Ry Cooder
Ry Cooder is a guitarist best known for his slide playing, and a lifelong explorer of American roots music and the music of the wider world. He produced the worldwide hit Buena Vista Social Club and has won six Grammy Awards.
- Born
- 15 March 1947, Los Angeles, California
- Full name
- Ryland Peter Cooder
- Plays
- Guitar, mandolin, bouzouki, banjo, bass
- Grammys
- Six
- Ranking
- No. 8, Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Guitarists (2003)
Career
Cooder grew up in Santa Monica and played with Taj Mahal in the Rising Sons before joining Captain Beefheart's Magic Band on Safe as Milk (1967). In 1968 and 1969 he worked as a session player with the Rolling Stones. Bop Till You Drop (1979) was the first popular music album recorded digitally.
He wrote the music for Wim Wenders's film Paris, Texas (1984) and many other soundtracks. With the Indian musician V. M. Bhatt he made A Meeting by the River (1993), and with the Malian guitarist Ali Farka Touré Talking Timbuktu (1994); both won the Grammy for Best World Music Album. In 1995 he recorded The Long Black Veil with The Chieftains, and in 1997 he produced Buena Vista Social Club, which became a worldwide hit.
Selected albums
| Year | Album |
|---|---|
| 1972 | Into the Purple Valley |
| 1974 | Paradise and Lunch |
| 1976 | Chicken Skin Music |
| 1979 | Bop Till You Drop |
| 1993 | A Meeting by the River, with V. M. Bhatt |
| 1994 | Talking Timbuktu, with Ali Farka Touré |
| 1997 | Buena Vista Social Club |
| 2022 | Get On Board, with Taj Mahal |
Explore the country blues and Mississippi John Hurt.