Editing Joni Mitchell (section)

===1968–1969: Breakthrough with ''Song to a Seagull'' and ''Clouds''===
Folk singer [[Tom Rush]] had met Mitchell in Toronto and was impressed with her songwriting ability. He took "Urge for Going" to the popular folk artist [[Judy Collins]], but she was not interested in the song at the time, so Rush recorded it himself. Country singer [[George Hamilton IV]] heard Rush performing it and recorded a hit country version. Other artists who recorded Mitchell's songs in the early years were Sainte-Marie ("The Circle Game"), [[Dave Van Ronk]] ("[[Both Sides Now]]"), and eventually Collins ("Both Sides Now", a top ten hit for her, and "Michael from Mountains", were both included on her 1967 album ''[[Wildflowers (Judy Collins album)|Wildflowers]]''). Collins also covered "Chelsea Morning", another recording that eclipsed Mitchell's own commercial success early on.

While Mitchell was playing one night in 1967 in the Gaslight South,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jonimitchell.com/library/view.cfm?id=1357 |title=A Conversation with David Crosby |publisher=JoniMitchell.com/JMDL Library |date=March 15, 1997 |access-date=February 21, 2011 |archive-date=May 13, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110513074441/http://www.jonimitchell.com/library/view.cfm?id=1357 |url-status=live }}</ref> a club in [[Coconut Grove, Miami, Florida|Coconut Grove]], Florida, [[David Crosby]] walked in and was immediately struck by her ability and her appeal as an artist.{{sfnp|Monk|2012|p=74|ps=}} She accompanied him back to Los Angeles, where he set about introducing her and her music to his friends. Soon she was being managed by [[Elliot Roberts]], who, after being urged by Sainte-Marie, had first seen her play in a Greenwich Village coffee house.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://jonimitchell.com/library/view.cfm?id=2558 |title=A Conversation with Buffy Sainte-Marie |publisher=JoniMitchell.com/JMDL Library |date=March 6, 2013 |access-date=October 31, 2018 |archive-date=October 31, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181031214915/http://jonimitchell.com/library/view.cfm?id=2558 |url-status=live }}</ref> He had a close business association with [[David Geffen]].<ref>Tom King, ''The Operator: David Geffen Builds, Buys, and Sells the New Hollywood'', p. 71, Broadway Books (New York 2001).</ref> Roberts and Geffen were to have important influences on her career. She was signed to the Warners-affiliated [[Reprise Records|Reprise]] label by talent scout [[Andy Wickham]].<ref>[http://jonimitchell.com/library/view.cfm?id=312 Fong-Torres, Ben, ''Rolling Stone'' interview with Joni Mitchell, May 17, 1969] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190126000740/http://jonimitchell.com/library/view.cfm?id=312 |date=January 26, 2019 }} "[I]n the fall of 1967, she met ... Andy Wickham. He signed her to Reprise."</ref> Crosby convinced Reprise to let Mitchell record a solo acoustic album without the folk-rock overdubs in vogue at that time, and his clout earned him a producer's credit in March 1968, when Reprise released her debut album, known either as ''Joni Mitchell'' or ''[[Song to a Seagull]]''.

Mitchell toured steadily to promote the LP. The tour helped create eager anticipation for Mitchell's second LP, ''[[Clouds (Joni Mitchell album)|Clouds]]'', which was released in April 1969. This album contained Mitchell's own versions of some of her songs already recorded and performed by other artists: "[[Chelsea Morning]]", "Both Sides, Now", and "Tin Angel". The covers of both LPs, including a self-portrait on ''Clouds'', were designed and painted by Mitchell, a blending of her painting and music that she continued throughout her career.