Ry Cooder (album)

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

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]

Track listing

Side 1

1. "Alimony" (Brenda Jones, Welton Young, Robert Higginbotham) - 2:55
2. "France Chance" (Joe Callicott) - 2:45
3. "One Meat Ball" (Louis Singer, Hy Zaret) - 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) - 2:43
4. "Goin' to Brownsville" (John Estes) - 3:24
5. "Dark Is the Night" (instrumental) (Blind Willie Johnson) - 2:48

Personnel

Musicians

• Van Dyke Parks - piano
• Ry Cooder - guitars, vocals, mandolin, bass guitar
• 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 - backing vocals

Production

• Van Dyke Parks - Producer; Arranger 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
• Kirby Johnson - Conductor, Orchestrator

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

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