Poverty: Breadline

The Wooden Soldiers: Breadline

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A couple of weeks ago, I featured a few bands from the New Brunswick, NJ music scene. Here's another one important: The Wooden Soldiers. Formed in 1984, their first album, Hippies, Punks and Rubber Men (1987) is a New Brunswick classic. The original version of the band included two distinct singer/songwriters, Greg Di Gesu and Paul Rieder. "Breadline" is one of Paul's songs. It's from a second album, Lazy Man's Load, that never got released. Paul left the band around that time, and they released one more album without him, 1991's Roses of Steel.

"Breadline" is one of the catchier songs about poverty. "I'll meet you all in the morning / On the Breadline" sounds inviting until you listen to the verses, which detail a litany of troubles facing the financially challenged.

Paul currently plays mandolin and lap steel guitar in the band Clancy's Ghost. Greg performs as Sounds of Greg D and is also a respected studio engineer with two platinum records to his credit.