Chicken Skin Music


Chicken Skin Music is Ry Cooder's fifth studio album, released in 1976, on the Reprise label.

Background

Musically, the album incorporates elements of Tex-Mex and Hawaiian music, featuring guest players such as Flaco Jiménez and Gabby Pahinui. The song "Itsumo Yasashiku" is based on "Always Lift Him Up" by Appalachian songwriter Blind Alfred Reed, with the instrumental section incorporating the Hawaiian gospel song "Kanaka Wai Wai". The tracks "Kiiroi Bara" and "Chloe" were recorded in Honolulu.

Reception

Reviewing the album for AllMusic, Brett Hartenbach said: "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. 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."
Writing for ZigZag magazine in November 1976, Andy Childs said: "Apart from the obvious quality of his music, there's something about his total detachment from the very formalised and generally uninspiring rock'n'roll circus that I find very appealing.... There's so much music here, so much fascinating and enlightening music. How many so-called artists can really claim to make albums that are truly both educational and so immensely enjoyable?" Time magazine once said that "Ry Cooder makes America come together in its music...well, now he's stretching his musical horizons to other shores, and the results, even though he's probably just begun, are just as cohesive...a pure joy – a work of art even.''"''

Track listing

Personnel

Sources:

Musicians

Album