Work Songs is a collection of 59 new songs about work written and recorded especially for this album by musicians and musical friends of the DROG community. Proceeds from this project are donated to various charitable organizations.

 Dave’s Records of Guelph (DROG) is a collective of independent recording artists and musicians based in Guelph, Ontario, Canada, founded in 1993 by Dave Teichroeb and Lewis Melville. Over 75 albums have been released carrying the DROG logo. Artists include well-known bands like the Skydiggers, Rheostatics, Jeff Bird (Cowboy Junkies), Black Cabbage, Kate Fenner and Chris Brown, and many others. 

 DROG is celebrating the beginning of the “real” new millenium (2001) with the release of their fourth theme album, WORK SONGS. The previous projects were Truck Songs (1996) recently featured in a special on trucking on CBC television’s the National, Music for Peace (1999) which was recorded during the bombing of Yugoslavia, and Food Songs (1999).

 In these projects the musicians are invited to write and record a song on the chosen topic, and a deadline is set for completion. It is both a songwriter’s challenge and a snapshot of our community at a particular moment in time, though it is by no means a complete picture.

 Why the theme “Work”? Everybody has worked, does work, or will work. Musicians have a very complex relationship with jobs; the long list of jobs held by the participants in this project (see album sleeve), and the songs they’ve written are a testament to the depth of their experience. Artists are well qualified to comment on how shifting fashions and trends change the nature of employment and unemployment.

 WORK SONGS elicited 59 songs by 59 different artists, with over one hundred and fifty people participating in various configurations. Most of these artists have one or more recordings of their own, and many have songs on other DROG compilations. We also welcome several new groups to our community, including the Barmitzvah Brothers, Charlotte Melby, Leslie Feist, Sexual Chocolate, Bug Night, and the Doodads.

 This album is currently only available directly from DROG. The cost is $20.00 including postage and handling. Proceeds from this album go to the Developing Countries Farm Radio Network, Doctors Without Borders, and the International Red Cross. The folks in these organizations (and many other like-minded organizations and individuals) do good work.
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