Born in Vermont where her father was a novelist and college professor, Anais Mitchell traveled extensively while growing up. By high school she was looking for chances to perform, and in college she continued her international interests, studying languages and international politics.
Her first record came in 2001 with the second following three years later. It was this one, Hymns For the Exiled that drew the attention of Ani DiFranco, who signed Mitchell to her record label.
While working on her third record and the first to appear on DiFranco’s label, Mitchell was also co-writing a ‘folk opera’ called Hadestown. It was staged in 2007, and an album based on it came in 2010.
In 2019 Anais Mitchells’ Hadestown opened on Broadway and won eight Tonys that year including Best Musical and Best Original Score. The cast recording won a Grammy in 2020. Mitchell also wrote companion book, Working on a Song: The Lyrics of Hadestown published in 2020.
The following year she joined Eric D. Johnson and Josh Kauffman to form Bonny Light Horseman. The trio had first played together in 2018 and were so pleased with the results that they decided to make it a more formal group. The first record was Grammy nominated, and the followup appeared this year.
After a gap of eight years mostly filled by the Broadway show and Bonny Light Horseman, Mitchell has just released a new solo album.
