STABLES SINGERS
LIKE everywhere else, Kansas City is in the grip of near-unprecedented heatwave. From a shaded patio table adjacent to the swimming pool at the city’s Intercontinental hotel, the three principal members of Bonny Light Horseman – who are here on tour, opening for Bon Iver, the band led by their friend and 37d03d label boss Justin Vernon – are sheltering from the oppressive heat, water and coffee in hands, explaining why they’re not a supergroup. “A supergroup is about vaunting identities, and what we’re doing is about shedding identities,” contends Anaïs Mitchell. “It’s not so much a Mount Rushmore of folk icons,” adds Josh Kaufman. “It’s much more of a collective, making something together.”
Concludes Eric D Johnson: “We’re not a casual one-off or a fleeting ’80s side project. That term reminds me of something that would have a member of Yes in it.”
However, it’s easy to understand why the term has stuck. Each member joined the group as a proven artist with an established fanbase and celebrated body of work. Mitchell has released eight solo albums and won Tony awards for her musical , Kaufman is an in-demand multi-instrumentalist and producer whose credits include Bob Weir, The National, Josh Ritter, The Hold Steady and Taylor Swift, while Johnson has been making indie-rock under the Fruit Bats moniker for more than two decades. It almost doesn’t make sense for the trio to form a humble folk act – except that each artist is clearly not content to inhabit the same role over and over. Kaufman explains that he’s been craving the familial energy that comes with
