Album: Ry Cooder

His follow-up to the magnificent Chavez Ravine finds Ry Cooder still out there battling for the common man - or in this case the common cat, the Buddy of the title being an old moggy, red of fur and politics alike, whose travels across the America of the Great Depression closely parallel those of Woody Guthrie. Accompanied by his chums Lefty (an activist mouse) and the Rev Tom Toad (a blind amphibian preacher), Buddy experiences all the tribulations visited upon that era's poor, from eviction and emigration to racial prejudice and electoral disenfranchisement - made bearable only by the inner glow of fellowship and community gained from union involvement. The kind of fable, in other words, that separates Old Labour from New. It's firmly in the tradition of instructive, singalong children's songs that formed such an important part of the repertoire of Guthrie and Seeger, with the bonus of offering an equivalent journey through American roots music from bluegrass, blues and gospel to lounge music and Mexican conjunto. Deeply felt, and deeply entertaining too.

DOWNLOAD THIS: 'Three Chords and the Truth', 'My Name Is Buddy', 'Red Cat Till I Die', 'One Cat, One Vote, One Beer'