“I said, ‘Oh, Joni, that’s gonna sound terrible. You need an amp, man! You need some tubes vibrating. You need some air! She goes, ‘Would you just try it?’”: Robben Ford reveals how Joni Mitchell helped him nail his guitar tone on a ’70s classic

Robben Ford [left] wears a dark suit jacket and v-neck t-shirt as he plays a blonde Telecaster onstage. Photographed in 1975, Joni Mitchell [right] plays her Martin dreadnought live onstage at Wembley Stadium.

Robben Ford did not need lessons on how to play his electric guitar when saxophonist Tom Scott hired him as a member of the LA Express. But what a musical education he received in his time with the jazz-fusion legends.

The LA Express were a serious outfit. This gig would be the making of him. For a kid who grew up in the small-town of Ukiah, California, playing with George Harrison was a mind-blowing experience. “When I first met him, I was just… speechless, you know,” says Ford, joining MusicRadar on Zoom from Tuscany, sunlight flooding in through the window. “But when we started playing, he gave no direction. He liked the way I played. And I would just be myself.”