# Where Do You Put Ry Cooder? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 21, 2008, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-put-ry-cooder/434404 "2008-01-21T20:12:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-put-ry-cooder/434404/1 "2008-01-21T20:12:08Z")
So, I’m organizing all my music files here, doncha know, and mostly it’s straight forward but then you come across someone like Ry Cooder. I’d like to be able to put him in a specific category, but I’m stymied. He sings folk songs. Some blues. There’s a jazz album (called, oddly enough, “Jazz.”) There’s a lot of Tex-Mex crossover stuff. And in some of his later albums he really rocks out. So, I’m curious; where do you categorize him in your music library? Also, just to open up the discussion, any other artists that are just as uncategorizable? ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-put-ry-cooder/434404/2 "2008-01-21T20:18:17Z")
I realize this isn’t an answer to your question, but as my musical tastes expanded I gave up on categorizing long ago. I always did find it amusing that early versions of MusicMatch Jukebox software included a standard genre for “Primus.” ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-put-ry-cooder/434404/3 "2008-01-21T20:19:01Z")
[QUOTE=Eutychus] So, I’m organizing all my music files here, doncha know, and mostly it’s straight forward but then you come across someone like Ry Cooder. I’d like to be able to put him in a specific category, but I’m stymied. He sings folk songs. Some blues. There’s a jazz album (called, oddly enough, “Jazz.”) There’s a lot of Tex-Mex crossover stuff. And in some of his later albums he really rocks out. So, I’m curious; where do you categorize him in your music library? Also, just to open up the discussion, any other artists that are just as uncategorizable? [/QUOTE] “Stuff that my wife likes that she would never know the name of” Vs. the other categories I have for my music: “Stuff that my wife likes” “Stuff that my wife hates” “Kids stuff that I couldn’t talk them out of buying - but that I won’t allow mixed in with my music” His music is very easy on the ears, so it is pretty accessible to non-music-geeks (like my wife), and except for Buena Vista, non-geeks really haven’t heard of him… ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-put-ry-cooder/434404/4 "2008-01-21T20:19:02Z")
Most of what Cooder does I would classify as Americana, but, as you point out, he really is all over the map. He may be unclassifiable. ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-put-ry-cooder/434404/5 "2008-01-21T20:27:19Z")
[QUOTE=control-z] I always did find it amusing that early versions of MusicMatch Jukebox software included a standard genre for “Primus.” [/QUOTE] CDex still does. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-put-ry-cooder/434404/6 "2008-01-21T20:58:34Z")
I have only a few categories. I have nearly everything Ry Cooder ever recorded, and it’s all together under “Pop.” Yes, I had to bend some rules to put his Cuban work, his Malian work, his Indian work, and “Jazz” in the Cooder group. Ry is not the only genre-bending artist. Edgar Meyer is all over the map. David Grisman spans bluegrass, jazz, folk, and what-the-hell-do-you-call-that. Mark O’Connor does session work all over country music, jazz work with Edgar Meyer, and he performs his own classical concertoes. Even Yo-Yo Ma strays from classical music into tango, jazz, and bluegrass. I don’t know what to call his _Silk Road_ work. ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-put-ry-cooder/434404/7 "2008-01-21T21:01:11Z")
Never mind, I thought the OP had a cold. I thought he was looking for his cooler. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-put-ry-cooder/434404/8 "2008-01-21T21:06:27Z")
I have a few artists like that, although Ulver’s the only one that comes to mind immediately. It’s not so difficult to assign a single genre to each of their albums, which works for me. I have my music organized by letter of the alphabet, then artist, then album, and use the ID3 tags to track anything else. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-put-ry-cooder/434404/9 "2008-01-21T21:11:03Z")
World music or new-age, but that’s a stretch. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-put-ry-cooder/434404/10 "2008-01-21T21:17:18Z")
My categories resemble **WordMan** ’s more than they resemble standard categories. Ry Cooder is in with the stuff that my wife doesn’t like, in the great but unpopular guitarist section, right there with Eric Johnson and Richard Thompson. My wife, God help me, likes Celine Dion. ---
**Author:** ![FarmerChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a9a28c/32.png) [@FarmerChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FarmerChick)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-put-ry-cooder/434404/11 "2008-01-22T00:15:26Z")
[QUOTE=control-z] I realize this isn’t an answer to your question, but as my musical tastes expanded I gave up on categorizing long ago. [/QUOTE] Me too. I just put them alphabetically by singer. [QUOTE=Chefguy] World music or **new-age** , but that’s a stretch. [/QUOTE] New age? what Ry are you listening to? ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-put-ry-cooder/434404/12 "2008-01-22T11:31:08Z")
[QUOTE=Crotalus] My wife, God help me, likes Celine Dion. [/QUOTE] I have just been forced to rip multiple _ **Cliff Richard** _ albums to my music server, keep _her indoors_ happy. My Linux laptop refused to read one of the CDs - on principle, probably. Her Vista laptop (phaugh) co-operated. Turncoat. Si ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-put-ry-cooder/434404/13 "2008-01-22T12:58:31Z")
