Anaïs Mitchell (; born March 26, 1981) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and playwright. Mitchell has released eight studio albums, including ''

Hadestown ''Hadestown'' is a musical with music, lyrics, and book by Anaïs Mitchell. It tells a version of the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Eurydice, a young girl looking for something to eat, goes to work in a hellish industrial underworl ...

'' (2010), '' Young Man in America'' (2012),Anais Mitchell: 'I like to cry'
March 8, 2012. Retrieved January 8, 2013. ''

Child Ballads The Child Ballads are 305 traditional ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, anthologized by Francis James Child during the second half of the 19th century. Their lyrics and Child's studies of them were published as ''T ...

'' (2013), and ''

Anaïs Mitchell Anaïs Mitchell (; born March 26, 1981) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and playwright. Mitchell has released eight studio albums, including '' Hadestown'' (2010), ''Young Man in America'' (2012),

'' (2022). She developed her album ''Hadestown'' into a

stage musical Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement ...

(together with director

Rachel Chavkin Rachel Chavkin (; born July 20, 1980) is an American stage director best known for directing the musicals '' Natasha, Pierre, & The Great Comet of 1812'' and '' Hadestown,'' receiving nominations for a Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical ...

), which received its US debut at

New York Theatre Workshop __NOTOC__ New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) is an Off-Broadway theatre noted for its productions of new works. Located at 79 4th Street (Manhattan), East 4th Street between Second Avenue (Manhattan), Second Avenue and Bowery in the East Village, ...

in summer 2016, and its Canadian debut at the

Citadel Theatre The Citadel Theatre is the major venue for theatre arts in the city of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, located in the city's downtown core on Churchill Square. It is the third largest regional theatre in Canada. History It began in a former Salvatio ...

, Edmonton the following year. The show opened at London's National Theatre in November 2018 and then on Broadway on April 17, 2019, at the

Walter Kerr Theatre The Walter Kerr Theatre, previously the Ritz Theatre, is a Broadway theater at 219 West 48th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The theater was designed by Herbert J. Krapp and was constructed for the Shube ...

. The

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

production of ''Hadestown'' won eight

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cer ...

s in 2019 including the

Tony Award for Best Musical The Tony Award for Best Musical is given annually to the best new Broadway musical play, musical, as determined by Tony Award voters. The award is one of the ceremony's longest-standing awards, having been presented each year since 1949. The awa ...

. Mitchell received the

Tony Award for Best Original Score The Tony Award for Best Original Score is the Tony Award given to the composers and lyricists of the best original score written for a musical theatre, musical or Play (theatre), play in that year. The score consists of music and/or lyrics. To be ...

; she was also nominated for Best Book of a Musical. The Broadway cast album of the show took home the

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

for Best Musical Theater Album in 2020. Mitchell's first book, ''Working on a Song: The Lyrics of Hadestown'', was published by

Plume Books Plume is a publishing company in the United States, founded in 1970 as the trade paperback imprint of New American Library. Today it is a division of Penguin Group Penguin Group is a British trade book publisher and part of Penguin Random ...

on October 6, 2020. Mitchell was included in ''Time''s 100 Most Influential People of 2020. Mitchell is a member of the band Bonny Light Horseman, whose self-titled debut was released in 2020. The band's second album, "Golden Rolling Holy", was released in 2022.

Early life

Mitchell's father is a novelist and college professor and named her after author

Anaïs Nin Angela Anaïs Juana Antolina Rosa Edelmira Nin y Culmell (February 11, 1903 – January 14, 1977; , ) was a French-born American diarist, essayist, novelist, and writer of short stories and erotica. Born to Cuban parents in France, Nin was the d ...

. She grew up on Treleven farm in

Addison County, Vermont Addison County is a county located in the U.S. state of Vermont. As of the 2020 census, the population was 37,363. Its shire town (county seat) is the town of Middlebury. History Iroquois settled in the county before Europeans arrived in 160 ...

. She was raised Quaker. Her mother was Deputy Secretary of Vermont's Agency of Human Services. After traveling to the Middle East, Europe and Latin America as a child, she attended

Middlebury College Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalists, Middlebury was the first operating college or university in Vermont. The college currently enrolls 2,858 undergraduates from all ...

Career

Having begun writing her first songs at the age of 17, around 1998, Mitchell won the New Folk award in 2003, when she was 22, at the

Kerrville Folk Festival The Kerrville Folk Festival is a music festival held for 18 consecutive days in the late spring/early summer at Quiet Valley Ranch near Kerrville, Texas. The Kerrville Folk Festival was founded in 1972 by the husband-wife team of Rod Kennedy an ...

