Multi-instrumentalist Ry Cooder has dipped into the vast reservoir of American music and created a project which reflects the music and times of 1930s America. My Name is Buddy is the story of Buddy Red Cat, Lefty Mouse and Reverend Tom Toad as they traverse the social political landscape of a depressed country.

Mysteriously, this project sprouted several years ago when Cooder received from a fan a picture of a timeless bluesman with the head of a red cat placed on top. The picture was accompanied by another photo of the same red cat in a suitcase. Apparently, this cat appeared one day in its suitcase at a local Seattle eatery with no explanation from where it or its mobile home came. Cooder used this cat named Buddy as a vehicle to tell the tale of the divisive forces that splintered the country at the time and how they effected the working class.

As Buddy, Lefty, and the Reverend make their way they come across union strikes, a greedy pig named J. Edgar ("that ate up the cherry pie that was made for everyone"), a UFO in the Mojave, heartless politicians and shares stories of dying truck drivers, shifty car salesmen and the insipid voting process. Cooder has created a masterpiece of social commentary with music melded from the purest well springs: dust-bowl era ballads and protest songs long buried in the trenches of time, country, blues, and gospel.

To achieve this diverse sound Cooder employs Mike Seeger on several tracks as well as Mike’s brother, the inimitable Pete Seeger, Paddy Moloney of The Chieftains, accordion player Flaco Jiménez, and others. Not only does this vast musical collaboration cover a lot of territory, but it supports the characters and the stories they tell. Cooder is no stranger to creating records that offer a melange of genres, styles and history. His 1970s records were celebrations of early 20th century American music. With My Name is Buddy he returns to the roots of those records.

While songs like "Red Cat Till I Die" and "The Dying Truck Driver" have a weathered almost archival production values which add a little grit. Flaco Jiménez adds his Tex-Mex flair to "Footprints In the Snow" and "Christmas in Southgate" while John Hassell adds late-60’s Miles Davis trumpet with "One Cat, One Vote, One Beer." The latter track uses humour to drive the point home instead of haranguing the listener.

My Name is Buddy is a thoroughly enjoyable listen. It is history that forces us in the present to face the past like a folk version of Dorian Gray. We can see ourselves through the old-timey string-band music, jazz, blues, country, the unions, strikes, hobo-camps, corruption, and pervasive bigotry. Cooder updates the traditional, "There’s A Bright Side Some-where" to end the album. As he plays a sad but soulful slide solo, Ry Cooder leaves his listeners on a positive note, not only entertained, but hopefully inspired, as well.

Rehoboth transplant Blair Fraipont lives in New York City. Email him at blair.fraipont@lehman.com