Ry Cooder
Encyclopedia
Ryland Peter "Ry" Cooder (born March 15, 1947) is an American guitarist, singer and composer. He is known for his slide guitar
work, his interest in roots music
from the United States, and, more recently, his collaborations with traditional musicians from many countries.
His solo work has been eclectic, encompassing folk
, blues
, Tex-Mex
, soul
, gospel
, rock
, and much else. He has collaborated with many musicians, including Larry Blackmon
, The Rolling Stones
, Van Morrison
, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Randy Newman
, Earl Hines
, Little Feat
, Captain Beefheart
, The Chieftains
, John Lee Hooker
, Pops
and Mavis Staples
, Flaco Jiménez
, Ibrahim Ferrer
, Freddy Fender
, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt
and Ali Farka Touré
. He formed the band Little Village
with Nick Lowe
, John Hiatt
, and Jim Keltner
.
Ry Cooder produced the Buena Vista Social Club
album (1997), which became a worldwide hit. Wim Wenders
directed the documentary film of the same name (1999), which was nominated for an Academy Award in 2000.
He was ranked eighth on Rolling Stone
magazine's list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". A 2010 ranking by Gibson
placed him at number 32.
in Portland, Oregon
. Cooder first attracted attention in the 1960s, playing with Captain Beefheart
and the Magic Band, after previously having worked with Taj Mahal
and Ed Cassidy
in the Rising Sons
. He also played with Randy Newman
at this time, including on 12 Songs
. Van Dyke Parks
worked with Newman and Cooder during the 1960s. Parks arranged Cooder's "One Meatball" according to Parks' 1984 interview by Bob Claster.
Cooder was a session musician
on various recording sessions with the The Rolling Stones
in 1968 and 1969, and his contributions appear on the albums Let It Bleed
(mandolin on "Love in Vain
"), and Sticky Fingers
, on which he contributed the slide guitar on "Sister Morphine
". During this period, Cooder joined with Mick Jagger
, Charlie Watts
, Bill Wyman
, and longtime Rolling Stones sideman
Nicky Hopkins
to record Jamming with Edward! Cooder also played slide guitar for the 1970 film soundtrack Performance
, which contained Jagger's first solo single
, "Memo from Turner
". The 1975 compilation album
Metamorphosis
features an uncredited Cooder contribution on Bill Wyman's "Downtown Suzie."
Ry Cooder also collaborated with Lowell George
of Little Feat, playing slide guitar on the original version of "Willin'".
albums that showcased his guitar work. Cooder explored bygone musical genres and found old-time recordings which he then personalized and updated. Thus, on his breakthrough album, Into the Purple Valley
, he chose unusual instrumentations and arrangements of blues, gospel, calypso
, and country songs (giving a tempo change to the cowboy ballad "Billy the Kid"). The album opened with the song "How Can You Keep on Moving (Unless You Migrate Too)" by Agnes "Sis" Cunningham about the Okies who were not welcomed when they migrated west to escape the Dust Bowl in the 1930s — to which Cooder gave a rousing-yet-satirical march accompaniment. His later 1970s albums (with the exception of Jazz
, which explored ragtime/vaudeville) do not fall under a single genre description, but his self-titled first album could be described as blues; Into the Purple Valley, Boomer's Story
, and Paradise and Lunch
as folk
and blues; Chicken Skin Music
and Showtime as a mix of Tex-Mex
and Hawaiian; Bop Till You Drop as 1950s' R&B
; and Borderline
and Get Rhythm as rock
-based. His 1979 album Bop Till You Drop was the first popular music
album to be recorded digitally
. It yielded his biggest hit, an R&B cover version
of Elvis Presley
's 1960s recording "Little Sister
". Cooder is credited on Van Morrison
's 1979 album, Into the Music
, for slide guitar on the song "Full Force Gale
". He also played guitar on Judy Collins
' 1970 concert tour, and is featured on Living
, the 1971 live album recorded during that tour.
film Paris, Texas
(1984). Cooder based this soundtrack and title song "Paris, Texas" on Blind Willie Johnson
's "Dark Was the Night (Cold Was the Ground)", which he described as "The most soulful, transcendent piece in all American music."
"Dark Was the Night (Cold Was the Ground)" was also the basis for Cooder's song "Powis Square" for the movie Performance
. His other film work includes Walter Hill's The Long Riders
(1980), Southern Comfort
(1981), Brewster's Millions
(1985), Johnny Handsome
, Last Man Standing
(1996), Hill's Trespass (1992) and Mike Nichols
' Primary Colors (1998). Cooder dubbed all slide guitar parts in the 1986 film Crossroads
, a take on blues legend Robert Johnson. In 1988, Cooder produced the album by his longtime backing vocalists Bobby King
and Terry Evans on Rounder Records titled Live and Let Live. He contributed his slide guitar work to every track. He also plays extensively on their 1990 self-produced Rounder release Rhythm, Blues, Soul & Grooves. Cooder's music also appeared on two episodes of the television program "Tales From the Crypt" -- "The Man Who Was Death" and "The Thing From the Grave" (http://www.allmusic.com/album/original-music-from-tales-from-the-crypt-w93724).
