Search - Ry Cooder :: My Name Is Buddy

My Name Is Buddy
Ry Cooder
My Name Is Buddy
Genres: Alternative Rock, Blues, Folk, International Music, Jazz, New Age, Pop, Rock, Soundtracks, Classic Rock, Broadway & Vocalists
 
  •  Track Listings (17) - Disc #1

On My Name Is Buddy, Ry Cooder revisits, in a new set of original material, the sound and feeling of the "dust bowl songs" he first explored more than three decades ago on such groundbreaking albums as his self-titled 1...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Ry Cooder
Title: My Name Is Buddy
Members Wishing: 2
Total Copies: 0
Label: Nonesuch
Original Release Date: 1/1/2007
Re-Release Date: 3/6/2007
Genres: Alternative Rock, Blues, Folk, International Music, Jazz, New Age, Pop, Rock, Soundtracks, Classic Rock, Broadway & Vocalists
Styles: Contemporary Blues, Acoustic Blues, Contemporary Folk
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPCs: 075597996128, 075597996166

Synopsis

Album Description
On My Name Is Buddy, Ry Cooder revisits, in a new set of original material, the sound and feeling of the "dust bowl songs" he first explored more than three decades ago on such groundbreaking albums as his self-titled 1970 debut and 1971's In The Purple Valley. In fact, he's joined by old friends like pianist Van Dyke Parks and drummer Jim Keltner who were with him at the start of his extraordinary, ultimately globe-spanning musical odyssey, which has yielded him six Grammy Awards to date, several more nominations, and perennial acclaim. My Name Is Buddy is also a journey, a phantasmagorical rendering in music, words and pictures of the travels of three unlikely cohorts - Buddy Red Cat, Lefty Mouse and Reverend Tom Toad - as they meander through the west "in the days of labor, big bosses, farm failures, strikes, company cops, sundown towns, hobos and trains...the America of yesteryear." For this allegorical tale, Cooder marshals all his remarkable skills as a producer, arranger, songwriter, soundtrack composer and musicologist. (The Christian Science Monitor recently dubbed him "a modern-day Alan Lomax.") My Name Is Buddy recalls Woody Guthrie's Bound for Glory - that is, if it had been enacted by the articulate animal characters of Walt Kelly's classic comic Pogo. Cooder conjures up the dark shadows of an earlier time to wryly comment on the political and social issues of the present. As back-story to his songs, Cooder has written short stories for each one and they're accompanied by evocative illustrations from noted San Antonio-based painter and muralist Vincent Valdez, all of which are included in a specially designed package.

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CD Reviews

Warms the heart.
G. A. McHale | Koganei-shi, Tokyo Japan | 03/22/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)

"I am not American. Nor do I usually buy this kind of music. I heard a few tracks by accident in a music store. But... we live in dark times, someone singing about friendship and brotherhood makes me feel that there are some good people out there. Its simple messages warm the heart. If the heart is true, the music is beautiful no matter whether the music is rock, rap... or in this case American Folk Music."
Did I Hear You Say Ry Cooder Album Is About a Cat; as In Kit
Gavin B. | St. Louis MO | 03/11/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ry Cooder's latest album is an folk music opera to a rambling cat named Buddy who sleeps in a little suitcase and hobos around America with his best friend, a pro-labor union mouse named Lefty.



Huh?...come again? No, Ry Cooder has not lost his mind. Let me assure all doubters that "My Name Is Buddy" is not only his most audacious recording to date but arguably his best.



Knowing what you do about Ry Cooder's impeccable musical reputation do you think he'd risk it all to write a bizarre roots music epic about about a working class hobo cat? Don't think too long about the question because the entire idea seems so laughably absurd. It is not our place to question artistic genius.



In reality Cooder's musical statement tells us more about human relations than animal behavior. I can only tell you that you're missing something very special if you can't suspend disbelief and listen to this album on Ry Cooder's own artistic terms.



"
Ry's best work
Victor Pullano | Chicago | 03/07/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is an amazing disc. Much like his early work (Into the Purple Valley, Boomer's Story, etc.), this song cycle recreates the dust bowl era in modern sonic terms and musical language. It combines folk, jazz, blues, and protest songs into a charming, intelligent and entertaining mixture. If you are a fan of classic American music and clever storytelling, then this is the CD for you. It's the aural equivalent of some of Steinbeck's novels (`The Grapes of Wrath' and `Travels With Charlie' come to mind), crossed with `The Wind in the Willows'. That may sound like an odd mixture, but the results are wonderful.



As in the best American folk music of the era Cooder is recreating, these songs are political motivated, socially aware and purposefully accessible to a wide group of people. His take on this form would do Woody Guthrie proud. This is the best musical purchase I've made in quite a while.

"