To say that Anais Mitchell shares commonalities with Orpheus, a character from ancient Greek mythology isn’t as far fetched as it sounds. Both possess the musical talents vital for swooning listeners and charming their way into remote realms. But while Orpheus’ journey to rescue his wife Eurydice ended in despair when he carelessly turned his back (banishing her to eternity in the underworld), Mitchell’s nod to the past has generated a rebirth in her work
The songstress has been dedicating her time to the evolution of Hadestown, a folk opera that was conceived in 2006 and written in collaboration with Ben Matchstick and Michael Corney. Officially released in 2010 on Ani Defranco’s Righteous Babe Records, the concept record, which features a handful of musicians, is a project that seems as though it will never die.
“I can’t believe I am still working on that thing [Hadestown]. When it’s finally finished I might have a nervous breakdown,” says Mitchell. But it’s a testament to the depth of those old myths that it is possible to keep finding new veins to tap. I would love to move on, but feel deeply committed to seeing it through to the fullest fruition possible.”
Mitchell, who will perform at The Paramount Theater on December 16, is developing the project into a theatrical version. Over the past year she’s been honing the musical, which is part of New York Theatre Workshop’s 15/16 season. The process has spawned extensive critiques, edits, rewrites and additions.
“It has meant working with actors, a director, a design team, a theater, producers…in short, a lot of really amazing creative folks who come from a really different world than the music world I’m more familiar with,” says Mitchell. “The input I’ve had from the theater folks working with me is fascinating.”
The musical is currently twice as long as the album because of additions and new songs. Other changes have involved narration and stylized exchanges between characters that highlight certain story points.
“A big lesson has been that, in drama, things must unfold in real time,” Mitchell says. “Characters are in the present moment having a confrontation, a revelation, a transformation, whereas oftentimes the songs I write have a quality of stepping outside the moment and reflecting upon it. It’s all poetry and it’s all storytelling, but there is this heightened present moment thing in drama.”
Mitchell, the daughter of a professor and novelist, notes that past travels to festivals like the Kerrville Folk Festival in Kerrville, Texas, are notable experiences that may have also contributed to her style of songscapes.
“The people who go to the festival for the full three weeks, go not so much for the stage shows, but for the campfire song-swapping scene,” she says. “And it always felt like the most natural thing in the world to sit in circles under the sky and swap songs and stories till the sun comes up. Discovering that community of hyper-song-oriented people who are making a living wordsmithing in this very ancient way, that was very inspirational to me in my tender years.”
Following Hadestown, Mitchell has released a variety of albums, each varying in story and scope. 2012’s Young Man in America revolves around narratives from male perspectives, while 2013’s Child Ballads—arranged with Jefferson Hamer—created music for old folk ballads from Francis James Child collections.
Mitchell has done extensive touring in the United Kingdom. In the past, she’s performed at London’s prestigious Royal Albert Hall for the BBC Folk Awards, where she picked up an award for her efforts. That being said, she admits that her fan base across the pond is a bit heartier than in the states.
“For some reason I’ve always done better in England and Scotland than over here in the States,” says Mitchell. “Not sure what it is, but there is some kind of resonant frequency overseas. It’s because I was touring England so often that I started going down the rabbit hole of the ballads.”
Mitchell, who recently moved back to Brooklyn, New York from her native Vermont, does believe that environment plays a role in her songwriting. Nature and solitude has shifted to city and noise, often amplified by her two-year old daughter’s constant desire for attention.
“If I’m being honest, I must admit it’s much harder to hear the still small voice of a song you’re writing when there’s a child in the next room that would love to take more of your attention than you have to give,” she says. “I’ve had to become much more disciplined about carving out time and space to write, and that’s probably a blessing of some kind.”
For her most up-to-date album, 2013’s xoa, Mitchell returns to an acoustic format with both new and old songs. The audience at upcoming shows can expect to see her and her guitar.
“I have just always loved solo acoustic records. They were always my favorite growing up, and I’d often get a little sad when a songwriter I loved started making enough money to make their albums into big productions with bands and so on,” says Mitchell. “And then, of course, as soon as I could afford that I did it, too. But I wanted to present a handful of songs in a completely stripped down way, like, ‘Here’s what this sounded like when I wrote it in my bedroom.’” —Anita Overcash