TORONTO – Music legend Joni Mitchell says Saskatchewan is in her veins, but she will not be performing at the Centennial gala in Saskatoon next month.

Organizers said earlier this month that Mitchell, who grew up in Saskatoon, would be a guest at the musical event, but wouldn't sing.

However, some fans have held out the hope for a surprise performance when the event is held May 19. Mitchell appeared to pour cold water on that notion Tuesday.

"I've retired, basically," she said. "They wanted me to perform [for the centennial] but I don't do that anymore. I'm a painter now."

The singer, known for her elastic vocals on songs like Big Yellow Taxi, also said she's dismayed at the current state of the music industry, which she sees as being dominated by economic – rather than artistic – considerations.

Mitchell was speaking to the media for the release of her new album Songs of a Prairie Girl– her way of tipping her hat to Saskatchewan, the province where she came of age.

The album does not contain any new material, but is instead a compilation of 13 songs that all touch on her home province in some way – tunes like Let The Wind Carry Me, Raised on Robbery and River.

"You carry your childhood with you. Saskatchewan is in my veins," she said in an interview this week with the CTV morning show Canada AM.

Born in Alberta in 1943, Mitchell moved with her family to Saskatoon – which she still considers her hometown – at the age of nine.

According to Mitchell, many of her memories are of the prairie winters.

"When I put this together I thought, 'Oh dear, it's all about wanting to get out of the cold,'" she said from her home in Los Angeles.