People keep expecting the new depression to look like the old Depression: soup-lines, Hoovervilles, Fireside Chats. Instead they get food pantries, unemployment lines (that benefit came courtesy FDR, remember) and Jon Stewart. Humor is the new tonic, it seems; how else explain NBC’s decision to turn its weekday evenings into one long Tonight Show? 

Bluegrass musician Del McCoury, a pure revivalist who I have been listening to forever, has made an interesting foray into depression expression. His new album, Living in Moneyland, is bookended by actual Fireside chats, and mixes 1930s Depression standards (Breadline Blues) with Merle Haggard’s 1970s recession classic, If We Make It Through December, with some newer material by Patty Loveless, Bruce Hornsby, Emmylou Harris etc. (Del even wrote one: 40 Acres and a Fool, about some pre-bust bozo lording his wealth over his less fortunate neighbors.)

There are populist themes in all of this, including some potentially ugly resentment about outsourcing, but mostly I think the singer is trying to tap into the fear and anger felt by a lot of Americans looking at the specter of a dark decade to come. Judging from some of the comments on the album’s message board, not all traditional music fans are happy. 

“For him to denigrate our remnants of Capitalism, the only system that allows talented individuals like himself to objectively prosper, is a humorous spectacle,” reads one post. “The only reasonable conclusion I can draw from Del’s many ‘calls to action’ is that he’s supporting the cause for more government meddling in the economy, more income redistribution and more sacrifice of individuals for the sake of the collective.”

Yeah, when in doubt call the hillbilly a commie! Some things actually haven’t changed. But it’s worth noting where I purchased Living in Moneyland. I stopped in at the local Circuit City, which is going out of business. Seeing as  how I live in downtown Brooklyn, there wasn’t a lot of competition for the country music. The place was being stripped down to the walls — great bargains on TVs, CD players, DVDs! Hurry! Sale ends soon. Everything must go.