Ry Cooder: My Name Is Buddy

Copy at Case Memorial Library
Contents: Suitcase in my hand — Cat and mouse — Strike! — J. Edgar — Footprints in the snow — Sundown town — Green dog — The dying truck driver — Christmas in Southgate — Hank Williams — Red cat till I die — Three chords and the truth — My name is Buddy — One cat, one vote, one beer — Cardboard Avenue — Farm girl — There's a bright side somewhere.
Billy Bragg told the New York Times: "Ry Cooder is probably my guitar hero, as much for what he doesn’t play as what he plays. … 'My Name Is Buddy' [Nonesuch] is up my street because it’s capital-P Political. It’s the story of the Depression told by a cat named Buddy. This does sound a bit odd — he travels around with a mouse and a frog — but it works and hangs together beautifully. There’s a lot of love in the songs; they fit well in the tradition. Woody Guthrie’s spirit runs through this record very strongly. Cooder plays stuff that we now refer to as Americana, but nobody called it that then. His excursions have been great, but for him to come back to where he began is pretty cool" (Winter Miller, "Playlist: Billy Bragg," 4/6/08).