‘I’m a Proud Canerican Like Neil Young’: Joni Mitchell on U.S. Citizenship, New Book of Paintings

The first 10 hand-numbered and signed editions of NEWS will be auctioned off for charity. "It is an artist's duty to speak up," Mitchell says

On Tuesday, Joni Mitchell obtained her dual citizenship in the U.S. and Canada — 62 years after living in the States. “I became a citizen so I could vote,” Mitchell tells Rolling Stone. “I’m a proud Canerican like Neil Young.” (Mitchell’s longtime pal became a U.S. citizen in 2020, 54 years after illegally crossing the U.S. border in a Pontiac hearse.)

And now that she’s officially an American, Mitchell says she has some work to do. On Nov. 4, three days before her 83rd birthday, the legend will release NEWS, a collection of 23 paintings that tackle the 24-hour news cycle. A lifelong painter, Mitchell conceived, executed, and designed the project herself, which features song lyrics, imagery, and slogans.

“Recently I retired from music in order to pursue my first love, painting,” the back cover of NEWS reads. “When [George] Bush was president and the Twin Towers in New York were attacked, I did a series of political paintings. In the current climate, I felt a need to express my concern. It is an artist’s duty to speak up.”

Mitchell added: “Picasso created ‘Guernica’ to protest the Spanish Civil War. Charlie Chaplin’s film The Great Dictator ridiculed Hitler. Mel Brooks’ comedy The Producers also took a poke at that mad man with Springtime for Hitler. NEWS is my protest song — a song not for the ears, but for the eyes. I hope that you will not be offended by the truth of it. This is not fake news!”

NEWS is available for purchase in a standard edition, as well as 500 hand-numbered and signed editions via Mitchell’s website and Julien’s Publishing (preorder begins Oct. 15 at 10 a.m. ET). Julien’s will also host NEWS: Numbered, Signed & Personalized, an exclusive auction that offers book numbers one through 10. That auction lasts from Oct. 15 through Oct. 29, with all proceeds benefiting the ACLU, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Save The Children, and ASPCA.

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Separately, the paintings from NEWS will be on display at the L.A. Louver gallery in Venice, California, on Oct. 29 and 30.

NEWS follows 2019’s Morning Glory on the Vine, a book of watercolor paintings, handwritten lyrics, and poems, titled after a line from Young’s On the Beach-era classic, “Motion Pictures (For Carrie).” Next month will mark the 50th anniversary of Mitchell’s landmark album Hejira; see where it landed on Rolling Stone’s new list of the 76 Best Albums of 1976.