Ry Cooder (album)

Ry Cooder
Studio album by Ry Cooder
Released	December 1970
Recorded	1970
Genre	Roots rock, blues, country blues, folk, Americana
Length	33:28
Label	Reprise
Producer	Van Dyke Parks, Lenny Waronker
Ry Cooder chronology
Ry Cooder (1970) Into the Purple Valley (1972)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	link
Christgau's Record Guide	B[1]

Ry Cooder is the debut album by roots rock musician Ry Cooder, released in 1970.

Track listing

Side 1

1. "Alimony" (Brenda Lee Jones, Welton Young, Robert Higginbotham) - 2:55
2. "France Chance" (Joe Callicott) - 2:45
3. "One Meat Ball" (Louis C. Singer, Hy Zaret; arranged by Van Dyke Parks) - 2:27
4. "Do Re Mi" (Woody Guthrie) - 3:03
5. "My Old Kentucky Home (Turpentine & Dandelion Wine)" (Randy Newman) - 1:45
6. "How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?" (Alfred Reed) - 2:45

Side 2

1. "Available Space" (instrumental) (Ry Cooder) - 2:11
2. "Pigmeat" (Huddie Ledbetter) - 3:07
3. "Police Dog Blues" (Arthur Blake; adapted by Ry Cooder) - 2:43
4. "Goin' to Brownsville" (John Estes; adapted by Ry Cooder) - 3:24
5. "Dark Is the Night" (instrumental) (Blind Willie Johnson; adapted by Ry Cooder) - 2:48

Personnel

• Ry Cooder - guitars, vocals, mandolin, bass guitar
• Van Dyke Parks - piano
• Chris Ethridge (contribution not specified in sleeve notes) - bass guitar
• Richie Hayward (contribution not specified in sleeve notes) - drums
• Roy Estrada (contribution not specified in sleeve notes) - bass guitar
• Milt Holland (contribution not specified in sleeve notes) - drums, percussion
• John Barbata (contribution not specified in sleeve notes) - drums
• Max Bennett (contribution not specified in sleeve notes) - bass guitar
• Bobby Bruce (contribution not specified in sleeve notes) - violin
• Gloria Jones & Co. - backing vocals
• Kirby Johnson - orchestration and conductor on "One Meat Ball", "Do Re Mi", "Old Kentucky Home" and "How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?"

Production

• Van Dyke Parks - producer, arrangement on "One Meat Ball"
• Lenny Waronker - producer
• Judy Betz - production assistant
• Lee Herschberg - engineer, mix-down
• Doug Botnick - engineer
• Thaddeus James Lowe - engineer
• Rudy Hill - engineer
• Bob Kovach - engineer

Other credits

• Airstream - for the 1937 trailer pictured on the front of the album sleeve
• Frank Bez - for the photo of the Airstream trailer (photographed at dry lake El Mirage)
• Susan Titelman - for the photo of Cooder on the back of the album sleeve
• Ed Thrasher - for art direction
• John Uomoto - for the title neon lettering

References

1. Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: C". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved February 23, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.

• LP Sleeve Notes

Billboard charts

Chart	Peak
Pop albums	216