Boomer's Story

Boomer's Story
Studio album by
ReleasedNovember 1972
Studio
Genre
Length39:05
LabelReprise
Producer
Ry Cooder chronology
Into the Purple Valley
(1972)
Boomer's Story
(1972)
Paradise and Lunch
(1974)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic link
Christgau's Record GuideB[1]

Boomer's Story is the third studio album by American roots rock musician Ry Cooder, released in November 1972.

Background

"The Dark End of the Street", co-written by Dan Penn and Chips Moman, is originally known as a recording by James Carr, but in this album it is presented as a guitar-driven instrumental.[2] The album also features "Sweet Mama" and "President Kennedy", both written by Sleepy John Estes, with Estes himself performing lead vocals on the latter.[3] Estes's parts were recorded in Collierville, Tennessee.[4]

The piano on "Rally 'Round the Flag" is played by Randy Newman.[3]

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Boomer's Story"listed as "Traditional," actually Carson Robison4:15
2."Cherry Ball Blues" (Instrumental)Skip James4:13
3."Crow Black Chicken"Lawrence Wilson2:20
4."Ax Sweet Mama"Sleepy John Estes4:27
5."Maria Elena" (Instrumental)4:32
Total length:19:47
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
6."The Dark End of the Street" (Instrumental)3:27
7."Rally 'Round the Flag"George F. Root3:39
8."Comin' In on a Wing and a Prayer"3:03
9."President Kennedy"Sleepy John Estes4:38
10."Good Morning Mr. Railroad Man"Traditional4:31
Total length:19:18 39:05

Notes

The title track was previously recorded as "The Railroad Boomer"[5] by Bud Billings (aka Frank Luther) and Carson Robison in a performance recorded at the studio at Liederkranz Hall in New York on September 9, 1929 (Victor V-40139).[6][7] Although it is credited on Cooder's album as "traditional," Robison was awarded a copyright and the song "can't be shown to have circulated in oral tradition."[8] Gene Autry recorded it in December of the same year.[9] In the 1930s the song was recorded for Decca Records by the Rice Brothers' Gang,[10][11] in 1939 by Roy Acuff & His Smoky Mountain Boys, in 1941 by Riley Puckett for RCA, and in the 1950s by Cisco Houston (as "The Rambler") and by the New Lost City Ramblers, who included Cooder's guitar teacher Tom Paley.

Personnel

Technical
  • Judy Maizel - production assistant
  • Jerry Masters, John Fry, Lee Herschberg, Richard Rosebrough - engineer
  • Susan Titelman - photography

Notes

  1. ^ Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: C". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved February 23, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  2. ^ Moon, Tom (August 16, 2006). "Music's Renegade Historian in Rural America". NPR. Retrieved June 9, 2017.
  3. ^ a b Hartenbach, Brett. "Boomer's Story - Ry Cooder". AllMusic. Retrieved June 9, 2017.
  4. ^ CD裏ジャケット記載のクレジットに準拠
  5. ^ Long Steel Rail: The Railroad in American Folksong (2d ed.) by Norm Cohen. University of Illinois Press; 2 Sub edition. 2000. ISBN 0252068815 pgs 290-291 [1]
  6. ^ Encyclopedic Discography of Victor Recordings [2]
  7. ^ Audio for Bud Billings and Carson Robison[3]
  8. ^ "The Railroad Boomer - Folklorist". www.folklorist.org. Retrieved February 14, 2019.
  9. ^ Public Cowboy No. 1: The Life and Times of Gene Autry by Holly George-Warren. Oxford University Press: 2007. ISBN 0195177460[4]
  10. ^ sergiofu42 (April 12, 2012). "RILEY PUCKETT Railroad Boomer". Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved February 14, 2019 – via YouTube.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ Mark n Victoria Macham (February 4, 2011). "Rice Brothers' Gang performs Railroad Boomer written by Carson Robison & Frank Luther". Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved February 14, 2019 – via YouTube.