Blending economics and folk sensibility into an unforgettable album detailing the Great Recession. A portion of proceeds goes to support the work of the Somerville Homeless Coalition.

16 MP3 Songs in this album (43:29) !
Related styles: Folk: Political Folk, Folk: Drinking Songs, Type: Acoustic

People who are interested in Arlo Guthrie Bob Dylan Neil Young should consider this download.


Details:
Recession Sessions was born in 2008 out of the desire to capture the Great Recession in song. From early worries of stagflation in July 2008 to the more recent implementation of a second round of quantitative easing, we tried to capture the major events of the crisis as they unfolded. Three years and several continents later, the album is finished, but is the crisis really over yet?

A portion of proceeds goes to the Somerville Homeless Coalition. Read about their terrific work here: http://www.somervillehomelesscoalition.org/

The Bull and the Bear is a band that started as the brainchild of Ryan Stotland and Kyle Thompson-Westra, who met studying economics at college and realized they shared a passion for music. In college, they would play together regularly, performing covers of their favorite artists, including Neil Young and Bob Dylan, whose influence can be heard on the album.

However, the idea to put their academic interests to song came together the summer after graduation in 2008. As Kyle traveled through the rising economic power that is China while Ryan began work as an analyst at a financial research firm, they realized it would be possible to join their economic and musical interests to describe the changes happening around the world. This led to a collaboration on Central Banker's Dilemma, an economic folk song, which was aired on NPR's Planet Money program. Following the song's success, Ryan and Kyle were inspired to write an entire album about the financial crisis and the Great Recession.

Recession Sessions is a sixteen song album composed over the course of the recession that aims to address all of the major economic events of the financial crisis and the following period. Ryan (guitar, harmonica, and backup vocals) and Kyle (guitar, clarinet, and vocals) recorded the album in Montreal along with Adam Stotland (mandolin, guitar, vocals), Sarah Shapiro (vocals), and Jonathan Moorman (fiddle) as complements. The album sheds hope on the fact that the crisis is over but asks: is it really over yet?