Chelsea Wolfe Posts Joni Mitchell Cover + Acoustic Tour Documentary

As somehow who now lives in Woodstock, NY, I love cataloguing the reactions of people when I tell them my whereabouts, the most common of which is “Oh, like the festival?” But, fun fact: Woodstock the festival didn’t take place in Woodstock the town. It took place on a private farm in Bethel, about an hour and a half southwest of here. Nor did its two anniversary concerts; Woodstock ’94 was held in Saugerties (at least close to Woodstock at about 10 miles) and ’99 was in Rome, nearly 150 miles away. That hasn’t stopped the one-street town from achieving enduring lore in which myriad tie-dye and candle shops trafficking on festival nostalgia stubbornly (but cutely, I admit) persist.

It’s Joni Mitchell’s 1970 tribute to the original festival that’s in the metal zeitgeist today courtesy an appropriately dark and morose Chelsea Wolfe cover. Mitchell didn’t perform at the 1969 event — she was supposed to, but stayed home to rest up for a TV appearance the next day — but she watched it on TV, and her song about the legendary concert has become a staple of the iconic folk singer’s canon. Wolfe recorded the cover during the sessions for Birth of Violence, which came out exactly two years ago, and has decided to roll it out along with an original song, “Green Altar,” to commemorate that anniversary. Those arrive with a documentary about Wolfe’s acoustic tour in support of that album, which also comes out today.

I’ll embed Chelsea’s version of “Woodstock,” Joni’s original and the tour documentary (which premieres at 9:45am EDT) below.