We just got an update on our beloved Joni Mitchell’s health

Everyone who has been moved by the magical music of Joni Mitchell has been on edge since we found out in late March that the singer-songwriter was found unconscious in her home, and then, subsequently , hospitalized. We haven’t heard much from Mitchell’s camp since, and we’ve all been so worried about this musician who has given the world so much.

Yesterday, we did get some answers, as Entertainment Weekly reports that Mitchell’s friend David Crosby (he of The Byrds, and, of course, Crosby, Stills, & Nash), who has been Mitchell’s close friend since the 1960’s, spoke to HuffPost Live,  during which time he answered a Twitter question regarding Mitchell’s current condition.

“To my knowledge she is not speaking yet. She is home, she is in care, she is recovering,” he said. “She took a terrible hit. She had an aneurysm, and nobody found her for a while. And she’s going to have to struggle back from it the way you struggle back from a traumatic brain injury.”

It was clearly rough on Crosby, delivering this news, and, of course, it was rough for us to hear.  Though Crosby acknowledges the gravity of the situation, but he also clearly holds out hope for his longtime friend’s recovery, which is some comfort, and helps us hope, too.

“She’s a tough girl and very smart,” Crosby said. “So, how much she’s going to come back and when, I don’t know, and I’m not going to guess.”

This past week we celebrated the 44th anniversary of the release of Joni Mitchell’s iconic album Blue. One of our contributors, Caitlin MacDougall beautifully wrote in a piece about her relationship with the album, and her final words on the subject sum up how so many of us feel about Mitchell’s music:

“I don’t know all of Joni’s work the way some people do, but that doesn’t make me feel any less connected to her music. I can’t claim to intimately know her, but I can intimately know the feelings inside me that she elicits. I can hear her music and let my sorrow evolve into joy, but only when I make room in my heart for both.”

We will continue to wait and hope for good news as our hearts go out to this remarkable musician, this woman who has given us all so much.

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