Anaïs (uh-nay-is) Mitchell (aka Anais Mitchell), is a singer-songwriter from Vermont, USA, who attended Middlebury College. Anaïs' voice is akin to Cyndi Lauper's & song-writing / delivery's inspired by the confessional styling of artists such as Ani DiFranco. In 2002, she released The Song They Sang... When Rome Fell. In 2003, she was a winner of the New Folk Competition, at the Kerrville Folk Festival. In 2004, her second album, Hymns for the Exiled, was released (Waterbug Records). On 8 Dec 2006, Anaïs' 'folk opera' "Hadestown" débuted (written / produced in collaboration with composer Michael Chorney & director Ben T. Matchstick). On 13 Feb 2007, her third album, The Brightness was released (Righteous Babe). Hadestown, a concept album based on the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, was released on March 9, 2010. It features contributions from Justin Vernon as Orpheus, Ani DiFranco as Persephone, Greg Brown as Hades, and Ben Knox Miller as Hermes; Anais herself sings the part of Eurydice. Her new album, 'Young Man in America' was released on Wilderland Records in the UK on February 13, 2012 and in the US on February 28, 2012.
