Musicasaurus.com
- Richard Cahillane
- Aug 15
- 2 min read
BIG YELLOW TAXI – Friday, July 11, 2025 at the Original Pittsburgh Winery
Big Yellow Taxi, hailing from the Northeast, is a tribute band that in Musicasaurus’ opinion has cornered the market on Mitchell. With a repertoire that stretches from the acclaimed singer-songwriter’s folk tunes to pop masterpieces to her delicious flirts with and excursions into jazz, Big Yellow Taxi has helped move the bar on tribute acts. They are one from that category that seems to be edging ever closer to capturing the true essence and every nuance of Joni, the real deal.
I asked Pittsburgh-area musician (and friend) Sharon Steele for an insider’s view of BYT, as she has guested with the band before on clarinet and sax, and indeed was with them again on July 11 in Pittsburgh. I asked her how she had come to know the group, and it was through a chance meeting with band member Rich Cahillane at a music camp in the Catskills in May 2024. The camp was dubbed “Camp Cripple Creek,” and as Steele explains it, “this was a celebration of the music and history of The Band and other legends of Woodstock. Rich was one of the pro musicians at the camp. He did an incredible job facilitating nightly jam sessions for everyone. I wasn’t sure what people’s reactions would be when a lady with a clarinet showed up, but in the spirit of The Band and Woodstock, it was a big tent, musically.”
Cahillane subsequently invited Steele to play with BYT at a gig in Massachusetts early in 2025. “This was a huge honor, because Big Yellow Taxi is incredible,” Steele said. “Every member of the band is a straight up monster musician. Teresa Lorenco, the lead vocalist, has one of the best voices I’ve ever heard live…That was an amazing experience, but the Pittsburgh Winery show was when I felt I really gelled with them.”
I personally have followed Mitchell through the decades, loving her earliest folk songs and staying with her as she blossomed into a tireless explorer and musical innovator. So I pressed Steele for her take on the difficulty of reproducing Mitchell’s music in a live setting. “Playing Joni’s sophisticated, complex music with the caliber of musicians in BYT was a task that I took seriously,” Steele told me. “I listened to Joni’s recordings a lot, really studying the sax lines of Michael Brecker. I was also inspired by BYT’s versions of Joni songs. They don’t simply mimic the recordings—that wouldn’t capture the creative soul and jazz of Joni’s music. BYT honors Joni’s music by bringing their own beautiful interpretations. So I had to follow their lead by coming up with some of my own lines. My sax teacher Robbie Klein definitely helped me to get in the right mindset. But preparing lines only goes so far—when it’s played live, it’s a musical conversation, a flow. That’s what makes Big Yellow Taxi so great and why they are truly doing justice to Joni’s genius.”
