Chicken Skin Music

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

Chicken Skin Music
Studio album by Ry Cooder
Released	1976
Recorded	Warner Bros. Recording Studios, North Hollywood; "Yellow Roses" and "Chloe" recorded in Hawaii
Genre	Americana, roots rock, blues, country, Tex-Mex
Length	39:37
Label	Reprise
Producer	Ry Cooder
Ry Cooder chronology
Paradise and Lunch (1974) Chicken Skin Music (1976) Show Time (1977)
Singles from Chicken Skin Music
"He'll Have to Go / The Bourgeois Blues" Released: 1976
Song sample
"Yellow Roses" sample file help

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	link
Christgau's Record Guide	B[1]
Rolling Stone	(favorable) link

Track listing

Side one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"The Bourgeois Blues"	Lead Belly	3:22
2.	"I Got Mine"	(trad. based on Pink Anderson's version)	4:28
3.	"Always Lift Him Up/Kanaka Wai Wai"	Blind Alfred Reed/trad	6:01
4.	"He'll Have to Go"	Joe Allison, Audrey Allison	5:07

Side two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
5.	"Smack Dab in the Middle"	Charles E. Calhoun	3:18
6.	"Stand by Me"	Ben E. King, Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller	3:38
7.	"Yellow Roses"	Ken Devine, Sam Nichols	6:11
8.	"Chlo-e (instrumental)"	Gus Kahn, Neil Moret	3:00
9.	"Goodnight, Irene"	Lead Belly, John Lomax	4:32

Personnel

Sources:[2][3]

Musicians

• George Bohanon – horn arrangement, baritone horn
• Oscar Brashear – cornet
• Red Callender – upright bass
• Ry Cooder – bajo sexto, mandola, bottleneck guitar, French accordion, electric guitar, slack-key guitar, tiple, Hawaiian guitar, vocals
• Chris Ethridge – bass guitar
• Terry Evans – vocals
• Cliff Givens – vocals
• Laurence Fishburne - vocals
• Hugo Gonzales – bajo sexto
• Milt Holland – percussion, drums
• Atta Isaacs – slack-key and acoustic guitar
• Fred Jackson Jr. – tenor saxophone
• Flaco Jiménez – accordion
• Herman E. Johnson – vocals
• Jim Keltner – drums
• Bobby King – vocals
• Henry Ojeda – bass
• Gabby Pahinui – steel guitar, vocals
• Benny Powell – trombone
• Pat Rizzo – alto saxophone
• Russ Titelman – bajo sexto, vocals

Technical

• Ry Cooder – producer
• Judy Maizel, Trudy Portch - production coordination
• Lee Herschberg - engineer, mixing
• Lloyd Cruft - engineer
• Bobby Hata, John Neal - assistant engineers
• Chet Himes, John Ingle - engineering
• Kenny Price - album cover, design and painting
• Susan Titelman - photography
• Noel Newbolt - production assistance

Releases

• CD Chicken Skin Music Reprise 1988
• Cassette Chicken Skin Music Reprise 1990
• CD Chicken Skin Music Reprise 1990
• CD Chicken Skin Music WEA 2007
• CD Chicken Skin Music Reprise 2008

Singles

• "He'll Have To Go" / "The Bourgeois Blues", Reprise: K 14457 (UK)[4]
• "Goodnight Irene" / "Chloe", Reprise: K REP14473 (Netherlands)[5]

Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Peak
1976	Australian (Kent Music Report)	80[6]
1976	Billboard Pop Albums	177

References

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. "Ry Cooder - Chicken Skin Music". Discogs. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
3. Chicken Skin Music, (1976) Reprise Records, CD: 7599-27231-2 - Notes booklet
4. "Ry Cooder - He'll Have To Go". Discogs. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
5. "Ry Cooder - Goodnight Irene". Discogs. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
6. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 73. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.