A Four Part Series from TTBOOK!

Public Radio International

Wisconsin Public Radio

DEPRESSION STORIES

Program 09-04-05-B

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As America endures the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, the hardships our grandparents and great grandparents lived through are suddenly relevant again. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, stories from the Great Depression – advice from the generation that survived the old hard times. Also, celebrating the WPA. And, Woody Guthrie's unpublished love songs.

SEGMENT 1:

We start with a depression story from Linda Nelson. Quaker author and educator Parker Palmer talks with Anne Strainchamps about the two different things we mean by the word depression: a downturn in the economy and an illness of the psyche. Palmer's most recent book is "A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward an Undivided Life." And we hear a depression story from 98 year old Nicholas J. Miller.

SEGMENT 2:

Marianne Kellman tells us her Depression story, then Nick Taylor, author of "American Made: the Enduring Legacy of the WPA," tells Jim Fleming about the controversial centerpiece of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. The WPR built 650 thousand miles of highways and employed 8 and a half million people. Also, the current economic crisis has Americans talking across the generations to share memories and get some advice, including Steve Paulson who had this conversation with his mother Lisa Paulson after she sent him a two page list of "Frugal Ways." You can read her list HERE.

SEGMENT 3:

Kirsten Downey is an award-winning journalist and author of "The Woman Behind the New Deal." She tells Jim Fleming about Frances Perkins, sworn in as Secretary of Labor under Franklin Roosevelt in 1933. Also, Jonatha Brooke is a singer and songwriter who was invited by Woody Guthrie's daughter to visit her famous father's archives and use some of his unpublished material. The result is an album called "The Works." Jonatha Brooke talks with Steve Paulson about the experience of working on Woody's music and sings a couple of the songs.

CD copies are available at 1-800-747-7444. Ask for program number 09-04-05-B.

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Books & CDs:

Nick Taylor, American-Made: The Enduring Legacy of the WPA: When FDR Put the Nation to Work (Bantam)
Kirstin Downey, The Woman Behind the New Deal: The Life of Frances Perkins, FDR's Secretary of Labor and His Moral Conscience (Nan A. Talese)
Parker Palmer, A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward an Undivided Life (Jossey-Bass)
Jonatha Brooke, The Works (CD Bad Dog Records) http://www.jonathabrooke.com/

Websites:

• Jonatha Brooke
  http://www.jonathabrooke.com/

Music:

• – Music used in the "Brother Can You Spare a Dime?" Mix: all songs found on the CD "Brother Can You Spare a Dime?," produced by Morton Dennis Wax for "Brother Can You Spare a Dime? Day" organized by the National Coalition for the Homeless and the Harburg Foundation. (Dime ‘93). Performers heard, in order:
  -Al Jolson, 1939
  -Phil Harris and Orchestra, 1933
  -Bing Crosby with the Lenny Hayton Orchestra, 1932
  -Abbey Lincoln, 1991
  -The Weavers, 1963
  -Odetta and Dr. John, 1992
  -Tom Waits, 1992
  -Dave Brubeck, 1954
• -"Boulevard of Broken Dreams"/Deane Janis; with Hal Kemp's Orchestra from the CD "Brother Can You Spare a Dime? American Songs During the Great Depression" (New World Records)

• -"Trouble in Mind"/Barbara Dane from the CD "Folk Song America: A 20th Century Revival, Vol. II" (Smithsonian Collection of Records)

• - "Hard Time Killing Floor Blues"/Chris Thomas King from the CD "Oh Brother Where Art Thou" (soundtrack from a film by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen)

• -"I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow"/Norman Blake from the CD "Oh Brother Where Art Thou"

• -"I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow"/John Hartford from the CD "Oh Brother Where Art Thou"

• -"I Don't Want Your Millions, Mister"/Dan Zanes from the CD "Catch That Train" (Festival Five Records)

• -"Philadelphia Lawyer"/Willie Nelson from the CD "A Vision Shared: A Tribute to Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly" (Folkways)

• -"I Ain't Got No Home in This World Anymore"/Woody Guthrie from the CD "Hard Travelin': The Asch Recordings, vol. 3" (Smithsonian Folkways)

• -"The Sweetest Angel"and "Madonna on the Curb"/Jonatha Brooke recorded live in studio – also available on the CD "The Works"/Jonatha Brooke (bdr)

• -"Railroad Blues"/Woody Guthrie from the CD "Hard Travelin': the Asch Recordings, vol. 3" (Smithsonian Folkways)

• -final sting: "Brother Can You Spare a Dime"/Tom Waits from the CD "Brother CanYou Spare a Dime" (Dime ‘93)

Distribution dates: week of 04/05/2009 - hour 2 click HERE for timings and cues

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Questions and comments can be addressed to: flemingj@wpr.org

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