My Name Is Buddy

Ry Cooder

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 6, 2007)
• Original Release Date: March 6, 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Nonesuch
• ASIN: B000MDH8E6
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #29,801 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Though this release carries the deceptive subtitle Another Record by Ry Cooder, the virtuosic guitarist and ethnomusicological adventurer has never released another album quite like this. And neither has anyone else. After brilliant side trips into the music of pre-Castro Cuba and pre-baseball Chavez Ravine, Cooder returns to the Depression-era and Dust Bowl ballads that marked his earliest solo releases of the 1970s. Yet most of this material is original, offering a populist parable of three fellow travelers: Buddy Red Cat, Lefty Mouse, and the Reverend Tom Toad. The tradition of putting pointed social commentary in the mouths of animals extends from Animal Farm to Pogo, and Buddy seems like a feline cross between Woody Guthrie and Joe Hill--a troubadour of union solidarity, interspecies brotherhood, and radical populism. Though Cooder's cartoon vocals occasionally sound a little mannered, the music throughout ranks with his best, as he reunites with conjunto accordion master Flaco Jimenez and soul singers Terry Evans and Bobby King, enlists banjo brothers Pete and Mike Seeger, and receives inspired support from the Chieftains' Paddy Moloney, pianist Van Dyke Parks, and drummers Jim Keltner and (his son) Joachim Cooder. Whether he's channeling his inner Chet Baker on "Green Dog" or closing with the utopian vision of "There's a Bright Side Somewhere," Cooder shows more sides of his multifaceted music than he has on any previous release. --Don McLeese

Product 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.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Warms the heart., March 22, 2007

By	G. A. McHale (Koganei-shi, Tokyo Japan) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

39 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Did I Hear You Say Ry Cooder Album Is About a Cat; as In Kitty Cat?, March 11, 2007

By	Gavin B. (St. Louis MO) - See all my reviews

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.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Ry Cooder masterpiece, March 16, 2007

By	R. Klein (Gulf Breeze, Fl United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have been listening to Ry Cooder since 1969, and have enjoyed many great moments. Every music project he undertakes is always unique and handled with the utmost respect & integrity of the music. "My Name Is Buddy" is another jem, unlike anything I have heard from Ry. By surrounding himself with the great traditional musicians- Pete & Mike Seeger, bluegrass mandolin master, Roland White (the brother of the late Clarence White, both of the legendary Kentucky Colonials & Clarence was a member of the Byrds fame), Tex Mex accordian mastro Flaco Jimenez, Chieftains' Paddy Maloney, and other veteran pros, this is a GREAT collection of american music.
By telling the story through Buddy Red Cat, Lefty mouse, and Reverend Tom Toad, it offers an amusing and tearful journey of friendship and hardship in their travels. This is a collection of tunes that seem to have a story riding often on familiar traditional melodies, with some pretty interesting grooves bouncing along too. "Three Chords & The Truth" jumps & grinds in a funky groove. "Footprints In The Snow" tackles bluegrass with a Tex-Mex added accordian. Another favorite is "One Cat, One Vote, One Beer". After several listens I find that every song fits perfectly and becomes classic Cooder- a touch of this, a dash of that, mix it all together and get real American music. Don't pass on this one. This should get another award for Ry Cooder. I thank him I wish him the very best- Rob.