Anaïs Mitchell announces first solo album in over a decade, shares 'Bright Star'

Tony and Grammy award winning singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell (Hadestown, Bonny Light Horseman, Big Red Machine) has announced today her first solo record in over a decade.

Mitchell is the Tony and Grammy award winning creator of Broadway musical Hadestown - for which she wrote the book, music and lyrics.

The self-titled full-length will be available on January 28, 2022 via BMG and is available for pre-order here. In addition, Mitchell has shared the beautiful new single 'Bright Star' and announced European, UK and US tour dates.

The acclaimed artist will perform at St Luke's, Cork on August 29th, 2022 and Dublin's Pepper Canister Church on August 30th.

Produced by Josh Kaufman, the 10-song album also features core players including Kaufman, Michael Lewis, JT Bates, Thomas Bartlett and Aaron Dessner, with string and flute arrangements provided by Nico Muhly.

More recently, Mitchell performed on Big Red Machine’s newest album, How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last?, and joined the group on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Dubbed by NPR as “one of the greatest songwriters of her generation,” the Vermont-based Mitchell is a master of the worlds of narrative folk song, poetry and balladry, and the 10 songs on this record are a perfect showcase of her skills.

After leaving her life in Brooklyn at nine months pregnant and moving back home during the pandemic, the album chronicles Mitchell’s reconnection with the Vermont roots that have been so formative in her life and music. 'Bright Star' finds her making peace with the idea of being at peace in the familiar setting of her grandparents’ house.

“During the first pandemic summer I was staying on the family farm where I grew up, in a little house that belonged to my grandparents when they were alive. I could see the stars for the first time in a long time,” Mitchell recalled. “I wasn't traveling anywhere, or even doing much of anything, for the first time in a long time. ‘Bright Star’ is about looking back on years of restless pursuit and making peace with the source of that longing: the Muse, the Great Unknown, the One That Got Away - those things that motivate us that we never can touch.”

Listen to 'Bright Star' below:

Tracklisting:

1. Brooklyn Bridge
2. Bright Star
3. Revenant
4. On Your Way (Felix Song)
5. Real World
6. Backroads
7. Little Big Girl
8. Now You Know
9. The Words
10. Watershed