[QUOTE=Crotalus] My categories resemble **WordMan** ’s more than they resemble standard categories. Ry Cooder is in with the stuff that my wife doesn’t like, in the great but unpopular guitarist section, right there with Eric Johnson and Richard Thompson. My wife, God help me, likes Celine Dion. [/QUOTE] Lordy, I knew we were kindred spirits. At one point I tried to have a real structure to my music, but it just doesn’t work that way and so I rolled with it. What’s so funny is that I am portraying myself as super-flexible here, but if you shared that perspective with my wife, she’d snort her coffee out her nose - she just doesn’t care about music the same way - which is could, 'cause I think it would be hugely difficult to have two folks in one house…something to look forward to when the kids get older… ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-put-ry-cooder/434404/14 "2008-01-22T16:27:56Z")
I agree that Ry Cooder is extremely hard to categorize. As are so many of my favorite artists. My first encounter with Mr Cooder was on Taj Mahal’s first album; they’d been in The Rising Sons, one of the Great Lost Bands. Cooder does blues, folk, Latin, rock, etc. And I’ve got most of his earlier stuff. (_Note to self:_ Look into more of the later stuff.) This summary of _[The Unbroken Circle: Tradition and Innovation in the Music of Ry Cooder and Taj Mahal](http://www.amazon.com/Unbroken-Circle-Tradition-Innovation-Musicians/dp/0810838184/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201018248&sr=1-1)_ explains more… > [@](#): > > American folk musicians Ry Cooder and Taj Mahal, once musical partners, have had careers which are at once conservative and innovative, imbuing the best of folk traditions with their own powerful style. In “The Unbroken Circle”, Fred Metting challenges the musical labels that often bind artists as he explores the inspirational sources behind these two men. > > Cooder was influenced by ragtime-blues, bottleneck gospel blues, Norteño music, as well as epic folk ballads. Mahal surrounded himself with Afro-Caribbean music, Chicago blues and Hawaiian music. Both of these artists created a collage from these sources, resisting categories and always driving for the emotional center of the musical experience. > > Metting traces the parallels between the two, in their careers and their musical backgrounds. He demonstrates how American music transcends classification, finding definition in its very fluidity. The result of a study such as this is not only a respect for the earlier musical sources, but also a desire to continue the tradition of adaptation and change. _Note to self:_ Hunt down a copy of this book that doesn’t cost $58 or more! Cooder’s soundtrack for \*The Long Riders \* was very fine & atmospheric. Hey, according to Amazon, he also did the soundtrack for _Streets of Fire_. That featured the effing Blasters! “Versatile” is the word. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-put-ry-cooder/434404/15 "2008-01-22T16:30:36Z")
I put Ry Cooder next to Triscuits on the snack shelf. Oh wait. That’s where I put Ry _Krisp_. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![MrSquishy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9e5f3/32.png) [@MrSquishy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrSquishy)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-put-ry-cooder/434404/16 "2008-01-22T19:34:28Z")
[QUOTE=Eutychus] Also, just to open up the discussion, any other artists that are just as uncategorizable? [/QUOTE] I think the only thing I have as “Uncategorizable” in my iTunes library is [Wesley Willis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wesley_Willis). I’m not sure where I would put Ry Cooder, but sometimes in difficult situations like that I will classify by album instead of by artist. I don’t really like to have to do it, but sometimes it only makes sense. I think I did this with Wilco (thanks to _A.M._), and unfortunately I think I just called all Ween “Alternative” because I didn’t want to start classifying by song! ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-put-ry-cooder/434404/17 "2008-01-22T19:36:32Z")
“Cooder, Ry” goes in the **C** ’s after “Cash, Johnny” and before “Cult, Blue O.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![lalenin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@lalenin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lalenin)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-put-ry-cooder/434404/18 "2008-01-22T20:02:09Z")
I would put him in a deep well and cover it with concrete, if only for his appearance in the Buena Vista Social Club album, everytime that slide thing comes on I want to grab a gun shoot him full of holes. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-put-ry-cooder/434404/19 "2008-01-22T20:29:51Z")
[QUOTE=lalenin] I would put him in a deep well and cover it with concrete, if only for his appearance in the Buena Vista Social Club album, everytime that slide thing comes on I want to grab a gun shoot him full of holes. [/QUOTE] What “slide thing” do you mean? ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-put-ry-cooder/434404/20 "2008-01-22T20:54:04Z")
[QUOTE=lalenin] I would put him in a deep well and cover it with concrete, if only for his appearance in the Buena Vista Social Club album, everytime that slide thing comes on I want to grab a gun shoot him full of holes. [/QUOTE] There probably would not have been a _Buena Vista Social Club_ without Ry Cooder. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-put-ry-cooder/434404.md?page=2)