Chelsea Wolfe has revealed two unreleased songs from her Birth of Violence sessions during which she masterfully returned to her folk roots. Her stunning spin on Joni Mitchell’s eminent single, “Woodstock” and the never before heard, “Green Altar” display Wolfe’s experimental approach as she deliberately ties together her discoveries in rich textures and haunting melodies.  

Wolfe recounts, “While preparing for the Birth of Violence tour, I was watching a lot of Joni Mitchell videos. A 1966 Canadian performance that I found of hers ended up inspiring the video for my song ‘Highway.’ One night after working on the live set, Ben and I were hanging out and I was just letting the Joni videos roll.. ‘Woodstock’ came on and I started singing along. After that I simply asked Ben if he’d be into covering it with me for the tour, and we just went back into the studio and started working it out. The cover came together quite naturally and it was a treat to play on stage every night. Joni is obviously such a big inspiration to this side of my music, so it felt right to pay tribute to her.”  

“‘Green Altar’ is a cherished song that unfortunately didn’t make it onto the album. It’s a love song I wrote after finding out that my dear friends (artist) Bill Crisafi and (designer) Hogan McLaughlin were engaged. I envisioned them getting married in a lush, green outdoor space outside of some majestic castle ruins.”

Listen to “Woodstock” and “Green Altar”: https://ffm.to/cw-wga