A much-requested CD reissue from the original New World LP!
American society was much less homogeneous during the Great Depression (1929-1941) than it became after World War II. There were still quite sharply defined classes, divided along economic, geographic, and ethnic lines. Each group was affected by the Depression, but in different ways and to different degrees. Each had its own tradition of popular song, and this carefully compiled sampling of recordings from the thirties gives a vivid picture of how each fared and how it reacted to the almost universal adversity of that decade. Included is a 36-page booklet with a lengthy essay on the Great Depression and copious notes on each recording by noted American music scholar Charles Hamm. Sixteen tracks.
