"Christmas Time This Year," Ry Cooder (Nonesuch)

The guitar virtuoso and roots-rocker has in recent years become more of a storyteller, and his 2011 album Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down directly addresses the weak economy of current times with an album's worth of protest songs. All but one were written by Ry himself, making a pretty good claim to being a soundtrack for #Occupy Wall Street. "Christmas Time This Year" addresses the holiday from the view of a wounded veteran who felt his choices were limited to joblessness or a hitch in the service. It's all rendered in a sprightly Tex-Mex beat with the help of famed accordionist Flaco Jimanez and strikes a nice antiwar note. Some will debate whether the negative reference to the previous president's role in creating war is a bit behind the times; perhaps as the song ages it will seem truer.