DREAMLAND
A Celebration of Joni Mitchell featuring Kimberly Ford is a rocking tribute to the most iconic singer-songwriter of the Woodstock generation. Mitchell touched millions with her nearly 40-year career that spanned genres from contemporary folk to jazz to full-throated pop-rock. This incredible seven-piece band, modeled on Joni’s tenure with Tom Scott & the L.A. Express, plays all your favorite tunes, like Help Me, Both Sides Now, Conversation, Blue, River, All I Want, Free Man in Paris, Carey and, of course, Woodstock. The band also throws in a few you might not have heard before ...
COJM has been packing houses throughout Southern and Northern California and the Southwest since 2014. Significant performances include the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara, Kuumbwa Jazz Center in Santa Cruz, Yoshi’s Oakland, Olivas Adobe in Ventura, Palms Playhouse in Winters and Grand Annex in San Pedro. In 2020, the band mounts its first East Coast tour with a stop at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
Die-hard fans can’t get enough (and often sing along) and critics have noticed. “No singer on the West Coast is paying more scrupulous attention to Mitchell’s wondrous book than Santa Barbara’s Kimberly Ford,” writes Bay Area journalist Andy Gilbert, noting her “bright and flexible soprano that effortlessly rises into Mitchell’s upper range.”
Ford and her band bring a new verve to all of Joni’s favored genres. Not content to be a paint-by-numbers tribute band, COJM infuses Mitchell’s songs with new life while paying deep respect to a revered icon and poet laureate of her generation’s songwriters.
Joni’s absence from performing has only whetted appetites for COJM since the band’s birth six years ago. Founding drummer Charles Levin approached Ford with the idea after hearing her sing on gig at a private party. Two weeks later, he emailed Ford to see if she was game for a Joni-centric band. The answer was a resounding yes! In short time, Ford and Levin assembled a crew of the area’s best-known musicians to take on the project.