NEWS - Joni Mitchell, Stevie Nicks, Sheryl Crow, Trisha Yearwood Sing For Walden Woods
11/14/2002



(11/14/02, 6 p.m. ET) -- Joni Mitchell, Sheryl Crow, Stevie Nicks, Trisha Yearwood, and Norah Jones performed Wednesday (November 13) at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles for Stormy Weather, a benefit concert for Don Henley's Walden Woods Project.

The all-female lineup represented rock, pop, country, blues, and R&B, also including Reba McEntire, Michelle Branch, Paula Cole, Deborah Cox, and Susan Tedeschi.

Though the night was billed as an evening of standards, most of the performers turned to contemporary material. Each woman performed two songs, except for Mitchell, who closed the show with three numbers, including Bob Dylan's "Sweetheart Like You" and a new, orchestral version of her classic "Woodstock," that served as a preview of her upcoming Travelogue release.

Nicks performed "Landslide," originally found on Fleetwood Mac's 1975 self-titled album, and more recently revived as a country-and-pop crossover hit by the Dixie Chicks. For her cover, she chose Etta James's "Sunday Kind of Love."

McEntire sang "I Won't Mention It Again," off her 1995 release, Starting Over, followed by Irving Berlin's "I Got Lost In His Arms," from the Broadway musical Annie Get Your Gun.

Crow presented a re-worked "Run Baby Run," from her 1994 debut, Tuesday Night Music Club, then covered Steve Earle's delicate ballad "Goodbye."

Yearwood's vignette, "On A Bus To St. Cloud," was served well by orchestration. She also performed of "The Man That Got Away," best known from the Judy Garland film, A Star Is Born.

Jones offered the Band's "It Makes No Difference" and Cole sang Tom Waits's "The House Where Nobody Lives," which she dedicated to the White House. On that note, Henley, who hosted the event, took his own swipe at the White House's most famous resident, President George W. Bush, with whom he shares a Texas heritage. "He was an idiot then, and an idiot now," he said.

Cox's performance included "This Better Earth," originally made famous by Dinah Washington. Blues singer Tedeschi went with a popular standard, turning to "These Foolish Things," while Branch bravely took on Leonard Cohen's "Famous Blue Raincoat."

The evening also included an auction, conducted by actor/comedian Paul Reiser, along with Henley and his Eagles songwriting partner, Glenn Frey. Items auctioned included a trip on a private jet to Las Vegas to see Celine Dion perform, a guitar autographed by the night's performers, and another signed by Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band.

Also on the block was a chance to sing back-up on a new recording by the Eagles. Here, Frey quipped, "Who wants to buy that, besides Don Felder," referring to the band's longtime guitarist who was ousted from the group in 2001.

The Walden Woods Project works to preserve and protect from development the forests around Concord, Massachusetts.

-- Darryl Morden, Los Angeles