President Bill Clinton signed welfare reform — officially known as the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act — into law 20 years ago this summer.

It was one of Clinton's key campaign promises, and it's still seen as one of his big domestic policy achievements. But with two decades of hindsight, what effect has welfare reform actually had? What do we really know about it?That's the idea behind the first season of our new podcast, "The Uncertain Hour." The first episode is about welfare's reformers, specifically Larry Townsend. He was head of the welfare office in Riverside County, a large suburban county east of Los Angeles.As part of a bunch of reforms in Riverside, Townsend used $2000 in taxpayer money to record a CD called "Work Makes the Difference." It was full of music to play in welfare office waiting rooms and on the phone, touching all different genres — rap, reggae, pop — to appeal to different demographics.It sounds wacky, but it seemed to work. People got jobs, and they made more money than other former welfare recipients. They called it "The Riverside Miracle," and it paved the way for Clinton's reforms in 1996. You can hear a few songs in the audio player above and on this week's podcast. "Uncertain Hour" host Krissy Clark annotated Townsend's liner notes and the lyrics to the first track using Genius. You can find those below and add your own if you have a Genius account.

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BACK TO THE BASICS FOR AMERICA

By Lawrence E Townsend, Jr.

Director, Department of Public Social Services

One of the more significant reasons our Country became a great nation was due to the character, values and beliefs of the settlers who came to America. They sought religious freedom, opportunity, a chance to realize their full potential, and to establish a future which is based upon their efforts. They avoided charity and had a fierce pride to support themselves and their own dependents. Unfortunately, today we have many able bodied cit...