"crossover" albums, which blended the traditional American musical genres that Cooder has championed throughout his career with the contemporary improvised music of India and Africa. For A Meeting by the River
(1993), which also featured his son Joachim on percussion, he teamed with Hindustani
classical musician V.M. Bhatt
, a virtuoso of the Mohan Veena
, a modified 20-string archtop guitar
of Bhatt's own invention. In 1995 he teamed with African multi-instrumentalist Ali Farka Toure
on the album Talking Timbuktu
, which he also produced; the album also featured longtime Cooder collaborator Jim Keltner
on drums, veteran blues guitarist Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, jazz bassist John Patitucci
and African percussionists and musicians including Hamma Sankare and Oumar Toure. Both albums won the Grammy Award
for 'Best World Music Album' in 1994 and 1995 respectively. Cooder also worked with Tuvan
throat singers
for the score to the 1993 film Geronimo: An American Legend
.
In 1995 he performed in The Wizard of Oz in Concert: Dreams Come True
, a musical performance of the popular story at the Lincoln Center in New York to benefit the Children's Defense Fund
. The performance was originally broadcast on Turner Network Television
(TNT), and was issued on CD and video in 1996.
In the late 1990s Cooder played a significant role in the increased appreciation of traditional Cuba
n music, due to his collaboration as producer
of the Buena Vista Social Club
(1997) recording, which became a worldwide hit and revived the careers of some of the greatest surviving exponents of 20th century Cuban music. Wim Wenders
, who had previously directed 1984's Paris Texas, directed a documentary film of the musicians involved, Buena Vista Social Club
(1999), which was nominated for an Academy Award
in 2000.
was touted by his record label
as being "a post-World War II-era American narrative of 'cool cats', radios, UFO sightings, J. Edgar Hoover, red scares, and baseball"— the record is a tribute to the long-gone Los Angeles Latino enclave known as Chávez Ravine
. Using real and imagined historical characters, Cooder and friends created an album that recollects various aspects of the poor but vibrant hillside Chicano
community which no longer exists. Cooder says, "Here is some music for a place you don’t know, up a road you don’t go. Chávez Ravine, where the sidewalk ends."Drawing from the various musical strains of Los Angeles, including conjunto
, R&B, Latin pop, and jazz, Cooder and friends conjure the ghosts of Chávez Ravine and Los Angeles at mid-century. On this fifteen-track album, sung in Spanish and English, Cooder is joined by East L.A.
legends like Chicano music patriarch Lalo Guerrero
, Pachuco
boogie king Don Tosti
, Thee Midniters
front man Little Willie G, and Ersi Arvizu, of The Sisters and El Chicano
.
Cooder's next record was released in 2007. Entitled My Name Is Buddy
, it tells the story of Buddy Red Cat, who travels and sees the world in the company of his like-minded friends, Lefty Mouse and Rev. Tom Toad. The entire recording is a parable of the working class progressivism of the first half of the American twentieth century, and even has a song featuring executed unionist Joe Hill
. My Name Is Buddy was accompanied by a booklet featuring a story and illustration (by Vincent Valdez) for each track, providing additional context to Buddy's adventures.
Cooder produced and performed on an album for Mavis Staples
entitled We'll Never Turn Back
, which was released on April 24, 2007. The concept album
focused on Gospel
songs of the civil rights movement
and also included two new original songs by Cooder.
Ry Cooder's album I, Flathead
was released on June 24, 2008. It is the completion of his California trilogy. Based on the drag racing
culture of the early 1960s, the album is set on the desert salt flats in southern California. The disc was also released as a deluxe edition with stories written by Cooder to accompany the music.
In late 2009, Cooder toured Japan, New Zealand and Australia with Nick Lowe
, performing some of Lowe's songs and a selection of Cooder's own material, mainly from the 1970s. Joaquim Cooder (Ry's son) provided percussion, and Juliette Commagere and Alex Lilly contributed backing vocals.
The song "Diaraby", which Cooder recorded with Ali Farka Touré
, is used as the theme to The World
's Geo Quiz. The World is a radio show distributed by Public Radio International
.
In 2009, Cooder performed in The People Speak
, a documentary feature film that uses dramatic and musical performances of the letters, diaries, and speeches of everyday Americans, based on historian Howard Zinn
's A People's History of the United States
. Cooder performed with Bob Dylan
and Van Dyke Parks on the documentary broadcast on December 13, 2009 on the History Channel. They played "Do Re Mi
" and reportedly a couple of other Guthrie
songs that were excluded from the final edit. He also traveled with the band Los Tigres del Norte
and recorded the 2010 album San Patricio
with the Chieftains, Lila Downs
, Liam Neeson
, Linda Ronstadt
, Van Dyke Parks
, Los Cenzontles
, and Los Tigres.
