Lyrically, Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down is a 21st-century protest album, a cheeky commentary on how money, greed, war and Baby Boomer-bred egocentrism dominate American politics and culture. Musically, the album is a throwback to Cooder's earliest work, particularly his 1972 ode to the Dust Bowl, Into the Purple Valley. He's reconnected with what made him such a unique talent to begin with: an uncanny ability to construct quirky pop via the mining of folk traditions as disparate as country-blues and norteño. In this sense he's more of a modern day Aaron Copland than Woody Guthrie.