Anaïs Mitchell

BONNY LIGHT HORSEWOMAN, PLAYWRIGHT

What music are you currently grooving to?

My bandmate Eric [D Johnson] from Bonny Light Horseman just turned me onto Folk Roots, New Routes by Shirley Collins And Davy Graham. I’m also obsessed with Christian Lee Hutson’s song Northsiders. I just came from the Grammys and was so impressed by Lizzo and Tyler, The Creator.

What, if push comes to shove, is your all-time favourite album? Joni Mitchell’s Hejira! A sweeping, majestic aerial view, but also intimate and forthright in the lyrics, the musical quality of never quite ‘landing’, and her voice at its most expressive.

What was the first record you ever bought? And where did you buy it? A C+C Music Factory album, Pearl Jam’s Ten, Nirvana’s Nevermind, and the OST to The Bodyguard, all at the little tiny music shop in the closest town to where I grew up in Vermont.

Which musician, other than yourself, have you ever wanted to be? When I was younger I was heavily under the influence of Ani DiFranco. And my friend Phil Cook, when he plays, he seems totally at ease.

What do you sing in the shower? What I’m working on. And huge pop hits that never leave my consciousness, like Amy Grant’s Baby, Baby.

What is your favourite Saturday night record?

Hmm. I’m pregnant now and have another little girl, so it’s been a while since I had a ‘Saturday night’… but for like a dance party you can’t do much better than Robyn’s Body Talk.

And your Sunday morning record? Astral Weeks, Van Morrison. I get the same feeling from Leif Vollebekk… a new artist, but already a Sunday morning artist.

Bonny Light Horseman’s debut album is out now on 37d03d.