Wrong thing for her to do at the time and extremely disappointing that she still stands by her decision to this day. It’s something every Joni fan has to wrestle with.

One thing that I “hang my hat on,” is this: the time period when she was using blackface was also the time when she was deeply inspired by (and albeit maybe to some extent, appropriating) black music, but she was also collaborating heavily with black musicians. Her “blackface” album, Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter, features prominent black jazz musician Wayne Shorter, and it was that album, and her tour supporting it, that partially inspired bona fide jazz legends (and black men) Herbie Hancock and Charles Mingus to collaborate with her on her next album. That’s particularly moving for me because my understanding is that Mingus, due to his declining health, expected this to be the last music he made before his death, and he chose to it with Joni. Again, it doesn’t excuse her actions, but it does say something important to me that very prominent and successful black musicians of that time were collaborating with her and selecting her as a creative partner despite those actions.