Musicians perform intimate tribute to their idol Joni Mitchell

Now 20 years later, a lifelong dream is coming true for acclaimed singer songwriters Kathryn Pepper and Paul Zervas.

The pair are performing an intimate acoustic tribute to their idol.

‘This Flight Tonight – The Songs of Joni Mitchell’ will be staged by their five-piece band at The Little Theatre in Knutsford on Tuesday, September 26.

With painstaking precision, the duo has fine-tuned every detail to ensure they present a perfect rendition of her songs.

This Flight Tonight performing an intimate acoustic tribute to Joni Mitchell at The Little Theatre, Knutsford (Image: Supplied)

Kathryn, 43, said: “We are musical purists.

“We love Joni so much we feel responsible to get it right.

“If we’re going to present Joni’s music for a live show, we are going to aim to recreate the performances exactly as they were intended.

“We are going to respect every note, breath and inflection.

“We hold Joni’s music in the utmost regard so we aim to capture its inner spirit and channel its majesty into each live performance.

Paul added: “Joni’s music has so much depth, musically, lyrically and melodically, there’s so much to get your head around when attempting to recreate this classic songbook.

“As a guitarist who learned to play from listening to Joni’s incredible catalogue, it’s just staggering the sheer amount of alternate tunings, variances of chord positions and nuanced harmonic voicings that have gone into all these songs.

“We aim to be as authentic as possible.”

Paul Zervas and Kathryn Pepper (Image: Supplied)

The pair has spent months meticulously preparing for the show.

Kathryn said: “I’ve been training with the dulcimer for eight months and practising with my voice every day to get my breathing control right.

“Everything Joni does is so integral to her song.

“Our whole band feels the same. We want to honour her music.”

The pair met in a club in Cardiff at a mic night, when they were both 21.

“I turned up with my guitar,” said Kathryn. “We played separate sets and then started talking about the music we love, Joni Mitchell.

“We feel privileged now to play her music.

“We’re not trying to re-imagine it or put our own spin on it. We want people to hear it as Joni would have presented it.”

The duo and their band have released five critically acclaimed albums and enjoy cult success on the UK and European folk and Americana scene.

The carefully crafted set list will feature songs from Joni’s million-selling albums such as Clouds, Ladies of the Canyon, For The Roses, Court and Spark plus many from her 1972 landmark release Blue.