Joni Mitchell Sworn In as U.S. Citizen After Six Decades

Joni Mitchell was sworn in as a United States citizen on Tuesday, ending a 62‑year journey that began with her birth in Canada. The ceremony was captured in an Instagram post where she smiled with an American flag in front of U.S. and Homeland Security flags, and a short video showed her being applauded as she took the oath. Her caption read, “A journey that began 62 years ago.” The move follows earlier criticism of a New York Times list of the greatest living American songwriters that omitted her because she was a Canadian citizen. Mitchell’s new status may force the paper to revise that ranking. Two years ago at a “Joni Jam” in the Hollywood Bowl she publicly cursed Donald Trump and lamented her inability to vote as a Canadian “lousy immigrant.” Born Roberta Joan Anderson in 1943 in Fort McLeod, Alberta, she moved to the United States in 1965 after marrying Chuck Mitchell and joined the Detroit folk scene. She appeared in New York at the Gaslight in 1966, relocated to the city in 1967, then settled in Los Angeles’ Laurel Canyon in 1968 and Bel Air in 1975. She kept a residence in British Columbia around the 1971 release of “Blue” and has recently hosted private “Joni jams” in Santa Barbara. A 2015 brain aneurysm forced her into retirement, but she recovered enough to perform at the Newport Folk Festival in 2022, followed by shows at the Gorge and Hollywood Bowl in subsequent years. ## Context Mitchell’s career spans more than five decades and she has long been linked to both Canadian and American music scenes. Becoming a U.S. citizen formalizes her long‑term residence and gives her the right to vote in federal elections.