Songfacts®:

• The songs from Dar Williams' ninth studio were written around the concept of classic tales from Ancient Greece, which she was told as a child. However, the final track brings us back into the 21st century as Williams reminds us that wherever we are, whenever it may be, we are always living In the Time of Gods. "We have a mountain close to our house called Storm King," explained the New England folk singer. "When a circle of clouds gathers around the top of it, that means the rain is coming. Pete Seeger lives across the river and can see the mountain, and I wrote a song saying that Pete is the storm king now. He looks down and watches over us, guides and warns us, like the mountain does.
  
  So my 'Storm King' is not a king of Greek mythology," Williams continued. "He's a father figure who influences me from two miles up the road, where he composts and chops his own wood, and reminds me of my responsibilities. 'Storm King' is my way of saying that we aren't living in 400 BC Greece, we are evolving in time. And that's what you're allowed to do with mythology - to let it evolve and show who your Parthenon is now."
• Williams explained the significance of the album title to American Songwriter: "We live in a time of precipitous ups and downs right now. The people on top fall to the bottom, those one the bottom are rising up, we've got massive weather events, and throughout it all, we have people railing away about what we have to do (drill more, plant tomatoes, build an ark, etc.). The album's themes came from Greek mythology, which made room for massive chaos while still exalting the pillars of civilization. That's how I feel, like we're the playthings of petty, angry gods, especially the ones that walk the Earth, but that the Parthenon is still standing on the hill, surrounded by olive trees. Perhaps less virgins."