Singer-songwriter Halley Elwell’s long-held vision comes to life with her new album and podcast Spontaneous Mutation, which aims to challenge the centuries-old misrepresentation of people with facial differences. While those with facial differences make up only about 10% of the world population, they represent 60% of on screen villains in popular media, and a whopping 80% if you’re a Bond villain (source).

“I was inspired to begin this process during the pandemic when I was approached by a couple of reality shows to ‘tell my story,’” says Elwell. “I realized I wasn't ready to hand that over and that it was time to share in my own way, in the medium I know best: music and storytelling.”

“Spontaneous mutation” is a medical term usually used to describe genetic changes that occur without external cause, such as with neurofibromatosis, the genetic condition Elwell has. When she decided to reclaim the word and take it out of the medical model, new questions emerged. What happens when music, art, or life spontaneously mutates? How do we adapt?

Elwell’s answer is an album that spans rock, folk, and jazz genres, told with memoir-style intimacy that mutates its way through her young life (and musical tastes) to present day. There is just one cover on the album, a lush and roving rendition of Tom Petty’s “Time to Move On” from the 1994 album Wildflowers, that leaves the listener recalling that so many of our great storytellers had their own spontaneous mutations throughout their careers. She is joined by a cadre of Boston’s best musicians, including a sweet, Americana-inspired duet called “The Raven and the Ponderosa Pine” with The Blue Ribbons front man, James Rohr and a special guest appearance by Alisa Amador, winner of the 2022 NPR tiny desk contest.

But Elwell didn’t stop with the album. She is launching the Spontaneous Mutation podcast to expand the conversation to other folks with lived experiences with facial difference and disability. When was their spontaneous mutation? Authors, advocates, researchers, and educators join her on the 7-episode exploration of the inspiring and complex stories of those working to take on society’s tired, internalized tropes about difference and paint a powerful and colorful vision of a new narrative for those with physical differences.