Long lost recordings by Joni Mitchell discovered in B.C. basement

A piece of music history thought to be lost forever has found the light of day more than five decades later.

In 1963, a then-unknown Joni Mitchell was playing in coffee houses in Saskatoon when she visited the CFQC studios and began to sing.

Her friend, the now-retired radio personality Barry Bowman, started rolling tape in what became the musician’s first-ever recording.

“I had told this story several times knowing I would never see these tapes again, or never expecting to,” Bowman told Saskatchewan Afternoon host David Kirton.

As Mitchell became famous, Bowman always wondered what happened to the recordings he made with the aspiring folk singer.

The tapes remained a mystery until one day when his daughter showed up at his Victoria, B.C. house with a box of old tapes from the basement of his ex-wife.

“I looked at this box of tapes and I saw this old yellow label on it. ‘Joni Anderson audition.'” “I thought it was only one tape, but it turned out there were two. I had forgotten I had recorded two which is a combination of I guess nine songs.”

Bowman didn’t know what he had.

He was connected to a music executive in Los Angeles who determined that Bowman was in possession of the first-ever recording Mitchell had made.

Five years after opening the box, Bowman and Mitchell were finally able to reunite and he delivered the tapes in person.

“It was just a wonderful experience from the moment I realized I had those tapes and the memories of working with Joni and hanging out with her along the river.”

“No money in the world would equal the excitement and honour of actually being a part of this.”

Soon everyone will get to enjoy the recordings.

Mitchell is releasing them as part of a new box set of her early work.

-With files from 650 CKOM’s David Kirton.