Roots of Ry Cooder [Reissue] (2007)

About this title: In his many-faceted career as a producer, session musician, solo artist, and soundtrack composer, Ry Cooder has drawn continually on the deep roots of American music, reinventing and refocusing the old into the new in a nearly seamless balancing act. This fine collection of vintage roots material from Britain's Catfish Records visits some of Cooder's musical sources and influences, and the result is a wonderful snapshot of 1920s and Depression era rural America. Included here are the natural storytelling talents of Sleepy John Estes on "Brownsville Blues," the haunting, primal pain of Blind ... read more

Tracks:

1. Do Re Mi [Guthrie]
2. Pigmeat Papa [Ledbetter]
3. Police Dog Blues [Blake]
4. Brownsville Blues [Estes]
5. Dark Was the Night [Watts]
6. On a Monday [Traditional]
7. Vigilante Man [Guthrie]
8. Cherry Ball Blues [James]
9. Taxes on the Farmer Feeds Them All [Traditional]
10. The Bourgeois Blues [Ledbetter/Lomax]
11. You Can't Stop a Tattler, Pt. 1 [Phillips/Public Dom]
12. You Can't Stop a Tattler, Pt. 2 [Phillips/Public Dom]
13. Diddie Wah Diddie [Blake]
14. How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live [Reed]
15. Viola Lee Blues [Lewis]
16. Cross Road Blues [Johnson]
17. Goodnight Irene [Lead Belly/Lomax]
18. Statesboro Blues [McTell]
19. Poor Me [Patton]
20. Candy Man Blues [Hurt]
21. Corrine, Corrina [Chatman/Williams/Pa]

Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is further described below.