With all the hubub surrounding the explosion of Anais Mitchell’s “Hadestown” on Broadway and her subsequent Tony Awards its perhaps rewarding to marvel at the entirety of its odyssey. The conglomeration of effort, talent, fate, accident and the fickle whims of public acceptance somehow conspired to keep it breathing and for new iterations to come alive. Few records exist chronicling the lonely haunts of Ms. Mitchell’s first imaginings toward a folk opera based on coagulating figures from Greek mythology. I haven’t been able to untangle it meself. But a measure of its proof is in the pudding of Greg Brown, Bon Iver, Ani DiFranco, Ben Knox Miller and the Haden Triplets within this concocted stew. You get unveilings like, “Why We Build the Wall,” which in 4:18 successfully addresses and satisfactorily points the way to understanding and solving America’s immigration problem. Never since Martha and the Vandellas “Dancing in the Streets” has a social problem been so convincingly laid bare by a pop song.
radio-graphics attempts to bring to life the oft under-appreciated graphics that comprise the total package of a recording project. In this regard, illustrator Peter Nevins @ Peter Nevins Design and art director Brian Grunert @ White Bicycle provided meticulous retro wood mytho-cut figures to augment the passions of the listener.
Hades Persephone Hermes
Frontspiece to liner notes/ booklet
So dig in to one of the great artistic triumphs to grace our weary civilization from the state of Vermont since maple syrup.