Closing out Women’s History Month on an exceptionally high note, PBS will premiere Joni Mitchell: The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song on 3/31 at 9pm ET. The program captures an all-star concert that took place on 3/1 at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. It was arguably the ultimate “Joni Jam”—which the 79-year-old legend hosted at her home with artists and friends spanning generations. (We’re guessing this will be the last one Kevin McCarthy and his GOP compadres get invited to.)

Established in 2007, the Gershwin Prize honors living artists whose music carries forward the excellence of sublime songwriting siblings George and Ira Gershwin. The Joni special kicks off with Marcus Mumford performing a cane-tapping “Carey,” while Cary Raditz—the “mean old daddy” Mitchell can’t help but like in the lyrics—smiles on from the audience.

Brandi Carlile then narrates Mitchell’s life in pictures, from an only child seeking comfort and companionship in art and music, to her coltish days playing coffeehouses in her native Canada and folk clubs in New York, to her assumption of a prominent place alongside Laurel Canyon luminaries like Carole King, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and The Mamas & The Papas.

Meanwhile, Mitchell’s paintings grace the stage’s backdrop—many of them self-portraits that also served as album covers. In addition to art direction and album design, the singer-songwriter oversaw practically every aspect of her projects, including arranging and producing. It’s the kind of trailblazing feminist stuff that inspires Cyndi Lauper’s heartfelt gratitude prior to her stirring version of “Blue” from the universally revered 1971 Reprise album of the same name.

Punctuated by pre-recorded tributes from previous Gershwin Prize honorees including King (2013), Smokey Robinson (2016), Gloria Estefan (2019), and Lionel Richie (2022), each performance reinforces the genre-bending breadth of Mitchell’s repertoire, whether it’s Annie Lennox’s mesmerizing take on “Both Sides Now,” James Taylor’s folk-forward “California,” or the jazzy grooves brought by Herbie Hancock and Ledisi with “River.”

Carlile, along with Lucius’s Holly Laessig and Jessica Wolfe, provides backing vocals for many, and puts her own stamp on “Shine,” the title track from Mitchell’s last studio album (Hear Music/Universal), released in 2007. The three also join Angelique Kidjo, Lauper, Ledisi, and Lennox to rock “Big Yellow Taxi,” ultimately approaching a golden beret-crowned, pigtailed Mitchell in the front row, who delivers the last few words.

Of course, Mitchell brings down the house when she takes the stage for a cool AF “Summertime”—her favorite Gershwin composition—and emotionally-charged “The Circle Game” from 1970’s Ladies of the Canyon (Reprise), proving she’s more than recovered from the 2015 brain aneurysm that left her temporarily unable to speak or move. Next, she’ll join Carlile for her first headlining concert in over two decades at the Gorge Amphitheatre in Washington state on 6/10.

In conversation with Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden the following day, Mitchell said, “The musical excitement of last night was very intense. You have my beautiful band, which is my generation, and then all these young’uns too. They’re playing with musicians who were their heroes … It was beautiful.”

The televised special, a co-production of WETA, Ken Ehrlich Productions, Inc., and the Library of Congress, will be available via broadcast and on PBS.org and the PBS app as part of the Emmy Award-winning music series, as well as to U.S. Department of Defense locations around the world via the American Forces Network.