Show 40: Labor's Legacy in Blues

In honor of Monday's Labor Day, for the next two hours I've prepared a playlist of tracks from the first half of the twentieth century which encapsulate the heart of the labor union movement. From the coal miners of Harlan County, Kentucky, to the Dust Bowl refugees of Oklahoma, to the pre-FDR inner-city blues, we're going to hear a wide variety of our young nation's struggles. To start us off, I'll play a few songs out of Kentucky from the 1930s. Up first is the most famous labor movement anthem in American history, "Which Side Are You On," written by Florence Reece and sung here by Mrs. Reece herself. This will be immediately followed by Pete Seeger and the Almanac Singers' avalanche of a harmony that'll crack you over the head like the bat of the boss's thugs. But now, here's Mrs. Reece.