Cooder's critically acclaimed new album Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down
, released on August 30, 2011, contains politically charged songs such as "No Banker Left Behind" which was inspired by a Robert Scheer
column.
Solo albums
Compilations
Collaborations
Soundtracks
Performs on:
Slide guitar
Slide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide refers to the motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides: the necks of glass bottles...
work, his interest in roots music
Traditional music
Traditional music is the term increasingly used for folk music that is not contemporary folk music. More on this is at the terminology section of the World music article...
from the United States, and, more recently, his collaborations with traditional musicians from many countries.
His solo work has been eclectic, encompassing folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
, blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, Tex-Mex
Tejano music
Tejano music or Tex-Mex music is the name given to various forms of folk and popular music originating among the Mexican-American populations of Central and Southern Texas...
, soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
, gospel
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
, rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
, and much else. He has collaborated with many musicians, including Larry Blackmon
Larry Blackmon
Larry Ernest Blackmon is the lead singer and frontman for the funk and R&B band, Cameo. He came to Cameo from the band, Black Ivory....
, The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
, Van Morrison
Van Morrison
Van Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Randy Newman
Randy Newman
Randall Stuart "Randy" Newman is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, composer, and pianist who is known for his mordant pop songs and for film scores....
, Earl Hines
Earl Hines
Earl Kenneth Hines, universally known as Earl "Fatha" Hines, was an American jazz pianist. Hines was one of the most influential figures in the development of modern jazz piano and, according to one source, is "one of a small number of pianists whose playing shaped the history of jazz".-Early...
, Little Feat
Little Feat
Little Feat is an American rock band formed by singer-songwriter, lead vocalist and guitarist Lowell George and keyboardist Bill Payne in 1969 in Los Angeles....
, Captain Beefheart
Captain Beefheart
Don Van Vliet January 15, 1941 December 17, 2010) was an American musician, singer-songwriter and artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. His musical work was conducted with a rotating ensemble of musicians called The Magic Band, active between 1965 and 1982, with whom he recorded 12...
, The Chieftains
The Chieftains
The Chieftains are a Grammy-winning Irish musical group founded in 1962, best known for being one of the first bands to make Irish traditional music popular around the world.-Name:...
, John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker was an American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist.Hooker began his life as the son of a sharecropper, William Hooker, and rose to prominence performing his own unique style of what was originally closest to Delta blues. He developed a 'talking blues' style that was his trademark...
, Pops
Pops Staples
Roebuck "Pops" Staples was a Mississippi-born Gospel and R&B musician.A "pivotal figure in gospel in the 1960s and 70s," he was an accomplished songwriter, guitarist and singer...
and Mavis Staples
Mavis Staples
Mavis Staples is an American rhythm and blues and gospel singer, actress and civil rights activist who recorded with The Staple Singers, her family's band.-Biography:...
, Flaco Jiménez
Flaco Jiménez
Leonardo "Flaco" Jiménez is a Tejano music accordionist from San Antonio, Texas. Jiménez's father, Santiago Jiménez Sr. was a pioneer of conjunto music. He began performing with his father at age seven and recording at age fifteen, as a member of Los Caporales...
, Ibrahim Ferrer
Ibrahim Ferrer
Ibrahim Ferrer was a popular Afro-Cuban singer and musician in Cuba. He performed with many musical groups including the Conjunto Sorpresa, Orquesta Chepin-Choven and Afro-Cuban All Stars...
, Freddy Fender
Freddy Fender
Freddy Fender , born Baldemar Garza Huerta in San Benito, Texas, United States, was a Mexican-American Tejano, country and rock and roll musician, known for his work as a solo artist and in the groups Los Super Seven and the Texas Tornados...
, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt
Vishwa Mohan Bhatt
Vishwa Mohan Bhatt also known as V. M. Bhatt is an Indian slide guitar player. Bhatt is the creator of the Mohan Veena...
and Ali Farka Touré
Ali Farka Touré
Ali Ibrahim “Farka” Touré was a Malian singer and guitarist, and one of the African continent’s most internationally renowned musicians. His music is widely regarded as representing a point of intersection of traditional Malian music and its North American cousin, the blues...
. He formed the band Little Village
Little Village
Little Village was an American/British rock band, formed in 1992 by Ry Cooder , John Hiatt , Nick Lowe and Jim Keltner...
with Nick Lowe
Nick Lowe
Nicholas Drain "Nick" Lowe , is an English singer-songwriter, musician and producer.A pivotal figure in UK pub rock, punk rock and new wave, Lowe has recorded a string of well-reviewed solo albums. Along with vocals, Lowe plays guitar, bass guitar, piano and harmonica...
, John Hiatt
John Hiatt
John Hiatt is an American rock guitarist, pianist, singer, and songwriter. He has played a variety of musical styles on his albums, including New Wave, blues and country. Hiatt has been nominated for several Grammy Awards - although he has never won- and has been awarded a variety of other...
