analysis, Powers paints a gorgeous map of the artist's influence over a lifetime, puncturing myths and finding electric new connections, always in search of the deeper meaning." - Emily Nussbaum, The New Yorker


"NPR's music critic offers an exploration of how Joni Mitchell came to her sense of self and music, while at the same time reflecting on Powers's own engagement with Mitchell's journey. Based on interviews and archival research, she offers a peripatetic biography that is as questioning of the genre as it is of its subject." - Library Journal

"An exhilarating ride down the lonely roads where Joni Mitchell has led the way. Ann Powers, the most brilliant of music critics, illuminates so many different sides of the artist-the ambitious young folkie, the rock star, the timeless fan obsession-with poetic ingenuity. For anyone who's ever been transfixed by a Mitchell song, Traveling is full of fresh revelations and insights." - Rob Sheffield, author of Dreaming the Beatles

"The Joni Mitchell book we've all been waiting for. Ann Powers gives us a brilliant guided tour through the history, myth, and music of an icon. Traveling provides a seemingly unending supply of treats: canny critical assessments of Joni's beloved catalogue; fascinating nuggets of history; immersive descriptions of the American scene; feminist revisions of received Joni wisdom. And did I mention it's funny? Powers writes with great wit, imagination, and vulnerability, unpacking her own relationship to Mitchell, and to rock music itself. I absolutely loved this book." - Claire Dederer, Bestselling author of Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma

"Thick with the funk of making folk, Traveling climbs from deep sigh to primal scream and then takes a glorious, long way home. This is Ann Powers' intimate, fortifying, and sometimes soul-crushing story of how life becomes songs, how songs chart lives, and how Joni Mitchell became Joni Mitchell." - Danyel Smith, author of Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop

"In this rich, meticulous, feminist tome, Ann Power plunges us deep into the Joni-verse. Every page is a revelation. THIS is the book Joni fans have been waiting for."
- Jessica Hopper, documentarian and author of The First Collection of Criticism By a Living Female Rock Critic