The March 25, 1995 issue of Billboard magazine announced that on December 6th, Joni would be presented with their highest honor for creative achievement, the Century Award. Past winners of the Billboard Century Award include George Harrison, Buddy Guy, and Billy Joel. The award has been presented annually since 1992 “to an artist to acknowledge the uncommon excellence of a still-unfolding body of work.” The 1995 Billboard Century Award was the first of many awards Joni would receive over the next two years.
The April issues of Mirabella and Vogue magazines contained interviews with Joni. In Mirabella, writer Ken Tucker asks Joni about her influence on pop music, the disappointing sales for her album Turbulent Indigo, her painting, and her life of “colorful experiences that I’d like to turn into short stories.” In Vogue, Charles Gandee talks to Joni about ageism in pop music, the critical praise for Turbulent Indigo, and her new beau Donald Freed. He also briefly mentions the daughter she gave up for adoption.
The June 10th issue of Billboard heralded the fact that Music For Little People/Warner Bros Records had released the album Hand In Hand, an all-star compilation of songs about being a parent. Songs on the album included Joni’s “The Circle Game.”
Also in June, Amy Grant’s version of “Big Yellow Taxi” became an Adult Contemporary Top 20 hit, spending the entire summer on easy listening stations around the U.S. Amy says: “I really like Joni Mitchell. She was an artist whose records I listened to with the same intensity that I perceive the girls that write me listen to my stuff.”
In July’s Musician magazine (Special 200th Issue), the Fast Forward section focused on “Joni Mitchell’s Home Studio.” Writer Bill Flanagan visited Joni at her Bel Air home and spent time talking to her in her home recording studio and her kitchen, where she said she does most of her creating. This I/V was conducted before Joni received her VG-8 computer brain and Parker Fly guitar (May 1995) because she talks only about her acoustic instruments, including her small custom built Collings Baby. She also discusses what types of microphones and recording equipment she uses on her albums.