, and Jim Keltner
Jim Keltner
James Lee "Jim" Keltner is an American drummer known primarily for his session work. He has contributed to the work of many well-known artists...
.
Ry Cooder produced the Buena Vista Social Club
Buena Vista Social Club (album)
- Music :"Chan Chan", the first song on the album, is a Cuban song composition by Compay Segundo, revolving around two central characters, Juanita and Chan Chan. The song was one of Segundo's last compositions and was written in 1987, already having been recorded by Segundo himself various...
album (1997), which became a worldwide hit. Wim Wenders
Wim Wenders
Ernst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders is a German film director, playwright, author, photographer and producer.-Early life:Wenders was born in Düsseldorf. He graduated from high school in Oberhausen in the Ruhr area. He then studied medicine and philosophy in Freiburg and Düsseldorf...
directed the documentary film of the same name (1999), which was nominated for an Academy Award in 2000.
He was ranked eighth on Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine's list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". A 2010 ranking by Gibson
Gibson Guitar Corporation
The Gibson Guitar Corporation, formerly of Kalamazoo, Michigan and currently of Nashville, Tennessee, manufactures guitars and other instruments which sell under a variety of brand names...
placed him at number 32.
1960s
During the 1960s, Cooder briefly attended Reed CollegeReed College
Reed College is a private, independent, liberal arts college located in southeast Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus located in Portland's Eastmoreland neighborhood, featuring architecture based on the Tudor-Gothic style, and a forested canyon wilderness...
in Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
. Cooder first attracted attention in the 1960s, playing with Captain Beefheart
Captain Beefheart
Don Van Vliet January 15, 1941 December 17, 2010) was an American musician, singer-songwriter and artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. His musical work was conducted with a rotating ensemble of musicians called The Magic Band, active between 1965 and 1982, with whom he recorded 12...
and the Magic Band, after previously having worked with Taj Mahal
Taj Mahal (musician)
Henry Saint Clair Fredericks , who uses the stage name Taj Mahal, is an American Grammy Award winning blues musician. He incorporates elements of world music into his music...
and Ed Cassidy
Ed Cassidy
Ed "Cass" Cassidy is an American drummer who was one of the founders of the rock group Spirit in 1967.His family moved to Bakersfield, California, in 1931, and he started as a professional musician in 1937. He was in the Navy during World War II, and after his discharge worked at many jobs before...
in the Rising Sons
Rising Sons
Rising Sons was a Los Angeles, California-based band founded in 1964. The original lineup was Ry Cooder , Taj Mahal , Gary Marker , Jesse Lee Kincaid and Ed Cassidy...
. He also played with Randy Newman
Randy Newman
Randall Stuart "Randy" Newman is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, composer, and pianist who is known for his mordant pop songs and for film scores....
at this time, including on 12 Songs
12 Songs (Randy Newman album)
12 Songs is a 1970 album by singer/songwriter Randy Newman. His second album, 12 Songs received much better reviews than his first. On 12 Songs Newman collaborates with Clarence White and Ry Cooder. The album set the stage for Newman's later career with songs sung from the point of view of...
. Van Dyke Parks
Van Dyke Parks
Van Dyke Parks is an American composer, arranger, producer, musician, singer, author and actor. Parks is perhaps best known for his contributions as a lyricist on the Beach Boys album Smile....
worked with Newman and Cooder during the 1960s. Parks arranged Cooder's "One Meatball" according to Parks' 1984 interview by Bob Claster.
Cooder was a session musician
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
on various recording sessions with the The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
in 1968 and 1969, and his contributions appear on the albums Let It Bleed
Let It Bleed
Let It Bleed is the eighth British and tenth American album by English rock band The Rolling Stones, released in December 1969 by Decca Records in the United Kingdom and London Records in the United States...
(mandolin on "Love in Vain
Love in Vain
"Love in Vain" is a 1937 blues song written by Robert Johnson.The song is noted for its sad lyrics, tone, and style. In the 1991 documentary film The Search for Robert Johnson, John P. Hammond plays Robert's recording of "Love in Vain" for the elderly Willie Mae Powell, the woman for whom it was...
"), and Sticky Fingers
Sticky Fingers
-Personnel:The Rolling Stones*Mick Jagger – lead vocals, acoustic guitar on "Dead Flowers", electric guitar on "Sway", percussion*Keith Richards – electric guitar, six & twelve string acoustic guitar, backing vocals...
, on which he contributed the slide guitar on "Sister Morphine
Sister Morphine
"Sister Morphine" is a song originally released by British singer Marianne Faithfull as a single in 1969. It was later popularised by the rock and roll band The Rolling Stones, who included it on their 1971 album release Sticky Fingers...
