Anaïs Mitchell

Anaïs Mitchell (; born March 26, 1981) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and playwright. She has released eight studio albums throughout her career, including Hadestown, Young Man in America (2012), Child Ballads (2013), and Anaïs Mitchell (2022).

With theatre director Rachel Chavkin, Mitchell developed Hadestown into a stage musical. It premiered off-Broadway in 2016, and made its Broadway debut three years later to critical acclaim. Hadestown won eight awards at the 73rd Annual Tony Awards, including Best Musical. For her work, Mitchell won the Tony Award for Best Original Score and was nominated for Best Book of a Musical. She additionally won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. In 2020, Mitchell published her first book, Working on a Song: The Lyrics of Hadestown, and was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

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, followed by Keep Me on Your Mind/See You Free in 2024.

Early life Mitchell's father, a novelist and college professor, named her after author Anaïs Nin. She grew up on Treleven farm in Addison County, Vermont and graduated from Mount Abraham Union High School. 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, where she majored in political science and graduated in 2004.

Career She began writing her first songs at the age of 17, around 1998. Just five years later Mitchell won the New Folk award in 2003, when she was 22, at the Kerrville Folk Festival. Her album Hymns for the Exiled was released on Chicago's Waterbug Records label in 2004. This recording attracted the attention of singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco, who signed her to the Righteous Babe Records label. A revised version of Hadestown was staged in 2007. Her third album, The Brightness, was released that same year on Righteous Babe Records.

Her album Hadestown, 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 Ani DiFranco, Greg Brown, Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, Ben Knox Miller of The Low Anthem, and The Haden Triplets (Petra, Rachel, and Tanya Haden).

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 leg of Bon Iver's autumn 2012 tour, which included two sold-out shows at Radio City Music Hall. 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 Child Ballads, compiled by Francis James Child, with fellow musician Jefferson Hamer. The album, produced by Gary Paczosa, was released in February 2013, winning a BBC Radio 2 Folk Award for Best Traditional Song. This was followed in 2014 by xoa, for which Mitchell re-recorded a number of her older songs using only guitar and vocals. This stripped back album included some songs from Hadestown 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 Hadestown opened at New York Theatre Workshop 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 Walter Kerr Theatre 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 and guitarist Josh Kaufman. The group's self-titled debut album was released on January 24, 2020.

In June 2021, American supergroup Big Red Machine announced their second studio album, How Long Do You Think It's Gonna Last?, which features Mitchell's guest vocals in three of its tracks: "Latter Days", "Phoenix", and "New Auburn".

Personal life While at Middlebury College, Mitchell met Noah Hahn, whom she married 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 magazine calls Mitchell "fearlessly emotive" and compares her to Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, and Gillian Welch. 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 + List of albums, with selected information Title Album details Peak chart positions USFolk USHeat UKAmer. UKDL UKIndie The Song They Sang... When Rome FellReleased: 2002 Label: Self-released Formats: CD — — — — – –Hymns for the ExiledReleased: September 21, 2004 Label: Waterbug Formats: CD, digital download — — — — – –The BrightnessReleased: February 13, 2007 Label: Righteous Babe Formats: CD, digital download — — — — – –HadestownReleased: March 9, 2010 Label: Righteous Babe Formats: CD, digital download, LP9 33 — — – –Young Man in AmericaReleased: February 13, 2012 Label: Wilderland, Thirty Tigers Formats: CD, digital download, LP13 27 — – – 22Child Ballads (with Jefferson Hamer)Released: February 11, 2013 Label: Wilderland, Thirty Tigers Formats: CD, digital download, LP20 38 — — – 19Xoa Released: September 30, 2014 Label: Wilderland, Thirty Tigers Formats: CD, digital download — — — — – –Anaïs MitchellReleased: January 28, 2022 Label: BMG Rights Management Formats: CD, digital download, LP— — 37 3 30 10

EPs + List of albums, with selected information Title Album detailsCountry E.P. (with Rachel Ries)Released: September 2, 2008 Label: Righteous Babe Formats: Vinyl, CD, digital download

Cast albums + List of albums, with selected information Title Album details Peak chart positions US USIndie USCast UKDL UKIndie Why We Build The Wall (EP – Selections from Hadestown. The Myth. The Musical. Live Original Cast Recording)Released: October 13, 2016 Label: Parlophone Formats: digital download— — — — —Hadestown: The Myth. The Musical. (Live Original Cast Recording)Released: October 6, 2017 Label: Parlophone, Warner Classics Formats: CD, digital download— — 3 — —Hadestown (Original Broadway Cast Recording) Released: July 26, 2019 Label: Sing It Again Formats: CD, LP, digital download49 4 1 21 25

Singles As lead artist

As featured artist + List of albums, with selected information Title Year Peak chart positions Album USAAA "Phoenix"202133How Long Do You Think It's Gonna Last?

Other appearances Title Year Other artist(s) Album "Mockingbird" 2008 Songs For Laura Volume One "Quarter to Ten" Gregory DouglassTurning Back Beautiful "L'Internazionale" 2009 Thrufters & Through-Stones: The Music of Vermont's First 400 Years "All My Trials" Beautiful Star – The Songs of Odetta "Alight" 2013 Round MountainThe Goat "Even Then" The BengsonsHundred Days "Wedding Song (Live)" Live at Caffe Lena: Music From America's Legendary Coffeehouse "Anchors" Kris GruenNew Comics From the Wooden World "Clyde Waters" Jefferson HamerThe Mark Radcliffe Folk Sessions 2013

Audiobooks Working on a Song: The Lyrics of Hadestown (October 6, 2020; Penguin Audio)

Awards and nominations