Those who know Ry Cooder mainly from his Buena Vista Social Club excursions and film soundtracks owe it to themselves to discover his pungently quirky work as a young artist. Ry Cooder, his 1970 debut album, found him already an accomplished slide guitarist and mandolin player. His virtuosic touch — sometimes slashing, other times caressing — injects life into such Depression-era tunes as Woody Guthrie’s “Do Re Mi” and Alfred Reed’s “How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live?” A feel for New Orleans rhythms runs through the tracks — numbers like Leadbelly’s “Pig Meat” and Cooder’s own “Available Space” joyfully weave and wobble like drunken Mardi Gras revelers. Co-producer Van Dyke Parks dresses up several songs (most notably “One Meat Ball”) in tingly, cartoon-like string arrangements which enhance and/or distract from the songs according to one’s taste. Those who like their Ry straight up will enjoy his unadorned finger-picking on “Police Dog Blues.” Cooder’s drawling vocals are rudimentary but appropriate, and the music here collectively creates a John Steinbeck-like tableau of plucky drifters fighting hard luck and hungry bellies. More than just the opening salvo of a great career, Ry Cooder has its own special oddball spirit.

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