Artist: Cooder, Ryland
Label: Nonesuch Records
Release: 2007
Ry Cooder is one of the most respected names among music connoisseurs – he’s made a ton of interesting film scores and a wild variety of studio albums, he’s the one who introduced the wider world to the musicians under the Buena Vista Social Club banner, he’s the reason we started admiring African music too, and in short he’s one of those people who is not just a musician but often a mentor as well…
His latest record, My Name is Buddy, has been “rolling around” in my CD player for quite a while now, because every new listen turns up another layer. To really get the stories on the record, you have to go way back in American history, to the 1930s, the era of the Great Depression, the stock market crash, the New Deal, the rise of new politicians and the birth of a new, special generation… that’s when the beat generation started to take shape, though it only hit its peak after World War II. It was a sad time for the US, too, with people losing their jobs, forced to move around chasing any scrap of work, many falling into poverty, and most of them were the ones who were already poor and just got poorer. The roads were packed with travelers looking for their shot at a better life, and on the grimy streets a huge number of destitute homeless people scraped by.
And how would you feel if I told you that these fascinating stories (there are a whopping 17 of them on the record), set to a varied musical backdrop of country, rock, jazz, polka, bluegrass and more, are sung and told by a cat named Buddy, a mouse named Lefty and a toad named Reverend Tom?
J. Edgar, Strike!, Footprints in the Snow, The Dying Truck Driver, Hank Williams, Three Chords and The Truth, One Cat, One Vote, One Beer, Farm Girl and There’s a Bright Side Somewhere are just some of the titles, and they already offer a great jumping-off point for interesting song content. Every single track is also presented in the accompanying booklet with a short introduction and decked out with gorgeous illustrations by Vincent Valdes.
The spirit of Jack Kerouac, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and the other old storytellers of cruel and sadly true American tales has come alive again…
Lineup
Ry Cooder – vocals, banjo, mandola, keyboards, bass guitar
Van Dyke Parks – piano
Pete Seeger – banjo
Flaco Jimenez – keyboards
Paddy Maloney – tin whistle
Bobby King – vocals
Jon Hassell – trumpet
Joachim Cooder – drums
Production
Ry Cooder
Track list
1. Suitcase In My Hand
2. Cat And Mouse
3. Strike
4. J Edgar
5. Footprints In The Snow
6. Sundown Town
7. Green Dog
8. Dying Truck Driver
9. Christmas In Southgate
10. Hank Williams
11. Red Cat Till I Die
12. Three Chords And The Truth
13. My Name Is Buddy
14. One Cat One Vote One Beer
15. Cardboard Avenue
16. Farm Girl
17. There’s A Bright Side Somewhere
