By Laura Leebove, Deputy EditorOne of today's most creative and authentic rising songwriters, Anais Mitchell is constantly finding new ways to reinvent folk tradition. She's spent much of her career promoting Hadestown — her folk opera based on the… more »
By eMusic Editorial Staff, eMusic ContributorEvery year, when eMusic's editorial staff compiles our annual best-of list, the goal is never to come to some kind of academic determination of the year's best records via a series of complicated formulas and… more »
By eMusic Editorial Staff, eMusic ContributorWith the 2012 presidential-election debates kicking off this week, we've all got a lot of Big Issues on our minds: what's next for our economy, the state of healthcare, same-sex marriage, and countless others. To… more »
By Laura Leebove, Deputy EditorSinger/songwriter Anais Mitchell has devoted much of her last few years to Hadestown, a grandiose folk opera that began as a stage production, which spawned an album with characters voiced by Bon Iver's Justin Vernon, Ani DiFranco, The Low Anthem's Ben Knox Miller and Greg Brown. She's toured it endlessly with a small orchestra and rotating cast of singers (I've seen it three times) and it's a phenomenal project — but it's also so exciting to hear a brand-new set of material from this truly gifted songwriter. Young Man In America isn't a concept album, but thematically it explores relationships between parents and their children — in the opening track "Wilderland" she sings about a mother being a "shelterer" and father as a "shepherder," and in "Young Man" talks about a boy whose father who "didn't give a damn." Young Man ebbs and flows — from the jangly Americana of… more »
By J. Edward Keyes, Editor-in-ChiefMan. There are just so many new records today. Also, I think about halfway through this, I developed carpal tunnel syndrome. Trust, TRST: Behind the year's worst album cover is one of the year's best records.… more »
By J. Edward Keyes, Editor-in-Chief Man. There are just so many new records today. Also, I think about halfway through this, I developed carpal tunnel syndrome. Trust, TRST: Behind the year's worst album cover is one of the year's best records.… more »
By Mike Wolf, eMusic ContributorAnaïs Mitchell is a writer whose medium happens to be music. As a musician, though, her writerly achievements are undeniable: Her previous effort, 2010's Hadestown, reconceived the myth of Orpheus, coming to life first as… more »
By Laura Leebove, Deputy EditorBon Iver's Justin Vernon had an eventful 2010 — he AutoTuned his way on to the most important album of the year and released an R&B-leaning record with his side project, Gayngs. But one of… more »