". During this period, Cooder joined with Mick Jagger
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
, Charlie Watts
Charlie Watts
Charles Robert "Charlie" Watts is an English drummer, best known as a member of The Rolling Stones. He is also the leader of a jazz band, a record producer, commercial artist, and horse breeder.-Early life:...
, Bill Wyman
Bill Wyman
Bill Wyman is an English musician best known as the bass guitarist for the English rock and roll band the Rolling Stones from 1962 until 1992. Since 1997, he has recorded and toured with his own band, Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings...
, and longtime Rolling Stones sideman
Sideman
A sideman is a professional musician who is hired to perform or record with a group of which he or she is not a regular member. They often tour with solo acts as well as bands and jazz ensembles. Sidemen are generally required to be adaptable to many different styles of music, and so able to fit...
Nicky Hopkins
Nicky Hopkins
Nicholas Christian "Nicky" Hopkins was an English pianist and organist.He recorded and performed on noted British and American popular music recordings of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s as a session musician....
to record Jamming with Edward! Cooder also played slide guitar for the 1970 film soundtrack Performance
Performance (film)
Performance is a 1968 British crime drama film; the film was produced in 1968 but not released until 1970. Directed by Donald Cammell and Nicolas Roeg, Performance stars James Fox and Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones in his film acting debut.-Plot:...
, which contained Jagger's first solo single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
, "Memo from Turner
Memo from Turner
"Memo from Turner" is a solo record by Mick Jagger, featuring a guitar solo by Ry Cooder, from the soundtrack of Performance, where Jagger played a major part. It was re-released in October 2007 on a seventeen-song retrospective compilation album The Very Best of Mick Jagger, making a re-appearance...
". The 1975 compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
Metamorphosis
Metamorphosis (Rolling Stones album)
Metamorphosis is the third compilation album of The Rolling Stones music released by former manager Allen Klein's ABKCO Records after the band's departure from Decca and Klein...
features an uncredited Cooder contribution on Bill Wyman's "Downtown Suzie."
Ry Cooder also collaborated with Lowell George
Lowell George
Lowell Thomas George was an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer, who was the main guitarist and songwriter for the rock band Little Feat.- Early years :...
of Little Feat, playing slide guitar on the original version of "Willin'".
1970s
Throughout the 1970s, Cooder released a series of Warner Bros. RecordsWarner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
albums that showcased his guitar work. Cooder explored bygone musical genres and found old-time recordings which he then personalized and updated. Thus, on his breakthrough album, Into the Purple Valley
Into the Purple Valley
Into the Purple Valley is the second album by roots rock legend Ry Cooder, released in 1972 .-Track listing:#"How Can You Keep Moving " – 2:25#"Billy the Kid" – 3:45...
, he chose unusual instrumentations and arrangements of blues, gospel, calypso
Calypso music
Calypso is a style of Afro-Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago from African and European roots. The roots of the genre lay in the arrival of enslaved Africans, who, not being allowed to speak with each other, communicated through song...
, and country songs (giving a tempo change to the cowboy ballad "Billy the Kid"). The album opened with the song "How Can You Keep on Moving (Unless You Migrate Too)" by Agnes "Sis" Cunningham about the Okies who were not welcomed when they migrated west to escape the Dust Bowl in the 1930s — to which Cooder gave a rousing-yet-satirical march accompaniment. His later 1970s albums (with the exception of Jazz
Jazz (Ry Cooder album)
Jazz is a 1978 recording by Ry Cooder, produced by Joseph Byrd and Ry Cooder and released on the Warner Bros. Records label.-Track listing:LP side A#"Big Bad Bill " – 3:34...
, which explored ragtime/vaudeville) do not fall under a single genre description, but his self-titled first album could be described as blues; Into the Purple Valley, Boomer's Story
Boomer's Story
Boomer's Story is an album by American roots rock musician Ry Cooder, released in 1972.-Side one:# "Boomer's Story" – 4:13# "Cherry Ball Blues" – 4:10# "Crow Black Chicken" – 2:14...
, and Paradise and Lunch
Paradise and Lunch
Paradise and Lunch is the fourth album by roots rock musician Ry Cooder, released in 1974. The album contains a mix of jazz, blues and roots music led by Cooder's guitar and is considered by many the crowning achievement of Cooder's career...
as folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
and blues; Chicken Skin Music
Chicken Skin Music
Chicken Skin Music is Ry Cooder's fifth album, released in 1976 .-Track listing:#"The Bourgeois Blues" – 3:22#"I Got Mine" – 4:28#"Always Lift Him Up/Kanaka Wai Wai" – 6:01...
and Showtime as a mix of Tex-Mex
Tejano music
Tejano music or Tex-Mex music is the name given to various forms of folk and popular music originating among the Mexican-American populations of Central and Southern Texas...
and Hawaiian; Bop Till You Drop as 1950s' R&B
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
; and Borderline
Borderline (Ry Cooder album)
Borderline is a 1980 album by Ry Cooder and was released on the Warner Bros. label.- Side one :# "634-5789" – 2:56# "Speedo" – 3:20# "Why Don't You Try Me" – 4:54...
and Get Rhythm as rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
-based. His 1979 album Bop Till You Drop was the first popular music
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
album to be recorded digitally
Digital recording
In digital recording, digital audio and digital video is directly recorded to a storage device as a stream of discrete numbers, representing the changes in air pressure for audio and chroma and luminance values for video through time, thus making an abstract template for the original sound or...
