Lloyd Whitesell talk: Lauro Nyro/Joni - Greensboro, NC, May 30

Posted May 18, 2009

The 10th Feminist Theory and Music symposium will take place on the University of North Carolina - Greensboro campus in historic Greensboro, North Carolina, from May 27-31. Those in the area won't want to miss Paper Session 7 on Saturday, May 30 from 2:00-4:30 PM. Lloyd 'Chip' Whitesell, author of the book The Music of Joni Mitchell will be giving a talk entitled The Influence of Laura Nyro on Joni Mitchell.

Here is Chip's own abstract on the talk:

While Joni Mitchell is usually sparing in her praise of her contemporaries (especially female figures), she has always spoken highly of Laura Nyro. Nyro's career was shorter-lived than Mitchell's, and awareness of the originality and importance of her music has faded. But in the late 1960s, when Mitchell was launching her recording career, Nyro was touted by critics and peers as a leading artist in the new singer-songwriter genre. Mitchell admits, "Laura exerted an influence on me. I looked to her and took some direction from her." My aim is to identify what this influence consisted of. Nyro's second and third albums (Eli and the Thirteenth Confession [1968], New York Tendaberry [1969]) will exemplify characteristics of her style. While one can point to a few specific mannerisms picked up by Mitchell, more crucial are general aesthetic directions as evident in matters of form, performance and artistic vision. Before the encounter, Mitchell tended to refine even the most painful subjects through a restrained, decorative filter. Piano-centered, Nyroesque songs first appear on Mitchell's third album, Ladies of the Canyon (1970), while Blue (1971) and For the Roses (1972) exhibit the most pervasive influence. By contrasting specific songs before and after 1969 I show how Mitchell explored a musical vein pioneered by Laura Nyro.

More info can be found at the Symposium's website.