Ry Cooder

About

Also known as: Ryland Cooder, Ryland Peter Cooder

Few guitarists have ranged as widely as Ry Cooder, the Los Angeles born slide guitar master whose restless curiosity has taken him through blues, folk, Tex Mex, Hawaiian music, calypso, ragtime, and far beyond. His slide work is the stuff of legend: Rolling Stone ranked him eighth on their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time, and his fingerprints are on some iconic recordings, including the slide guitar on the Rolling Stones track 'Sister Morphine'. His session credits from the late 1960s alone read like a fantasy lineup, covering work with Captain Beefheart, Randy Newman, and the Stones themselves. Cooder has always been drawn to musicians outside the mainstream spotlight. He produced Buena Vista Social Club in 1997, bringing together veteran Cuban musicians for an album that became a genuine worldwide phenomenon, later immortalised in Wim Wenders' Oscar nominated documentary. He formed Little Village in 1991 and has collaborated across decades with artists ranging from Ali Farka Touré to the Chieftains to Vishwa Mohan Bhatt. His 1979 album Bop Till You Drop was a landmark too, being the first popular music album recorded digitally.