Fall 2015 Greetings

Dear Friends,

It has been well over a year since I last wrote and said hello- I hope this past year has been kind to all of you. During these past months my hands have been very full with work in my community here in Woodstock that has been deeply fulfilling, but I am slowly working towards getting back out into my larger community and joining you through song again. Last weekend we were at Carnegie Hall’s beautiful new education wing for 2 sold out shows. It was wonderful to play music with my friends Simi Stone and the M Shanghai String Band.


Next weekend we will be back in Chicago, one of our favorite cities in the world, at the beloved Old Town School of Folk Music. Please join us if you can, and send in your song requests now so we have some time to learn how to play them again!

I am also reaching out today to share news of my friends- so many of my collaborators are doing such amazing things right now in the world that I felt I had to reach out and share their work with you.

Brian Selznick, author or “The Invention of Hugo Cabret” has created another masterpiece in his new book out this fall called “The Marvels“.

Brian is one of my oldest friends and made the album art for our Christmas record “The Sounding Joy”.

He created a beautiful trailer to transport you to the mysterious world created in this ground breaking novel. We visited Brian at his home in California two years ago and saw the drawings from the book as they were developing in his studio. It is so deeply exciting to hold The Marvels in our hands now and to be able to share it with you.


Ida Pearle, creator of album artwork for my records “You Are My Little Bird” and “Sunny Day”- has created an extraordinarily beautiful book called “The Moon is going to Addy’s House.”

Click here to read a glowing review it received.

And click here to see a beautiful animated trailer that brings the animation to life exquisitely.


My dear friend Amy Helm’s debut solo album came out this summer- my husband Daniel helped to write and produce the record, and I sing on a track called “Deep Water” with Amy and the incredible Catherine Russell.

Here are two recent live performances of Amy and her band featuring Daniel. “Rescue Me” performed this fall while they were on tour in the midwest and “Didn’t it Rain” performed last summer inside a tiny airstream trailer in Colorado.

• Rescue Me –>
• Didn’t It Rain –>

Many of you have seen me perform with the amazing Simi Stone, she has joined me as a vocalist and violinist for the past couple of years and she sings gorgeously on our album “The Sounding Joy”.

Simi released her debut solo album this fall- you can find it and more information about the wonderful Simi here. As I write this letter to you tonight, she is flying across the ocean for a month long tour of the UK. If you are lucky enough to hear her play, please give her a hug and send her my love, we will miss her in Woodstock while she is gone!


And here is a beautiful video of Simi singing in Woodstock…..

xoxo
elizabeth mitchell and you are my flower

Birthday Season, Summer Shows, Ashokan Family Camp!

Dear Friends,

May was a very special month here, as both my daughter Storey and I celebrated birthdays- and somehow, amazingly, Storey is now a teenager!

Many of you here have watched her grow up, her first live performance with us was just about nine years ago, when she was in her last days as a three year old. We were performing at a small theater in Seatte, and I asked Storey if she wanted to join us onstage that day. We put a little chair in the back of the stage, and she sat there for most of the performance, just fascinated by the audience of children.




Now here we are in 2014, and although she is still the same lovely, funny and kind Storey that we knew as a three year old, she now stands in the front, plays guitar better than I can at this point, sings in harmony with her mom and dad and makes us happier than we could have ever possibly imagined. We count our blessings every single day.

Today we are so grateful to find out that we won an Independent Music Award for our album “Blue Clouds”- thank you so much to the judges for this wonderful recognition.

Independent Music Awards



I want to share news of a fantastic new summer program happening in my neighborhood- the first Ashokan Family Camp will be hosted this summer by my dear friends Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer at the Ashokan Center in Olivebridge NY, just down the road from us in Woodstock. Cathy and Marcy have assembled a fantastic staff, including Bill Harley, Joakim Lartey, Billy Jonas and many other gifted and generous music educators. If you are looking for a beautiful summer adventure this August, that will bring your family into the great outdoors and create opportunities to play music together as a family, look no further!

Ashokan Family Camp

Finally, this weekend begins our summer performing season and we are so excited to be playing with our friends The M Shanghai String Band again. We had crazy fun playing with them in NYC earlier this spring, and we are looking forward to more shows with them this summer. Join us on Saturday at the Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center- it is free!

PEACE
elizabeth mitchell and you are my flower