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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
Studio	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

Reception

Reviewing the album for AllMusic, Brett Hartenbach said: "Ry Cooder has always believed in the "mutuality in music," and this may be no more evident in his career than with his fifth album, Chicken Skin Music (a Hawaiian colloquialism, synonymous with goosebumps). 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. Elsewhere, he teams with a pair of Hawaiian greats -- steel guitarist and singer Gabby Pahinui and slack key guitar master Atta Isaacs -- on the Hank Snow hit "Yellow Roses" and the beautiful instrumental "Chloe." If Cooder's approach to the music is stylistically diverse, his choice of material certainly follows suit. Bookended by a couple of Leadbelly compositions, Chicken Skin Music sports a collection of songs ranging from the aforementioned tracks to the charming old minstrel/medicine show number "I Got Mine" and the syncopated R&B of "Smack Dab in the Middle." Also included is Appalachian songwriter Blind Alfred Reed's "Always Lift Him Up," complete with a Hawaiian gospel tune, "Kanaka Wai Wai," woven into the instrumental section. As he explains in the album's liner notes, Cooder understands the connection between these seemingly disparate styles. 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."[2]

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."[3]

Track listing

Side one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"The Bourgeois Blues"	Lead Belly	3:22
2.	"I Got Mine"	Traditional; based on Pink Anderson's version	4:28
3.	"Always Lift Him Up/Kanaka Wai Wai"	Blind Alfred Reed/Traditional	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:[4][5]

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)[6]
• "Goodnight Irene" / "Chloe", Reprise: K REP14473 (Netherlands)[7]

Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Peak
1976	Australian (Kent Music Report)	80[8]
1976	Billboard Pop Albums	177

References

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