When singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell made her first appearance on Mountain Stage in 2007, she performed songs from her acclaimed second record, The Brightness. That night, she also did "Why We Build the Wall," a song from "Hadestown," a DIY folk-opera she was writing and producing at the time for community theater in her home-state of Vermont. Adapted from the Greek mythological tale of Orpheus and Eurydice, "Hadestown" has been a continually growing success for Mitchell, who in 2010 released an album version of Hadestown, with characters portrayed by the likes of Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), Ani DiFranco and Greg Brown.
Each of her following visits to Mountain Stage found Mitchell embarking on new creative territory. In 2010, she borught her touring Hadestown Orchestra and in 2012, she returned with songs from her remarkable Young Man in America.
Mountain Stage welcomed Mitchell back for the show's 35th anniversary in December 2018, shortly after it was announced that "Hadestown" would premiere April 17, 2019 on Broadway at the Walter Kerr Theatre in New York City. Accompanied by Austin Navins on guitar and vocals, Mitchell once again performed "Why We Build the Wall," noting that since she first performed it on Mountain Stage, "the meaning keeps changing. It feels different than it did back then."
"Out of Pawn" appears on Mitchell's 2007 album The Brightness as well as her 2014 solo album xoa, which finds her re-imagining some of her own material, along with newer material and songs from Hadestown done in her own voice for the first time. She closes with a heartfelt new song written for her daughter, "Morning Glory." Mitchell is scheduled to tour the U.S. in Fall 2019.
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