The Ragpicker's Dream

The album is a collection of songs written from the point of view of poor but dignified itinerant men, struggling to get by in life, often enjoying small triumphs. Knopfler gives a folk imprint to the whole album without relying too heavily on the acoustic guitar. The first song, "Why Aye Man", was used as the theme tune for the third series of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet which first aired in 2002. The album contains numerous other references to North East England, including the village of Tow Law on "Hill Farmer's Blues".^[1]

The album cover shows a black and white photograph of a man and a woman dancing in a kitchen. The photograph was taken by Elliott Erwitt and is titled "Spain, Valencia, 1952, Robert and Mary Frank".^[3] The photo was also used as the book cover for two novels: The Marriage Artist by Andrew Winer (2010, Henry Holt & Company), and Ancient Light by John Banville (2012, Viking).^[4]

More information Aggregate scores, Source ...

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	62/100 [2]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Rolling Stone	[5]

Close

In his review for AllMusic, Hal Horowitz gave the album three out of five stars, calling the album "a pleasant, classy, often inspired effort whose unassuming charms are best appreciated after repeated listenings."^[1] Horowitz continued:

The memorable riffage that fueled Dire Straits' most radio-friendly material has been discarded for a more pastoral approach, making this a perfect album for a rainy Sunday morning. Like his Notting Hillbillies side project, it isn't entirely unplugged, yet there is an emphasis on acoustic accompaniment to its predominantly ballad slant. Instead of leaving space for traditional soloing, Knopfler weaves his snake-like guitar between the words. This infuses a tense, edgy quality in even the most bucolic tracks.^[1]

Horowitz acknowledges Knopfler's versatility and breadth of music on the album: the atmospherics of "Hill Farmer's Blues" and "Fare Thee Well Northumberland", the unaccompanied folk/blues of "Marbletown", the "shuffling groove" on the spooky "You Don't Know You're Born", the mid-tempo "Coyote", the authentic honky tonk swing of "Daddy's Gone to Knoxville", and Roger Milleresque "Quality Shoe". Horowitz singles out the title track, which he describes as "an homage to the American roots music he's always admired."^[1]

All songs were written by Mark Knopfler.^[1]

Limited edition bonus disc^{[Note 1]}

Singles from the album

• Why Aye Man - Released on September 16, 2002

Music

• Mark Knopfler – vocals, guitars
• Richard Bennett – guitars
• Jim Cox – piano, Hammond organ
• Guy Fletcher – keyboards, backing vocals (8)
• Glenn Worf – bass guitar
• Chad Cromwell – drums
• Glen Duncan – violin (11)
• Paul Franklin – pedal steel guitar (3,5,10)
• Mike Henderson – harmonica (6)
• Jimmy Nail – backing vocals (1)
• Tim Healy – backing vocals (1)

Production

• Mark Knopfler – producer
• Chuck Ainlay – producer, engineer, mixing
• John Saylor – engineer
• Jon Bailey – engineer
• Jake Jackson – engineer
• Tony Cousins – mastering
• Stephen Walker – art direction
• Neil Kellerhouse – art direction, design
• Elliot Erwitt – photography (front cover)
• Ken Sharp – photography
• North Bank Fred – photography (trains)^[6]