[SACD-R][OF] Ry Cooder - Chicken Skin Music - 1976/2018 (Blues, Americana, Roots Rock, Country Rock, Tex-Mex)

1 The Bourgeois Blues
Guitar [Bottleneck], Accordion [French Accordion], Vocals, Bajo Sexto, Mandola – Ry CooderPercussion – Milt HollandWritten-By – Huddie Ledbetter
2 I Got Mine
Bass – Chris EthridgeBrass [Baritone Horn] – George BohanonCornett – Oscar BrashearDrums – Jim Keltner, Milt HollandTenor Saxophone – Fred JacksonTrombone – Benny PowellVocals, Electric Guitar, Mandola – Ry Cooder
3 Always Lift Him Up / Kanaka Wai Wai
Bass Guitar – Chris EthridgeGuitar, Tiple, Vocals – Ry CooderVocals – Bobby King, Herman Johnson, Terry EvansWritten-By – Alfred Reed
4 He'll Have To Go
Accordion – Flaco JimenezAlto Saxophone – Pat RizzoDouble Bass – Red CallenderDrums – Jim KeltnerGuitar, Vocals, Bajo Sexto – Ry CooderPercussion – Milt HollandVocals – Bobby KingWritten-By – Allison*, Allison*
5 Smack Dab In The Middle
Arco Bass – Chris EthridgeGuitar [Bottleneck], Mandolin, Vocals, Electric Guitar – Ry CooderPercussion – Milt HollandVocals – Bobby King, Cliff Givens, James Adams*, Terry Evans
6 Stand By Me
Accordion – Flaco JimenezBajo Sexto – Russ TitelmanBass – Chris EthridgeElectric Guitar, Vocals – Ry CooderPercussion – Milt HollandVocals – Bobby King, Herman Johnson, Terry EvansWritten-By – Ben E. King
7 Yellow Roses
Double Bass – Red CallenderDrums – Milt HollandGuitar [Slack-key] – Atta IsaacsTiple, Guitar [Slack Key] – Ry CooderVocals, Steel Guitar – Gabby PahinuiWritten-By – K. Devine*, S. Nichols*
8 Chloe
Acoustic Guitar – Atta IsaacsDouble Bass – Red CallenderDrums – Milt HollandMandolin – Ry CooderWritten-By – Gus Kahn, Neil Moret
9 Goodnight Irene
Accordion – Flaco JimenezAlto Saxophone – Frank VillarrealBajo Sexto – Hugo GonzalesBass – Henry "Red" Ojeda*Drums – Isaac Garcia

Chicken Skin Music is Ry Cooder’s fifth studio album, released in 1976, on the Reprise label.
The title of Ry Cooder's Chicken Skin Music – Hawaiian slang for goosebumps – serves as a direct, simple description of the album's emotional appeal. But it barely scratches the surface of a 1976 effort that triggered an interest in "world music" a decade before the term became commonplace and a genre into and of itself. Part of a series of inimitable mid-1970s records on which Cooder ignored traditional boundaries and instigated lasting cross-cultural communication, Chicken Skin Music blends gospel, Hawaiian, folk, blues, and Tex-Mex styles into a brilliant roots stew distinguished with virtuosic playing and inspired contextual surprises.
Mastered from the original master tapes and strictly limited to 2000 numbered copies, Mobile Fidelity's hybrid SACD of Chicken Skin Music brings the brilliant instrumental textures and lively tonalities to the fore like no prior digital edition. Graced with silent, black backgrounds and generous soundstages, this reissue particularly underscores the depth of Flaco Jimenez's accordion contributions. You'll hear the air flowing through the reeds, pressure resonating from the bellows, and the wide-spanning timbres emanating from the register stops.
Equally transfixing are the lifelike manners in which the rich assortment of guitars come alive, with each note occupying its own space and portraying a character unique to the individual instrument, be it a slack-key, steel, or acoustic guitar. The result is a multi-detailed, organic-sounding musical tapestry that dazzles by way of beautiful interplay, unexpected dialogue, and connective eclecticism that proves music is indeed a common language when executed with a collaborative mindset, innovative exploration, and respectful authenticity – no easy feats, but achievements fully on display on Chicken Skin Music.
Jimenez, now a legend that's performed with everyone from the Rolling Stones to Dr. John, remains one of the keys to Cooder being able to successfully carry out what the latter deemed a "mutuality in music" vision. Cooder first heard conjunto accordion fare on a Mexican radio station in his car and proceeded to teach himself the instrument while committing himself to embracing the then-local, regionalized style for the set that became Chicken Skin Music. Jimenez graces three tracks, including a ravishing interpretation of Ben E. King's "Stand by Me" transformed into a spiritual grounded by a norteno structure and a romantic take on Jim Reeves' "He'll Have to Go" recast with a bolero rhythm and saxophone-accordion duet.
Chicken Skin Music isn't limited to South of the Border geography and tradition. Steel-guitarist and vocalist Gabby Pahinui and slack-key guitar great Atta Isaacs represent the 50th state on stripped-down renditions of Hank Snow's smash "Yellow Roses" and the wordless "Chloe." Elsewhere, gospel singers team with Cooder on the Appalachian-tinted "Always Lift Them Up," the midsection of which features the Hawaiian standard "Kanaka Wai Wai."
Cooder bookends everything with a pair of Leadbelly numbers – "The Bourgeois Blues" and "Goodnight Irene" – chosen after Cooder witnessed Jimenez and his band perform at a local dance. Given their ordering on the album, techniques they employ, and themes, the songs also further tighten the thematic connection the headliner makes with the standout guests. In many ways, Chicken Skin Music is the equivalent of Buena Vista Social Club more than 20 years before the latter emerged. Experience it the way Cooder and company meant it to be heard – in unparalleled fidelity.
All Music Review
Ry Cooder has always believed in the “mutuality in music,” and this may be no more evident in his career than with his fifth album, Chicken Skin Music (a Hawaiian colloquialism, synonymous with goosebumps). Even more than usual, Cooder refuses to recognize borders — geographical or musical — presenting “Stand By Me” as a gospel song with a norteño arrangement, or giving the Jim Reeves country-pop classic, “He’ll Have to Go,” a bolero rhythm, featuring the interplay of Flaco Jimenez’s accordion and Pat Rizzo’s alto sax. Elsewhere, he teams with a pair of Hawaiian greats — steel guitarist and singer Gabby Pahinui and slack key guitar master Atta Isaacs — on the Hank Snow hit “Yellow Roses” and the beautiful instrumental “Chloe.” If Cooder’s approach to the music is stylistically diverse, his choice of material certainly follows suit. Bookended by a couple of Leadbelly compositions, Chicken Skin Music sports a collection of songs ranging from the aforementioned tracks to the charming old minstrel/medicine show number “I Got Mine” and the syncopated R&B of “Smack Dab in the Middle.” Also included is Appalachian songwriter Blind Alfred Reed’s “Always Lift Him Up,” complete with a Hawaiian gospel tune, “Kanaka Wai Wai,” woven into the instrumental section. As he explains in the album’s liner notes, Cooder understands the connection between these seemingly disparate styles. This is not merely eclecticism for its own sake. Chicken Skin Music is probably Ry Cooder’s most eccentric record since his first, but it’s also one of his most entertaining.