. Her album ''

Hymns for the Exiled ''Hymns for the Exiled'' is the second studio album by American folksinger Anaïs Mitchell, released in 2004 on Waterbug Records Waterbug Records is a small independent record label based in Glen Ellyn, Illinois specializing in singer-songwriter ...

'' was released on Chicago's

Waterbug Records Waterbug Records is a small independent record label based in Glen Ellyn, Illinois specializing in singer-songwriters and traditional folk musicians who do original research. The label was founded as an artist cooperative label in 1992 by singer ...

label in 2004. This recording attracted the attention of singer-songwriter

Ani DiFranco Angela Maria "Ani" DiFranco (; born September 23, 1970) is an American-Canadian singer-songwriter. She has released more than 20 albums. DiFranco's music has been classified as folk rock and alternative rock, although it has additional influe ...

, who signed her to the

Righteous Babe Records Righteous Babe Records is an American independent record label that was created by folk singer Ani DiFranco in 1990 to release her own songs in lieu of being beholden to a mainstream record company. History Righteous Babe Records was originally ...

label. In 2006, Mitchell debuted a draft of her "folk opera" ''Hadestown'', which she wrote in collaboration with arranger

Michael Chorney Michael Chorney is an American saxophone and guitar player, composer, arranger, and music producer. His bands include Feast or Famine, So-Called Jazz Quintet, So-Called Jazz Sextet, ViperHouse, Magic City, Orchid, 7 Deadly Sins, the Michael Chorn ...

and director Ben T. Matchstick. A revised version of ''Hadestown'' was staged in 2007. Her third album, ''

The Brightness ''The Brightness'' is the third studio album by American folksinger Anaïs Mitchell, released February 13, 2007, on Righteous Babe Records. It was recorded at The Bristmill in Bristol, Vermont and produced by Michael Chorney. In December 2012, ...

,'' was released that same year on

. Her album ''

,'' produced by Todd Sickafoose, was released in spring 2010 to favorable reviews. Described as "the story of Orpheus and Eurydice set in post-apocalyptic Depression-era America, the album includes guest appearances by

, Greg Brown,

Justin Vernon Justin DeYarmond Edison Vernon (born April 30, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as the primary songwriter and frontman of indie folk band Bon Iver. Known for his distinct falsetto voic ...

Bon Iver Bon Iver ( ) is an American indie folk band founded in 2006 by singer-songwriter Justin Vernon. Vernon released Bon Iver's debut album, ''For Emma, Forever Ago,'' independently in July 2007. The majority of the album was recorded while Vernon ...

, Ben Knox Miller of

The Low Anthem The Low Anthem is a band from Providence, Rhode Island formed in 2006 by friends Ben Knox Miller and Jeff Prystowsky. The current lineup consists of Knox Miller (vocals, guitars, trumpets, saws), Prystowsky (vocals, drums, double basses, synths), ...

, and The Haden Triplets (

Petra Petra ( ar, ٱلْبَتْرَاء, Al-Batrāʾ; grc, Πέτρα, "Rock", Nabataean Aramaic, Nabataean: ), originally known to its inhabitants as Raqmu or Raqēmō, is an historic and archaeological city in southern Jordan. It is adjacent to t ...

Rachel Rachel () was a Biblical figure, the favorite of Jacob's two wives, and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, two of the twelve progenitors of the tribes of Israel. Rachel's father was Laban. Her older sister was Leah, Jacob's first wife. Her aun ...

, and

Tanya Haden Tanya Haden Black (born October 11, 1971) is an American artist, musician, and singer. She is one of the triplet daughters of jazz bassist Charlie Haden. She is married to actor, comedian and musician Jack Black. Career Born in New York City, s ...

). Mitchell continued quietly working on a stage version of ''Hadestown'' while also writing and recording new material. In early 2012, she released '' Young Man in America'' on Wilderland Records. Mitchell opened the

North American North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Ca ...

leg of

's autumn 2012 tour, which included two sold-out shows at

Radio City Music Hall Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue and Theater (structure), theater at 1260 Sixth Avenue (Manhattan), Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Nicknamed "The Showplac ...

. The album was largely praised by critics as "genre-defying" and her "second consecutive masterpiece." In late 2012, Mitchell completed recording seven songs from the collection of

, compiled by

Francis James Child Francis James Child (February 1, 1825 – September 11, 1896) was an American scholar, educator, and folklorist, best known today for his collection of English and Scottish ballads now known as the Child Ballads. Child was Boylston professor of ...

