Login
Login

Into the Purple Valley

{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}

{{Infobox album

| name = Into the Purple Valley

| type = studio

| artist = Ry Cooder

| cover = PurpleValleyCooder.jpg

| alt =

| released = January 1972

| recorded = 1971

| venue =

| studio =

| genre = Country folk{{cite book|first=Colin|last=Larkin|title=All-Time Top 1000 Albums|url=https://archive.org/details/alltimetop1000al0000lark_d7o0/page/179/mode/1up|archive-url=https://archive.org/details/alltimetop1000al0000lark_d7o0/mode/1up|date=1999|archive-date= October 8, 2021|publisher=Virgin Books|isbn=0-7535-0354-9|page=162}}

| length = 37:06

| label = Reprise

| producer = Jim Dickinson, Lenny Waronker

| prev_title = Ry Cooder

| prev_year = 1970

| next_title = Boomer's Story

| next_year = 1972

}}

{{Music ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1Score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}{{cite web |title=AllMusic Review by Bob Gottlieb |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/into-the-purple-valley-mw0000194839 |website=AllMusic |access-date=29 March 2021}}

|rev2 = Christgau's Record Guide

|rev2Score = B+{{cite book|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|year=1981|title=Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies|publisher=Ticknor & Fields|isbn=089919026X|chapter=Consumer Guide '70s: C|chapter-url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_chap.php?k=C&bk=70|accessdate=February 23, 2019|via=robertchristgau.com}}

|rev3 = The Encyclopedia of Popular Music

|rev3score = {{rating|4|5}}{{cite book |last1=Larkin |first1=Colin |title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |date=2006 |publisher=MUZE |volume=2 |pages=527–528}}

|rev4 = MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide

|rev4score = {{rating|3.5|5}}{{cite book |title=MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide |date=1999 |publisher=Visible Ink Press |page=267}}

| rev5 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide

| rev5Score = {{rating|3|5}}{{cite book |title=The Rolling Stone Album Guide |date=1992 |publisher=Random House |pages=158–159}}

}}

Into the Purple Valley is the second studio album by roots rock musician Ry Cooder, released in 1972.{{cite web |title=Artist Biography by Steve Huey |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/ry-cooder-mn0000175708/biography |website=AllMusic |access-date=29 March 2021}}{{cite book |title=The Rough Guide to Rock |date=1999 |publisher=Rough Guides Ltd |page=211 |edition=2nd}}

The album's front cover is listed at number 12 on Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Album Covers.{{cite web | title=Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Album Covers by 2tec | website=Discogs Lists | date=1991-11-14 | url=https://www.discogs.com/lists/Rolling-Stones-100-Greatest-Album-Covers/25102 | access-date=2023-02-16}} It shows Cooder and his then wife, Susan Titelman, in a Buick convertible at the Warner Bros. film lot in Burbank, California.

Critical reception

Record Collector wrote that the album "reached deep into tradition, unearthing neglected treasures from America’s past and reshaping them for the post-Woodstock generation."{{cite web |title=COODER BEEN A CONTENDER |url=https://recordcollectormag.com/articles/cooder-been-a-contender |website=Record Collector |access-date=29 March 2021}}

Track listing

Side One

  1. "How Can You Keep On Moving (Unless You Migrate Too)" (Agnes "Sis" Cunningham) – 2:25
  2. "Billy the Kid" (Traditional; arranged by Ry Cooder) – 3:45
  3. "Money Honey" (Jesse Stone) – 3:28
  4. "FDR in Trinidad" (Fitz McLean) – 3:01
  5. "Teardrops Will Fall" (Gerry "Dickey Doo" Granahan, Marion Smith) – 3:03
  6. "Denomination Blues" (George Washington Phillips) – 3:58

Side Two

  1. "On a Monday" (Lead Belly) – 2:52
  2. "Hey Porter" (Johnny Cash) – 4:34
  3. "Great Dream from Heaven" (instrumental) (Joseph Spence) – 1:53
  4. "Taxes on the Farmer Feeds Us All" (Traditional; arranged by Ry Cooder) – 3:52
  5. "Vigilante Man" (Woody Guthrie) – 4:15

(Note: "Taxes on the Farmer Feeds Us All" was actually composed by Fiddlin' John Carson.)

Personnel

;Technical

  • Mike Salisbury – cover design
  • Marty Evans – cover photography

Billboard charts

class="wikitable"

! Chart

! Peak

Pop albums

|align="center"| 113{{cite magazine |title=Chart History Ry Cooder |url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/ry-cooder/chart-history/tlp/ |magazine=Billboard |access-date=29 March 2021}}

References

{{reflist}}

{{Ry Cooder}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:1972 albums

Category:Ry Cooder albums

Category:Albums produced by Lenny Waronker

Category:Albums produced by Jim Dickinson

Category:Reprise Records albums

{{1970s-rock-album-stub}}