. It yielded his biggest hit, an R&B cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
's 1960s recording "Little Sister
Little Sister (Pomus/Shuman song)
"Little Sister" is a rock and roll song written by Doc Pomus & Mort Shuman. It was originally released as a single in 1961 by American singer Elvis Presley, who turned it into a #5 hit on the Billboard Hot 100...
". Cooder is credited on Van Morrison
Van Morrison
Van Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
's 1979 album, Into the Music
Into the Music
Into the Music is the eleventh studio album by Northern Irish singer/songwriter Van Morrison, released in 1979 .Typical of Morrison's music, the album draws on a variety of styles, from New Orleans R&B to Philly soul and Celtic folk, with featured soloists, saxophonist Pee Wee Ellis and violinist...
, for slide guitar on the song "Full Force Gale
Full Force Gale
"Full Force Gale" is a song written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. It was included on his 1979 album Into the Music.-Recording and composition:...
". He also played guitar on Judy Collins
Judy Collins
Judith Marjorie "Judy" Collins is an American singer and songwriter, known for her eclectic tastes in the material she records ; and for her social activism. She is an alumna of the University of Colorado.-Musical career:Collins was born and raised in Seattle, Washington...
' 1970 concert tour, and is featured on Living
Living (Judy Collins album)
Living is a 1971 live Judy Collins album, taken from the singer's 1970 concert tour. It peaked at No 64 on the Billboard Pop Albums charts....
, the 1971 live album recorded during that tour.
1980s
Cooder has worked as a studio musician and has also scored many film soundtracks including Wim WendersWim Wenders
Ernst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders is a German film director, playwright, author, photographer and producer.-Early life:Wenders was born in Düsseldorf. He graduated from high school in Oberhausen in the Ruhr area. He then studied medicine and philosophy in Freiburg and Düsseldorf...
film Paris, Texas
Paris, Texas (film)
Paris, Texas is a 1984 drama film directed by Wim Wenders. The screenplay is by L.M. Kit Carson and playwright Sam Shepard, and the distinctive musical score was composed by Ry Cooder. The cinematography is by Robby Müller....
(1984). Cooder based this soundtrack and title song "Paris, Texas" on Blind Willie Johnson
Blind Willie Johnson
"Blind" Willie Johnson was an American singer and guitarist, whose music straddled the border between blues and spirituals....
's "Dark Was the Night (Cold Was the Ground)", which he described as "The most soulful, transcendent piece in all American music."
"Dark Was the Night (Cold Was the Ground)" was also the basis for Cooder's song "Powis Square" for the movie Performance
Performance (film)
Performance is a 1968 British crime drama film; the film was produced in 1968 but not released until 1970. Directed by Donald Cammell and Nicolas Roeg, Performance stars James Fox and Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones in his film acting debut.-Plot:...
. His other film work includes Walter Hill's The Long Riders
The Long Riders
The Long Riders is a 1980 western film directed by Walter Hill. It was produced by James Keach, Stacy Keach and Tim Zinnemann and featured an original soundtrack by Ry Cooder. Cooder won the Best Music award in 1980 from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards for this soundtrack...
(1980), Southern Comfort
Southern Comfort (film)
Southern Comfort is an American action/thriller film directed by Walter Hill, working from a script by Hill, longtime collaborator David Giler, and Michael Kane. It featured Keith Carradine, Powers Boothe, Alan Autry, Les Lannom, Peter Coyote, T. K...
(1981), Brewster's Millions
Brewster's Millions (1985 film)
Brewster's Millions is a 1985 comedy film starring Richard Pryor and John Candy based on the 1902 novel of the same name by George Barr McCutcheon. It is the seventh film based on the story, with a screenplay by Herschel Weingrod & Timothy Harris...
(1985), Johnny Handsome
Johnny Handsome
Johnny Handsome is an 1989 American crime-drama film directed by Walter Hill and starring Mickey Rourke, Ellen Barkin and Morgan Freeman. The film was written by Ken Friedman, from the novel by John Godey. The music for the film was written, produced and performed by Ry Cooder, and Jim Keltner...
, Last Man Standing
Last Man Standing (film)
Last Man Standing is a 1996 action film written and directed by Walter Hill, starring Bruce Willis, Christopher Walken, and Bruce Dern. It is a credited remake of the Akira Kurosawa film Yojimbo.- Plot :...
