Ry Cooder (album)

Ry Cooder is the debut album by roots rock musician Ry Cooder, released in 1970.

Side 1

 * 1) "Alimony" (Brenda Lee Jones, Welton Young, Robert Higginbotham) - 2:55
 * 2) "France Chance" (Joe Callicott) - 2:45
 * 3) "One Meat Ball" (Louis C. Singer, Hy Zaret; arranged by Van Dyke Parks) - 2:27
 * 4) "Do Re Mi" (Woody Guthrie) - 3:03
 * 5) "My Old Kentucky Home (Turpentine & Dandelion Wine)" (Randy Newman) - 1:45
 * 6) "How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?" (Alfred Reed) - 2:45

Side 2

 * 1) "Available Space" (instrumental) (Ry Cooder) - 2:11
 * 2) "Pigmeat" (Huddie Ledbetter) - 3:07
 * 3) "Police Dog Blues" (Arthur Blake; adapted by Ry Cooder) - 2:43
 * 4) "Goin' to Brownsville" (John Estes; adapted by Ry Cooder) - 3:24
 * 5) "Dark Is the Night" (instrumental) (Blind Willie Johnson; adapted by Ry Cooder) - 2:48

Personnel

 * Ry Cooder - guitars, vocals, mandolin, bass guitar
 * Van Dyke Parks - piano
 * Chris Ethridge (contribution not specified in sleeve notes) - bass guitar
 * Richie Hayward (contribution not specified in sleeve notes) - drums
 * Roy Estrada (contribution not specified in sleeve notes) - bass guitar
 * Milt Holland (contribution not specified in sleeve notes) - drums, percussion
 * John Barbata (contribution not specified in sleeve notes) - drums
 * Max Bennett (contribution not specified in sleeve notes) - bass guitar
 * Bobby Bruce (contribution not specified in sleeve notes) - violin
 * Gloria Jones & Co. - backing vocals
 * Kirby Johnson - orchestration and conductor on "One Meat Ball", "Do Re Mi", "Old Kentucky Home" and "How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?"

Production

 * Van Dyke Parks - producer, arrangement on "One Meat Ball"
 * Lenny Waronker - producer
 * Judy Betz - production assistant
 * Lee Herschberg - engineer, mix-down
 * Doug Botnick - engineer
 * Thaddeus James Lowe - engineer
 * Rudy Hill - engineer
 * Bob Kovach - engineer

Other credits

 * Airstream - for the 1937 trailer pictured on the front of the album sleeve
 * Frank Bez - for the photo of the Airstream trailer (photographed at dry lake El Mirage)
 * Susan Titelman - for the photo of Cooder on the back of the album sleeve
 * Ed Thrasher - for art direction
 * John Uomoto - for the title neon lettering