10 Songs for the New Depression by Loudon Wainwright III

10 Songs for the New Depression is the twenty-first studio album by American singer-songwriter Loudon Wainwright III, released in July 2010 through Proper Records. Released forty years following his first studio album, 10 Songs is Wainwright's first album since his Grammy Award-winning tribute project High Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project (2009). The concept album was inspired by the financial crisis of 2007–2008 and Great Recession, and features Wainwright backed by his own banjo, guitar and ukulele performances. Wainwright began writing songs for the album following the inauguration of Barack Obama in January 2009. The album features ten original songs and two cover versions of songs originally written and recorded during the Great Depression. Lyrical references throughout 10 Songs include economists Alan Greenspan, John Maynard Keynes and Paul Krugman, President Barack Obama, and the government program Car Allowance Rebate System (more commonly known as "cash for clunkers"). Overall, critical reception of the album was positive. 10 Songs reached peak positions of number thirty-eight on the United Kingdom's Top Independent Albums chart and number twelve on the Top 40 Independent Albums Breakers chart.