(1996), Hill's Trespass (1992) and Mike Nichols
Mike Nichols
Mike Nichols is a German-born American television, stage and film director, writer, producer and comedian. He began his career in the 1950s as one half of the comedy duo Nichols and May, along with Elaine May. In 1968 he won the Academy Award for Best Director for the film The Graduate...
' Primary Colors (1998). Cooder dubbed all slide guitar parts in the 1986 film Crossroads
Crossroads (1986 film)
Crossroads is a 1986 film starring Ralph Macchio, Joe Seneca and Jami Gertz, inspired by the legend of blues musician Robert Johnson.The film was written by John Fusco and directed by Walter Hill and featured an original score featuring Ry Cooder and Steve Vai on the soundtrack's guitar, and...
, a take on blues legend Robert Johnson. In 1988, Cooder produced the album by his longtime backing vocalists Bobby King
Bobby King
Bobby King is an American gospel-style, R&B and soul singer. He formed a singing duo with Terry Evans in the early 1970s. Since 1973, King has sung on most Ry Cooder albums. He was also the lead backing vocalist in Bruce Springsteen's Human Touch tour band of 1992-93...
and Terry Evans on Rounder Records titled Live and Let Live. He contributed his slide guitar work to every track. He also plays extensively on their 1990 self-produced Rounder release Rhythm, Blues, Soul & Grooves. Cooder's music also appeared on two episodes of the television program "Tales From the Crypt" -- "The Man Who Was Death" and "The Thing From the Grave" (http://www.allmusic.com/album/original-music-from-tales-from-the-crypt-w93724).
1990s
In the early 1990s Cooder collaborated on two world musicWorld music
World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...
"crossover" albums, which blended the traditional American musical genres that Cooder has championed throughout his career with the contemporary improvised music of India and Africa. For A Meeting by the River
A Meeting by the River
A Meeting by the River is an album by Ry Cooder and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, released in April 1993 through the record label Water Lily Acoustics. Recorded in September 1992, the improvised collaborative album features Cooder on slide guitar and Bhatt on the Mohan veena, a stringed instrument created by...
(1993), which also featured his son Joachim on percussion, he teamed with Hindustani
Hindustani classical music
Hindustani classical music is the Hindustani or North Indian style of Indian classical music found throughout the northern Indian subcontinent. The style is sometimes called North Indian Classical Music or Shāstriya Sangeet...
classical musician V.M. Bhatt
Vishwa Mohan Bhatt
Vishwa Mohan Bhatt also known as V. M. Bhatt is an Indian slide guitar player. Bhatt is the creator of the Mohan Veena...
, a virtuoso of the Mohan Veena
Mohan veena
The Mohan veena is a stringed musical instrument used in Indian classical music. It derives its name from its inventor Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt...
, a modified 20-string archtop guitar
Archtop guitar
An archtop guitar is a steel-stringed acoustic or semi-acoustic guitar with a full body and a distinctive arched top, whose sound is particularly popular with blues and jazz players.Typically, an archtop guitar has:* 6 strings...
of Bhatt's own invention. In 1995 he teamed with African multi-instrumentalist Ali Farka Toure
Ali Farka Touré
Ali Ibrahim “Farka” Touré was a Malian singer and guitarist, and one of the African continent’s most internationally renowned musicians. His music is widely regarded as representing a point of intersection of traditional Malian music and its North American cousin, the blues...
on the album Talking Timbuktu
Talking Timbuktu
Talking Timbuktu is the 1994, Grammy award-winning collaboration between Malian guitarist Ali Farka Touré and American guitarist/producer Ry Cooder...
, which he also produced; the album also featured longtime Cooder collaborator Jim Keltner
Jim Keltner
James Lee "Jim" Keltner is an American drummer known primarily for his session work. He has contributed to the work of many well-known artists...
on drums, veteran blues guitarist Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, jazz bassist John Patitucci
John Patitucci
John Patitucci is an American Grammy-winning jazz double bass and jazz fusion electric bass player.-Biography:Patitucci is of Italian descent and was born in Brooklyn, New York, where he began playing the electric bass at age ten, composing and performing at age 12, as well as the acoustic bass at...
and African percussionists and musicians including Hamma Sankare and Oumar Toure. Both albums won the Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
for 'Best World Music Album' in 1994 and 1995 respectively. Cooder also worked with Tuvan
Tuvans
Tuvans or Tuvinians are Turkic peoples living in southern Siberia. They are historically known as one of the Uriankhai, from the Mongolian designation...
throat singers
Overtone singing
Overtone singing, also known as overtone chanting, or harmonic singing, is a type of singing in which the singer manipulates the resonances created as air travels from the lungs, past the vocal folds, and out the lips to produce a melody.The partials of a sound wave made by the human voice can be...
for the score to the 1993 film Geronimo: An American Legend
Geronimo: An American Legend
Geronimo: An American Legend is a 1993 film, starring Wes Studi as Geronimo, Jason Patric as 1st Lt. Charles B. Gatewood, Gene Hackman as Brig. Gen. George Crook, Robert Duvall as Chief of Scouts Al Sieber, and Matt Damon as 2nd Lt. Britton Davis. The film was directed by Walter Hill from a...
