Based upon the ancient Greek myth of the poet Orpheus and his doomed quest to rescue his wife Eurydice from the underworld, Anaïs Mitchell's new album Hadestown evokes our Depression-era past, the current financial disaster (though it was written before the stock market collapse), and a post-apocalyptic future.

Anaïs, who sings the part of Eurydice, the character whose (metaphoric) death propels Orpheus into "Hadestown" is joined by a veritable Who's Who of modern indie folk/rock on the release. Justin Vernon of Bon Iver plays Orpheus; Greg Brown is Hades, Lord of the Underworld ("king of the kingdom of dirt"); Ani DiFranco plays Hades' strong-willed, subversive wife, Persephone; the Haden Triplets (Petra, Rachel, and Tanya) are the Greek chorus-like Fates and Ben Knox Miller of The Low Anthem is the messenger Hermes. Together, they create a world where people hide behind walls in a misguided attempt to preserve their "freedom" and protect their riches.

Hadestown began its existence in 2006 as a live "folk opera" that Mitchell created in collaboration with director Ben t. Matchstick (Bread & Puppet Theater) and arranger/orchestrator Michael Chorney. After loading the sets and the 22-member cast of Vermont performers into a former circus bus and touring New England during "full-on winter," it was time to rework a few songs. Next, Mitchell called upon a few fellow musicians to lend their voices to a recorded version--not a cast album, but a stand-alone, self-contained song cycle.