The Works Progress Administration (renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration; WPA) was the largest and most ambitious American New Deal agency, employing millions of unemployed people (mostly unskilled men) to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads. In a much smaller but more famous project, Federal Project Number One, the WPA employed musicians, artists, writers, actors and directors in large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects.

Almost every community in the United States had a new park, bridge or school constructed by the agency. The WPA's initial appropriation in 1935 was for $4.9 billion (about 6.7 percent of the 1935 GDP), and in total it spent $13.4 billion.

At its peak in 1938, it provided paid jobs for three million unemployed men and women, as well as youth in a separate division, the National Youth Administration. Headed by Harry Hopkins, the WPA provided jobs and income to the unemployed during the Great Depression in the United States. Between 1935 and 1943, the WPA provided almost eight million jobs. Full employment, which was reached in 1942 and emerged as a long-term national goal around 1944, was not the WPA's goal. It tried to provide one paid job for all families in which the breadwinner suffered long-term unemployment. Robert D. Leighninger asserts that "The stated goal of public building programs was to end the depression or, at least, alleviate its worst effects. Millions of people needed subsistence incomes. Work relief was preferred over public assistance (the dole) because it maintained self-respect, reinforced the work ethic, and kept skills sharp."

Works Progress Administration, formerly known by the working name The Scrolls, is an American supergroup led by Sean Watkins, Glen Phillips, and Luke Bulla. They recorded their debut album with Benmont Tench (piano), Sara Watkins (fiddle), Greg Leisz (various instruments), Pete Thomas (drums), and Davey Faragher (bass). These members gained recognition in other musical projects such as Nickel Creek, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Elvis Costello and the Imposters, Fiction Family, and Toad the Wet Sprocket.

The project started in September 2007, when W.P.A began to record songs for an upcoming album release. In Sara Watkins' December 2007 MySpace blog, she said "we're hoping to nearly (finish) the record in the next few days. We're tracking live and trying to get as much down at one time as possible. It is a very satisfying way to record".

Their self-titled release debuted on August 28, 2009. Some of the tracks from the self-titled debut include the Phillips-penned tracks "Rise Up", "You Will Always Have My Love", and "End This Now", as well as a Luke Bulla/Glen Phillips collaboration entitled "Cry For You". "Not Sure", one of three Sean Watkins track that is featured, was originally released on the Fiction Family album. The Works Progress Administration version features Luke Bulla giving a rich voice to the melody as well as the fuller orchestration.