Into the Purple Valley - Misplaced Pages

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Christgau's Record Guide	B+
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide
The Rolling Stone Album Guide

Into the Purple Valley is the second studio album by roots rock musician Ry Cooder, released in 1972.

The album's front cover is listed at number 12 on Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Album Covers. 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."

Track listing

Side One

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

Side Two

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

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

Personnel

Ry Cooder – guitars, mandolin, vocals
Van Dyke Parks – keyboards
Gloria Jones – vocals
Claudia Lennear – vocals
George Bohanon – horns
Jim Keltner - drums
John Craviotto – drums
Joe Lane Davis – horns
Jim Dickinson – piano
Chris Ethridge – bass
Milt Holland – percussion
Jerry Jumonville – saxophone
Fritz Richmond – washtub bass
Donna Washburn – vocals
Donna Weiss – vocals
Ike Williams – horns

Technical

Mike Salisbury - cover design
Marty Evans - cover photography

Billboard charts

Chart	Peak
Pop albums	113

References

Larkin, Colin (1999). All-Time Top 1000 Albums. Virgin Books. p. 162. ISBN 0-7535-0354-9. Archived from the original on October 8, 2021.
^ Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 2. MUZE. pp. 527–528.
^ MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 1999. p. 267.
"AllMusic Review by Bob Gottlieb". AllMusic. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
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.
The Rolling Stone Album Guide. Random House. 1992. pp. 158–159.
"Artist Biography by Steve Huey". AllMusic. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
The Rough Guide to Rock (2nd ed.). Rough Guides Ltd. 1999. p. 211.
"Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Album Covers by 2tec". Discogs Lists. 1991-11-14. Retrieved 2023-02-16.
"COODER BEEN A CONTENDER". Record Collector. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
"Chart History Ry Cooder". Billboard. Retrieved 29 March 2021.

v t e Ry Cooder
Solo albums	Ry Cooder (1970) Into the Purple Valley (1972) Boomer's Story (1972) Paradise and Lunch (1974) Chicken Skin Music (1976) Show Time (1977) Jazz (1978) Bop Till You Drop (1979) Borderline (1980) The Slide Area (1982) Get Rhythm (1987) Chávez Ravine (2005) My Name Is Buddy (2007) I, Flathead (2008) Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down (2011) Election Special (2012) The Prodigal Son (2018)
Collaborative albums	Jamming with Edward! (1972) Little Village (1992) A Meeting by the River (1993) Talking Timbuktu (1994) Buena Vista Social Club (1997) Mambo Sinuendo (2003) Buena Vista Social Club at Carnegie Hall (2008) San Patricio (2010) Live in San Francisco (2013)
Soundtrack albums	Performance (1970) The Long Riders (1980) Southern Comfort (1981) The Border (1982) Streets of Fire (1984) Paris, Texas (1985) Music from Alamo Bay (1985) Blue City (1986) Crossroads (1986) Johnny Handsome (1989) Trespass (1993) Geronimo: An American Legend (1993) Last Man Standing (1996) The End of Violence (1997) Primary Colors (1998) My Blueberry Nights (2007)

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