, with fellow musician Jefferson Hamer. The

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

, produced by

Gary Paczosa Gary Paczosa is an audio engineer, producer and A&R rep for Sugar Hill Records. He has been nominated 11 times for the Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. He is best known for working with Alison Krauss and Dolly Parton numer ...

, was released in February 2013,New album, Child Ballads, out early 2013
December 11, 2012. Retrieved January 8, 2013. winning a BBC Radio 2 Folk Award for Best Traditional Song. This was followed in 2014 by ''

xoa ''xoa'' is a studio album/compilation album by American singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell, released in 2014 on Wilderland Records, on 30 September in the US and October the 6th in the UK. Background The album was recorded with Gary Paczosa in Na ...

,'' for which Mitchell re-recorded a number of her older songs using only guitar and vocals. This stripped back album included some songs from ''

'' which were recorded for the first time in Mitchell's own voice, as well as three brand new songs. In summer 2016, the newly expanded theatrical version of ''

'' opened at

with Vogue magazine predicting that "''Hadestown'' will be your next musical theatre obsession". The following year, it received its Canadian premiere at The Citadel Theatre, Edmonton, and in April 2018, London's National Theatre announced that it would present a three-month run during the winter ahead of the show's Broadway transfer. ''Hadestown'' opened on Broadway at the

on April 17, 2019. In 2019, Mitchell was appearing as part of a three-piece "supergroup" called Bonny Light Horseman, consisting of herself, Eric D. Johnson of

Fruit Bats In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in partic ...

and guitarist

Josh Kaufman Josh Kaufman (born November 9, 1976) is an American soul singer and singer-songwriter. A native of the Tampa Bay area in Florida, Kaufman is based out of and resides in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is best known for winning the season 6 of NBC's ' ...

. The group's self-titled debut album was released on January 24, 2020. In June 2021, American supergroup

Big Red Machine The Big Red Machine is a nickname for the Cincinnati Reds baseball team that dominated the National League from 1970 to 1979 and is widely recognized as being among the best in baseball history. The team won six National League West Division ti ...

announced their second studio album, ''

How Long Do You Think It's Gonna Last? ''How Long Do You Think It's Gonna Last?'' is the second studio album by American indie duo Big Red Machine, which consists of musicians Aaron Dessner and Justin Vernon. It was released on August 27, 2021, via 37d03d and Jagjaguwar record label ...

'', which features Mitchell's guest vocals in three of its tracks: "Latter Days", "Phoenix", and "New Auburn".

Personal life

Mitchell married Noah Hahn in 2006. They have two daughters, Ramona and Rosetta.

Reception

Mitchell has received favorable reviews on her musical style, sound and performance. An article in ''

Acoustic Guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

'' magazine calls Mitchell "fearlessly emotive" and compares her to

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. His work explored religion, politics, isolation, depression, sexuality, loss, death, and romantic relationships. He was inducted in ...

, and

Gillian Welch Gillian Howard Welch (; born October 2, 1967) is an American singer-songwriter. She performs with her musical partner, guitarist David Rawlings. Their sparse and dark musical style, which combines elements of Appalachian music, bluegrass, coun ...

. The UK's ''Independent'' newspaper called her "the most engaging, and in some ways, most original artist currently working in the field of new American folk music" ''The New York Times'' noted that "Ms Mitchell's songs address contemporary angst with uncanny vision" and called her "a formidable songwriting talent".

Discography

Studio albums

EPs

Cast albums

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Other appearances

Audiobooks

*''Working on a Song: The Lyrics of Hadestown'' (October 6, 2020;

Penguin Audio Penguin Random House LLC is an Anglo-American multinational conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, from the merger of Penguin Group and Random House. On April 2, 2020, Bertelsmann announced the completion of its purchase o ...

)

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Official websiteGuardian
Feature
Vogue
Interview
NPR All Songs Considered
Interview

Feature {{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Anais Living people 1981 births 21st-century American composers 21st-century American guitarists 21st-century American women guitarists 21st-century American women singers American dramatists and playwrights American women composers American women singer-songwriters American folk singers American folk guitarists American musical theatre composers American musical theatre librettists American musical theatre lyricists American people of British descent American singer-songwriters American women dramatists and playwrights Broadway composers and lyricists Feminist musicians Grammy Award winners Guitarists from Vermont Middlebury College alumni People from Addison County, Vermont People from Montpelier, Vermont Righteous Babe Records artists Singers from Vermont Songwriters from Vermont Waterbug Records artists 21st-century women composers 21st-century American singers Tony Award winners Bonny Light Horseman (band) members