Hadestown

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.