Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down | ||||
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Studio album by Ry Cooder | ||||
Released | August 30, 2011 | |||
Recorded | 2010–11 | |||
Studio | Drive-By Studios in North Hollywood, Ocean Studios in Burbank, and Wireland Studios in Chatsworth | |||
Genre | Americana, roots | |||
Length | 61:17 | |||
Label | Nonesuch | |||
Producer | Ry Cooder | |||
Ry Cooder chronology | ||||
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Singles from Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down | ||||
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Professional ratings | |
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Aggregate scores | |
Source | Rating |
AnyDecentMusic? | 8.6/10 |
Metacritic | 92/100 |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | |
The Daily Telegraph | |
The Guardian | |
The Independent | |
The Irish Times | |
MSN Music | A− |
The New Zealand Herald | |
The Observer | |
Q | |
Uncut |
Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down is the 2011 fourteenth studio album by American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Ry Cooder. Following his 2008 album I, Flathead, Cooder pursued a more political direction with his songwriting, inspired by the late-2000s economic crisis and protest songs of the past. Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down was written and produced by Cooder, who recorded its songs at Drive-By Studios, Ocean Studios, and Wireland Studios in California. He played various instruments and worked with musicians such as Flaco Jiménez, Juliette Commagere, Robert Francis, and Jim Keltner.
Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down features topical songs with socio-political subject matter about 21st-century America, including economic disparity, social injustice, politics, war. Its music is rooted in Americana and incorporates traditional styles and musical language from historical sources such as country blues, tejano, and American roots music. The record has been noted by critics for its eclectic musical range, allegorical songs, working-class perspective, and Cooder's sardonic lyrics.
When Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down was released by Nonesuch Records on August 30, 2011, it charted modestly in the United States but relatively higher in Europe. Cooder expressed disillusionment with the music industry in response to the record's poor commercial performance. Critically, the album was a success, earning him widespread acclaim and comparisons to folk singer-songwriter Woody Guthrie. According to Slant Magazine's Joseph Jon Lanthier, "the orchestrated indignation of [the album] incorporated a protean Greek chorus of economic victims and beat Occupy Wall Street to the punch by several weeks."