Twilight Music presents two shows with Vermont and Brooklyn-based contemporary folk singer/songwriter Anais Mitchell and her collaborator Jefferson Hamer, plus Irish singer/multi-instrumentalist Eamon O’Leary, at Hooker-Dunham Theater & Gallery on Friday, April 12 at 7:00 and 9:00 pm.
Mitchell and Hamer are touring in support of “Child Ballads,” their new CD of traditional Celtic and British Isles ballads from Sir Francis James Child’s nineteenth century anthology. Recorded in Nashville, the songs are driven by two-guitar arrangements and the kind of close harmonies that call to mind Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris.
Mitchell recorded for Ani Difranco’s Righteous Babe Records for several years before starting her own Wilderland label in 2012. Among her recorded works are four CDs, including 2010′s “Hadestown” – a folk opera based on the Orpheus myth – and 2012′s “Young Man in America.” She has headlined solo and band performances worldwide as well as supporting tours for artists like Bon Iver, Ani Difranco and the Low Anthem (all of whom appear as guest singers on Hadestown).
Anais Mitchell is first and foremost a storyteller. If there’s a common thread in her work – from her earliest acoustic records, to the opera, to this new chapter – it’s that she’s as interested in the world around her as the one inside her. She has a way of tackling big themes with the same emotional intimacy most artists use to describe their inner lives.
“Despite ‘Hadestown, despite ‘Young Man’….we ain’t seen nothing yet” – fRoots Magazine
O’Leary moved from his native Dublin, Ireland to New York City in 1991, where he met guitarist John Doyle, fiddler Patrick Ourceau and other New York-based musicians, and became a fixture in the city’s thriving Irish music scene.
Hooker-Dunham Theater & Gallery is located at 139 Main Street in downtown Brattleboro, VT. Tickets for the shows are $18 General / $16 Students and Seniors. For ticket reservations and information, call 802-254-9276. For more information, visit www.anaismitchell.com, www.eamonoleary.com and www.hookerdunham.org.
