Ry Cooder - Chicken Skin Music - Usa

Ry Cooder has always believed in "reciprocity in music", and this could not be more evident in his career than with his fifth album, Chicken Skin Music (a colloquialism from Hawaii, synonymous with goosebumps). Even more than usual, Cooder refuses to recognize geographic or musical boundaries by presenting "Stand By Me" as a gospel song with a northern arrangement, or Jim Reeves' country-pop classic, "He'llHave to Go , "with the rhythm of a bolero, the interaction of Flaco Jiménez's accordion and Pat Rizzo's alto sax. On other tracks, two of Hawaii's great guitarists and singers Gabby Pahinui and guitar master Atta Isaacs on Hank Snow's hit "Yellow Roses" and the beautiful instrumental "Chloe". If Cooder's approach to music is stylistically diverse, his choice of material certainly follows suit. Sustained by a couple of Leadbelly compositions, Chicken Skin Music is a collection of songs ranging from the aforementioned themes as an ancient minstrel shows the medicinal "I Got Mine" and the syncopated R&B "Smack Dab in the Middle ". Blind Appalachian composer Alfred Reed also participates in "Always Lift Him Up", featuring a Hawaiian gospel tune, "kanaka Wai Wai" woven into the instrumental section. As he explains in the album notes himself, Cooder understands the connection between these seemingly disparate styles. This is nothing more than eclecticism for its own sake. Chicken Skin Music is probably RyCooder's most eccentric recording since its inception, but it's also one of the funniest.

Personal

* Ry Cooder – BajoSexto, mandola, bottleneck guitar, French accordion, electric guitar, slack-key guitar,   tiple, Hawaiian guitar, vocals

* George Bohannon – horn and baritone arrangement

* Oscar Brashear – cornet

* Red Callender – upright bass, tuba

* Chris Ethridge – bass

* Terry Evans – vocals

* Cliff Givens – vocals

* Laurence Fishburne - vocals

* Hugo Gonzales – banjo

* Chet Himes – engineer

* Milt Holland – percussion, drums

* John Ingle – engineer

* Atta Isaacs – slack-key and acoustic guitar

* Fred Jackson, Jr. – tenor saxophone

* Flaco Jiménez – accordion

* Herman E. Johnson – vocals

* Jim Keltner – drums

* Bobby King – vocals

* Henry Ojeda – bass

* Gabby Pahinui – steel guitar, vocals

* Benny Powell – trombone

* Pat Rizzo – alto saxophone

* Russ Titelman – banjo, bass, vocals, producer

 Tracks

1. "The Bourgeois Blues" (Leadbelly) – 3:22

2. "I Got Mine" (Traditional) – 4:28

3. "Always Lift Him Up/Kanaka Wai Wai" (Traditional) – 6:01

4. "He'll Have to Go" (Joe Allison, Audrey Allison) – 5:07

5. "Smack Dab in the Middle" (Chuck Calhoun) – 3:18

6. "Stand by Me" (Ben E. King, Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller) – 3:38

7. "Yellow Roses" (Ken Devine, Sam Nichols) – 6:11

8. "Chloe" (Gus Kahn, Neil Moret) – 3:00

9. "Goodnight Irene" (Leadbelly, John Lomax) – 4:32