Paying tribute: Why these 3 Minnesota singers love Joni Mitchell

What's so special about the Joni Mitchell songbook?

That was the question posed to three Minnesota vocalists — all scrappy entrepreneurs known for gigging about town, all set to perform in Sunday's "Painting Joni" tribute at Ordway Concert Hall in St. Paul.

The concert's mastermind is Lori Dokken, a bar singer (with classical training) who also works as an educator and church music director at Unity Minneapolis. Dokken was struck by the idea after inviting young singer-songwriter Jacy Smith to perform Mitchell's "Woodstock" at church a couple of years ago. That performance "took me to a different place in appreciating Joni's music," remembered Dokken. "And I thought — my God, we've got to do a concert."

Here are excerpts from a conversation with Dokken, Smith and Judi Vinar, jazz singer and veteran voice teacher.

Q: You've said that you can never cover Joni Mitchell, you can only interpret her. What does that mean?

Dokken: I tell people about our show, and I say we're not a cover band. It's not a cover night. With some of the pieces, the instrumentation is closer to the original recordings, but we bring our own salt and pepper to it.

Vinar: My guess is that Joni Mitchell would insist we put our own spin on these songs.

Jacy: I have a different experience, personally, because I didn't listen to much Joni Mitchell before this project. And I found her songs scary to approach. Her melodies are not normal; they don't stick in your head. It takes at least 50 listens before I can even try to sing it.

Q: What do you admire about her songwriting?

Dokken: She describes the way we feel but don't have the right words for. She says, "I could drink a case of you and still be on my feet" instead of, "I love you so darn much I can barely breathe."

Vinar: "People Parties" is a great example of a song where she talks about her own insecurities, about wishing she had a sense of humor. How incredibly brave to be so vulnerable and apply it to music and recording for the world to hear.

Dokken: She addresses both sadness and insane happiness, sometimes in just a sentence or two. "I love you when I forget about me."

Dokken: I say one Joni Mitchell song is worth five songs. We're even teaching a seminar at the University of Minnesota School of Music — it's called "The Art Songs of Joni Mitchell" — to relate a contemporary writer to a category classical musicians study. Art songs are poetry put to music.

Q: What songs will you sing Sunday?

Vinar: Lori's singing "Chinese Cafe" and "Morning Morgantown."

Smith: I have the honor of singing "A Case of You."

Dokken: We're doing "Song to a Seagull" from her first album. Judi's singing "Coyote" from "Hejira." Jacy sings "In France They Kiss on Main Street" from "The Hissing of Summer Lawns." Jacy sings "California," and I'm playing dulcimer.

Q: Which albums do you recommend for the uninitiated?

Vinar: I know an awful lot of jazz musicians who would say "Hejira" is her greatest album. Or they like the "Mingus" album. And then the folkies — and I was a guitar-playing folkie in my early days of singing — would say "Court and Spark" or "Blue" or "Ladies of the Canyon."

Q: Would you say Joni Mitchell's work is underappreciated?

Smith: Had she been a male artist, I feel like she would be a household name. She would be bigger than Bob Dylan.

Christy DeSmith • 612-673-1754 • Twitter: @christydesmith