Your Country's Right Here: Anais Mitchell Barnstorms for Good Folk

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Anais Mitchell wants listeners to fully immerse themselves in her music.

Such passion for her songs and her efforts to have them reach listeners on a visceral level is one reason that Mitchell is loved by so many, including such high-profile artists as her own musical idol Ani DiFranco and the members of the GRAMMMY Award winning Bon Iver. Although Mitchell has barely cracked her 30s, she projects the insights and virtuosity of some folk artists who performed well before she was born. Any doubters need only sample her most recent album Young Man in America.

“I hope that people identify with the characters and feel their stories with their hearts and not with their minds,” she said. “That’s kind of how the songs came out. A lot of the songs came from a very personal place and feelings I had to exorcise. I would love if people connected to them in an intimate way rather than as an intellectual exercise.”

Although the 11 songs on the album were born of Mitchell’s thoughts about the current socio-economic climate, she is quick to underscore that it is not a concept album. Certainly the songs are full of very memorable characters and their influences including her father, it’s his old photo she uses as the album cover. Yet the songs are a mix of fact and fiction, past and present, with sounds of traditional English and Celtic folk music swirled in. Yet Mitchell said the first track of the album “Wilderland””with lyrics that include “Oh mother shelter/A mother is a shelterer/Oh mother shelter/Mother shelter us/From the wild winds howling/Ooooh… ”is conceptual and sets the tone for the rest of the work.

To understand Mitchell’s music, it’s important to understand that she is still very connected to her native Addison County, Vt. Not only does she embrace the natural sensibilities of the region, but she pays tribute to it as well with her Barnstorming tour. The mini-tour that began last week takes her to bars to benefit the Vermont Local Food & Farms Fund. The tour was timed around the anniversary of Hurricane Irene.

While Mitchell’s mini tour will literally help feed her fans, she hopes it will also resonate physically with everyone.

“It has been so fun. We have been touring a lot since the record came out,” she said. “For me, one really different thing between this record and the other ones [I recorded] is that in a way it’s more like a rock record with drums and bass so you feel the rhythm in a different way. It’s a physical experience.”

Find out more about Anais Mitchell, her music, and her upcoming shows on her official website.