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50 free Joni Mitchell trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Joni Mitchell trivia for Blue devotees, guitar geeks and anyone who came to her through Brandi Carlile's Joni Jams. The quiz begins on the prairies: born Roberta Joan Anderson in Fort Macleod, polio at nine, a ukulele because her mother thought guitars were hillbilly, a Pete Seeger songbook, and the open tunings she devised to spare a weakened left hand. From there it follows the coffee-house years in Calgary, Toronto and Detroit, the daughter placed for adoption, the marriage to Chuck Mitchell, and the night David Crosby walked into a Florida club. Then come the records: Song to a Seagull, Clouds and the first Grammy, Ladies of the Canyon going gold, Blue, For the Roses, Court and Spark and her only top-ten single, the jazz turn with the L.A. Express, Jaco Pastorius, Hejira and Charles Mingus, the Geffen years with Thomas Dolby, Turbulent Indigo's comeback, and the last album of new songs in 2007. Later rounds cover the 1,200 covers of Both Sides Now, the Rock Hall induction she skipped, the aneurysm and recovery, the surprise Newport set in 2022, the Gorge and Hollywood Bowl shows, and the biopic in the works. Questions run from easy to expert, and every answer was checked against a reference page and carries its source. See also our Bob Dylan, Neil Young, 1970s music and singer-songwriter quizzes.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What was Joni Mitchell's name at birth?
Roberta Joan Anderson
Mitchell is the surname of her first husband, folk singer Chuck Mitchell.
Q 02In which Canadian province was Mitchell born?
Alberta
Fort Macleod was an RCAF training base where her father instructed new pilots.
Q 03Which city does Mitchell consider her hometown, having moved there at age 11?
Saskatoon
Her family had earlier lived in Maidstone and North Battleford, Saskatchewan.
Q 04Which illness did Mitchell contract at the age of nine?
Polio
It weakened her left hand, which is why she devised alternative guitar tunings.
Q 05Which instrument did Mitchell settle for first because her mother thought guitars were 'hillbilly'?
Ukulele
She eventually taught herself guitar from a Pete Seeger songbook.
Q 06Which vocal jazz group's album did Mitchell call 'my Beatles'?
Lambert, Hendricks and Ross
She learned every note of The Hottest New Group in Jazz; her later hit Twisted came from it.
Q 07Mitchell dropped out of which art school in 1964 after a year?
The Alberta College of Art in Calgary
She left at 20 when she unexpectedly became pregnant.
Q 08Mitchell wrote her first song, 'Day After Day', during what journey?
A three-day train ride to Toronto
She stopped at the Mariposa Folk Festival on the way to see Buffy Sainte-Marie.
Q 09Why did Mitchell resolve to write her own material in Toronto's folk scene?
Veterans claimed exclusive rights to traditional songs
She was told again and again 'You can't sing that. That's my song.'
Q 10What name was Mitchell's daughter given after adoption?
Kilauren Gibb
Born Kelly Dale Anderson in 1965, she and her mother were reunited in 1997.
Q 11In which US city did Joni and Chuck Mitchell live and play coffee houses in the mid-1960s?
Detroit
Fellow musician Eric Andersen taught her more alternative tunings there.
Q 12Which musician saw Joni Mitchell in a Coconut Grove club in 1967 and took her to Los Angeles?
David Crosby
He persuaded Reprise to let her record a solo acoustic debut and got a producer credit.
Q 13Which label released Mitchell's 1968 debut, Song to a Seagull?
Reprise
Talent scout Andy Wickham signed her; she later called the original mix 'atrocious'.
Whose 1967 recording of 'Both Sides Now' became a top-ten hit before Mitchell released her own version?
Q 21Which song is Mitchell's only US top-ten single?
Help Me
It peaked at No. 7 in June 1974.
Q 22Which jazz-fusion band did Mitchell call her first real backing group?
The L.A. Express
Their 1974 tour was captured on the live double album Miles of Aisles.
Q 23On which 1975 track did Mitchell make an early attempt at sampling African musicians?
The Jungle Line
It appeared on The Hissing of Summer Lawns.
Q 24Mitchell wrote most of Hejira (1976) while doing what?
Judy Collins
It remains her most-covered song, with over 1,200 versions.
Q 15Which 1969 album brought Mitchell her first Grammy, for Best Folk Performance?
Clouds
Its cover was a self-portrait; she painted most of her own sleeves.
Q 16Which 1970 album was Mitchell's first to go gold?
Ladies of the Canyon
It featured Big Yellow Taxi, The Circle Game and her own slower version of Woodstock.
Q 17On what instrument did Mitchell perform her own version of 'Woodstock'?
Wurlitzer electric piano
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's faster cover became the better-known hit.
Q 18Where did Rolling Stone rank Blue in its 2020 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time?
Number 3
It had been 30th in the 2003 edition; NPR named it the greatest album made by a woman.
Q 19Which track was released as the single from Blue?
Carey
The album hit the Billboard top 20 and the British top 3.
Q 20Which 1974 album became Mitchell's best-seller and hit No. 1 on the Cashbox chart?
Court and Spark
It marked the start of her jazz flirtation, backed by the L.A. Express.
Driving alone across America
That is why, she said, the album has no piano songs.
Q 25Which virtuoso bassist played on Hejira and Don Juan's Reckless Daughter?
Jaco Pastorius
He brought Weather Report bandmates including Wayne Shorter to the double album.
Q 26Which jazz giant asked Mitchell to collaborate on his final recordings, released in 1979?
Charles Mingus
He had heard the orchestrated Paprika Plains; he died before the album was finished.
Q 27What was Joni Mitchell's blackface alter ego on the cover of Don Juan's Reckless Daughter called?
Art Nouveau
The cover was quietly replaced on reissues and streaming services in 2024.
Q 28Whom did Mitchell marry in 1982?
Larry Klein
The bassist and engineer co-produced her albums until their divorce after 12 years.
Q 29Which British synth-pop musician did Mitchell struggle to work with on Dog Eat Dog (1985)?
Thomas Dolby
The album peaked at No. 63, her lowest since her debut.
Q 30Which 1994 album, winner of the Best Pop Album Grammy, marked Mitchell's 'startling comeback'?
Turbulent Indigo
It coincided with the end of her marriage to Larry Klein, who co-produced it.