Spotlight On: ANAÏS MITCHELL OF BONNY LIGHT HORSEMAN

ABOUT this week’s podcast guest + radio hour featured interview:

We last caught up with singer, songwriter, playwright, and author, Anaïs Mitchell, in 2022 when she released her self-titled eighth solo album, twenty years on from her 2002 debut. 2022 was also the year that she and her band Bonny Light Horseman released their second album, Rolling Golden Holy. Looking back on the arc of Anaïs Mitchell’s journey as a musician, the first decade built a momentum that in its second decade has sped up to many years like this - multiple projects, a cascade of awards, and a seemingly bottomless well of creativity. Born and raised in Vermont, Anaïs got her start writing and performing in her late teens and early twenties as a folk artist. Her break came when her SHERO, Ani Difranco, signed her to her record label, Righteous Babe, and released her 2007 third album, The Brightness. What followed in 2010 was a conceptual album, a folk opera called Hadestown, which she developed into a full blown stage production. Nearly a decade later, in 2019, the album became a fourteen time Tony Award nominated, eight time Tony Award winning Broadway musical. That was around the same time that Anaïs Mitchell, guitarist and producer Josh Kaufman, and Eric D. Johnson of Fruit Bats founded the trio Bonny Light Horseman. Now a two time Grammy nominated band, Bonny Light Horseman has just released an incredible double album called Keep Me on Your Mind/See You Free. We celebrate it and welcome back Anaïs Mitchell as this week’s SHERO in the Spotlight.