Anais Mitchell entered the underground folk scene in 2002. At a time when the music industry is playing the role of the slickest of defense attorneys, using flash and dazzle campaigns to distract us from the fact that their clients are terrible, Mitchell is an artist who grew up on a sheep farm. She makes small-sounding, big-thinking folk albums that play like a front-porch serenade. If she feels in a bit of a time warp, you can't blame her. Listening to this 25-year-old singer/songwriter perform her meticulously written songs, fervently singing them in a distinctive, almost childlike voice, you'd think it was her life mission to rouse the hearts and minds of her listeners with an acoustic guitar. But Mitchell wasn't always committed to the idea - 'I used to tell people I wanted to be a journalist,' she admits. Ana?Øs Mitchell is currently working on plans to stage her original folk-opera, 'Hadestown', based on the myth of Hades and Eurydice, as she continues to tour and do what she does best: pluck heartstrings and sing.

Photo: Emma Gluckman