Album release

The plan is to release a three-CD/book package featuring major artists performing Mellencamp's songs, and the book will contain the play's dialogue. According to Rolling Stone, two of those artists will be Elvis Costello

Elvis Costello

Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...

 and Neko Case

Neko Case

Neko Case is an American singer-songwriter, best known for her solo career and her contributions as a member of the Canadian indie rock group The New Pornographers....

. It was later announced that Kris Kristofferson

Kris Kristofferson

Kristoffer "Kris" Kristofferson is an American musician, actor, and writer. He is known for hits such as "Me and Bobby McGee", "For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and "Help Me Make It Through the Night"...

, Sheryl Crow

Sheryl Crow

Sheryl Suzanne Crow is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, musician, and actress. Her music incorporates elements of rock, folk, hip hop, country and pop...

, Taj Mahal and Rosanne Cash

Rosanne Cash

Rosanne Cash is an American singer-songwriter and author. She is the eldest daughter of the late country music singer Johnny Cash and his first wife, Vivian Liberto Cash Distin....

 will also contribute. The album will be produced by T-Bone Burnett

T-Bone Burnett

Joseph Henry Burnett , widely known as T-Bone Burnett, is an American musician, songwriter, and soundtrack and record producer.He was a guitarist in Bob Dylan's band on the Rolling Thunder Revue...

.

Production of this project began in June 2009 and, according to Mellencamp's website, the album will be available before the musical opens, which it is scheduled to do in the spring of 2012 in Atlanta. The album will be available as a book with a 3-CD set (two CDs containing the entire production and another with just the songs).

Mellencamp has compared the CD version of the musical as being akin to "an old radio show with music."

Cast (for the CD version only)

• Kris Kristofferson
  Kris Kristofferson
  Kristoffer "Kris" Kristofferson is an American musician, actor, and writer. He is known for hits such as "Me and Bobby McGee", "For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and "Help Me Make It Through the Night"...
  
   as Joe
• Elvis Costello
  Elvis Costello
  Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
  
   as The Shape
• Rosanne Cash
  Rosanne Cash
  Rosanne Cash is an American singer-songwriter and author. She is the eldest daughter of the late country music singer Johnny Cash and his first wife, Vivian Liberto Cash Distin....
  
   as Monique
• Will Dailey
  Will Dailey
  Will Dailey is a Boston-based recording and performing artist on Universal Republic Records. His sound has been described as having a rich vintage vibe while having a firm appreciation of AM rock, pop and big hooks. He is notable as being the winner of the 2006 Boston Music Award for Best Male...
  
   as Frank
• Dave Alvin
  Dave Alvin
  Dave Alvin , is a guitarist, singer and songwriter. He has been one of the leading proponents of 'roots' or 'American' music, bringing together elements of rock-and-roll, blues, rural and tejano music....
  
   as Jack
• Phil Alvin
  Phil Alvin
  Phil Alvin is an American singer and guitarist. He is known primarily as the frontman of the roots-rock band The Blasters.Alvin grew up in Downey, California in a music-loving family where he and his younger brother...
  
   as Andy
• John Mellencamp
  John Mellencamp
  John Mellencamp, previously known by the stage names Johnny Cougar, John Cougar, and John Cougar Mellencamp, is an American rock singer-songwriter, musician, painter and occasional actor known for his catchy, populist brand of heartland rock that eschews synthesizers and other artificial sounds...
  
   as Drake
• Sheryl Crow
  Sheryl Crow
  Sheryl Suzanne Crow is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, musician, and actress. Her music incorporates elements of rock, folk, hip hop, country and pop...
  
   as Jenna
• Neko Case
  Neko Case
  Neko Case is an American singer-songwriter, best known for her solo career and her contributions as a member of the Canadian indie rock group The New Pornographers....
  
   as Anna
• Joe Frazier
  Joe Frazier
  Joseph William "Joe" Frazier , also known as Smokin' Joe, was an Olympic and Undisputed World Heavyweight boxing champion, whose professional career lasted from 1965 to 1976, with a one-fight comeback in 1981....
  
   as Dan Coker
• Stephen King
  Stephen King
  Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
  
   as Uncle Steve
• Glenn Morshower
  Glenn Morshower
  Glenn Grove Morshower is an American actor best known for playing Secret Service Agent Aaron Pierce on the Fox action thriller drama series 24...
  
  as Narrator

External links

• http://www.liljas-library.com/2000/mellen.php
• http://www.liljas-library.com/section.php?id=17
• http://www.playbill.com/news/article/97125.html
• http://www.liljas-library.com/showinterview.php?id=36
• http://www.esquire.com/features/esquire-100/ghostbrothers1007