Ry Cooder

Best known as a guitar virtuoso, Ry Cooder is a complete musician whose singing, selection
of material, arranging and sensibility are as much a part of his art as his command of his
instrument. Classed as a folk artist, he has a wholeness of approach separating him from
such inferior purveyors of similar material as Dave Bromberg. Cooder is devoted to the
elimination of the gratuitous assertion of personality in music. He is in perpetual... More >

Cooder's problematic vocal authority has always made it harder for him to establish the practicability of the traditional rural values he treasures in the urban '70s. So his transformation of Bacharach-David's "Mexican Divorce" into a folk song that stands alongside Willie McTell's "Married Man's a Fool" is very encouraging. And though what impresses me about this album is its perfection of tone, what wins my love is the anomalous "Ditty Wa Ditty." (Grade: A-)