Janet McTeer as Professor Lily Penleric, PhD

Michael Goodwin as Professor Wallace Aldrich, PhD

Gregory Russell Cook as Fate Honeycutt

Jane Adams as Eleanor 'Elna' Penleric

E. Katherine Kerr as Harriet Tolliver

Emmy Rossum as Deladis Slocumb

Pat Carroll as Viney Butler

Stephanie Roth Haberle as Alice Kincaid

Aidan Quinn as Tom Bledsoe

Bart Hansard as Hilliard

Erin Blake Clanton as Polly

David Patrick Kelly as Earl Giddens

Kristin Hall as Isabel

Michael Harding as Reese Kincaid

Taj Mahal as Dexter Speaks

Iris DeMent as Rose Gentry

Rhoda Griffis as Clementine McFarland

Michael Davis as Dean Arthur Pembroke

Steve Boles as Ambrose McFarland

Taylor Hayes as Reverend Merriweather

Josh Goforth as Will

Don Pedi as Barn Band - Dulcimer

Sheila Kay Adams as Barn Band - Banjo

Bobby McMillon as Singer at Barn Dance

Hazel Dickens as Singer at Barn Dance

Andrea Powell as Josie Moore

Danny Nelson as Uncle Cratis

David Ducey as Postman Johnson

Steven Sutherlan as Cyrus Whittle