''Boomer's Story'' is the third studio album by American roots rock musician Ry Cooder, released in 1972.

Track listing

Side one

# "Boomer's Story" (listed as "Traditional," actually Carson Robison) – 4:13 # "Cherry Ball Blues" (instrumental) ( Skip James) – 4:10 # "Crow Black Chicken" (Lawrence Wilson) – 2:14 # "Ax Sweet Mama" ( Sleepy John Estes) – 4:23 # " Maria Elena" (instrumental) ( Bob Russell, Lorenzo Barcelata) – 4:30

Side two

# " The Dark End of the Street" (instrumental) ( Dan Penn, Chips Moman) – 3:25 # " Rally 'Round the Flag" ( George F. Root) – 3:34 # " Comin' In on a Wing and a Prayer" ( Jimmy McHugh, Harold Adamson) – 3:00 # "President Kennedy" (Sleepy John Estes) – 4:39 # "Good Morning Mr. Railroad Man" (Traditional) – 4:30

Notes

The title track was previously recorded as "The Railroad Boomer" by Bud Billings (aka Frank Luther) and Carson Robison in a performance recorded at the studio at Liederkranz Hall in New York on September 9, 1929 (Victor V-40139). Although it is credited on Cooder's album as "traditional," Robison was awarded a copyright and the song "can't be shown to have circulated in oral tradition."

Gene Autry Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American actor, musician, singer, composer, rodeo performer, and baseball team owner, who largely gained fame by singing in a Crooner ...

recorded it in December of the same year. In the 1930s the song was recorded for Decca Records by the Rice Brothers' Gang, in 1939 by Roy Acuff & His Smoky Mountain Boys, in 1941 by Riley Puckett for RCA, and in the 1950s by Cisco Houston (as "The Rambler") and by the New Lost City Ramblers, who included Cooder's guitar teacher Tom Paley.

Personnel

* Ry Cooder -

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

, bottleneck guitar, vocals * Tommy McClure - bass * Charles Lawing -

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

* Jim Keltner, Roger Hawkins -

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

* Sleepy John Estes - guitar and vocals on "President Kennedy" (recorded in Collierville, Tennessee) * Gene Finney -

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...

* George Bohanon - horns * Milt Holland -

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

Randy Newman Randall Stuart Newman (born November 28, 1943) is an American singer, songwriter, arranger, pianist, composer, conductor and orchestrator. He is known for his non-rhotic Southern American English, Southern-accented singing style, early America ...

- piano on "Rally 'Round the Flag" * Jim Dickinson - piano, bass, backing vocals * Dan Penn - backing vocals ;Technical *Judy Maizel - production assistant *Jerry Masters, John Fry, Lee Herschberg, Richard Rosebrough - engineer *Susan Titelman - photography

Notes

1972 albums Ry Cooder albums Albums produced by Lenny Waronker Albums produced by Jim Dickinson Reprise Records albums Albums recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio {{1970s-rock-album-stub