Ry Cooder
Ry Cooder embodies and embraces American music in all its forms, while reaching out to virtuosos from Cuba to Mali. Born in California in 1947, Ry Cooder taught himself to play a variety of string instruments, playing at blues clubs in Los Angeles. During the 1960s he recorded with Captain Beefheart as well as Taj Mahal, and gained a reputation for his talent and versatility on the slide guitar. He was a session musician for Randy Newman, Little Feat and the Rolling Stones. In 1970 he recorded his first solo album, which explored blues and folk music. Other solo albums explored musical genres from Tex-Mex to jazz. Cooder also began composing film scores; you can hear his creations on Johnny Handsome, Steel Magnolias and Paris,Texas. While all of Cooder’s work crosses musical borders, during the 1990s he took the concept of ‘world music’ to a deeper level, collaborating with V.M. Bhatt from India and Malian musician Ali Farka Toure. His album with Toure - Talking Timbuktu won a Grammy in 1995. In 1997 Cooder traveled to Cuba in search of musicians to record several Latin tracks. What emerged from these sessions over several weeks was the album Buena Vista Social Club, which became an international hit, and won a Grammy in 1998. Cooder’s recent album, My Name is Buddy, tells the story of a cat living out of a suitcase in an alley behind a record store.