.
In 1995 he performed in The Wizard of Oz in Concert: Dreams Come True
The Wizard of Oz in Concert: Dreams Come True
The Wizard of Oz in Concert: Dreams Come True was a 1995 musical performance based on the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz . The book and score of the film were performed on stage at Lincoln Center to benefit the Children's Defense Fund...
, a musical performance of the popular story at the Lincoln Center in New York to benefit the Children's Defense Fund
Children's Defense Fund
The Children's Defense Fund is an American child advocacy and research group, founded in 1973 by Marian Wright Edelman. Its motto Leave No Child Behind reflects its mission to advocate on behalf of children...
. The performance was originally broadcast on Turner Network Television
Turner Network Television
Turner Network Television is an American cable television channel created by media mogul Ted Turner and currently owned by the Turner Broadcasting System division of Time Warner...
(TNT), and was issued on CD and video in 1996.
In the late 1990s Cooder played a significant role in the increased appreciation of traditional Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
n music, due to his collaboration as producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
of the Buena Vista Social Club
Buena Vista Social Club (album)
- Music :"Chan Chan", the first song on the album, is a Cuban song composition by Compay Segundo, revolving around two central characters, Juanita and Chan Chan. The song was one of Segundo's last compositions and was written in 1987, already having been recorded by Segundo himself various...
(1997) recording, which became a worldwide hit and revived the careers of some of the greatest surviving exponents of 20th century Cuban music. Wim Wenders
Wim Wenders
Ernst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders is a German film director, playwright, author, photographer and producer.-Early life:Wenders was born in Düsseldorf. He graduated from high school in Oberhausen in the Ruhr area. He then studied medicine and philosophy in Freiburg and Düsseldorf...
, who had previously directed 1984's Paris Texas, directed a documentary film of the musicians involved, Buena Vista Social Club
Buena Vista Social Club (film)
Buena Vista Social Club is a documentary film by Wim Wenders about the music of Cuba. It is named for a danzón that became the title piece of the album Buena Vista Social Club.-Synopsis:...
(1999), which was nominated for an Academy Award
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
in 2000.
2000s
Cooder's 2005 album Chávez RavineChávez Ravine (album)
Chávez Ravine: A Record by Ry Cooder is a concept album and historical album by Ry Cooder which tells the story of Chávez Ravine, a Mexican-American community demolished in the 1950s in order to build public housing. The housing was never built...
was touted by his record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
as being "a post-World War II-era American narrative of 'cool cats', radios, UFO sightings, J. Edgar Hoover, red scares, and baseball"— the record is a tribute to the long-gone Los Angeles Latino enclave known as Chávez Ravine
Chávez Ravine
Chavez Ravine is an area in Sulfir Canyon that is the current site of Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California.It was named after Julian Chavez, a Los Angeles Councilman in the 19th century.-History:...
. Using real and imagined historical characters, Cooder and friends created an album that recollects various aspects of the poor but vibrant hillside Chicano
Chicano
The terms "Chicano" and "Chicana" are used in reference to U.S. citizens of Mexican descent. However, those terms have a wide range of meanings in various parts of the world. The term began to be widely used during the Chicano Movement, mainly among Mexican Americans, especially in the movement's...
community which no longer exists. Cooder says, "Here is some music for a place you don’t know, up a road you don’t go. Chávez Ravine, where the sidewalk ends."Drawing from the various musical strains of Los Angeles, including conjunto
Conjunto
Conjunto literally translates as "group," and is regionally accepted in Texas as defining a genre of music that was born out of south Texas at the end of the 19th Century, after German settlers introduced the button accordion. The bajo sexto has come to accompany the button accordion and is...
, R&B, Latin pop, and jazz, Cooder and friends conjure the ghosts of Chávez Ravine and Los Angeles at mid-century. On this fifteen-track album, sung in Spanish and English, Cooder is joined by East L.A.
East Los Angeles, California
East Los Angeles is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Los Angeles County, California, United States...
legends like Chicano music patriarch Lalo Guerrero
Lalo Guerrero
Eduardo "Lalo" Guerrero , was a Mexican-American guitarist, singer and farm labor activist best known for his strong influence on today's Latin musical artists.-Life Summary:...
, Pachuco
Pachuco
Pachucos are Chicano youths who developed their own subculture during the 1930s and 1940s in the Southwestern United States. They wore distinctive clothing and spoke their own dialect of Mexican Spanish, called Caló or Pachuco...
boogie king Don Tosti
Don Tosti
DonTosti was an American musician and composer.Born in El Paso, Texas, Tosti forged a career spanning several decades and styles, from classical to jazz and rhythm and blues. He was best remembered for his Pachuco-style compositions like the hit "Pachuco Boogie"...
, Thee Midniters
Thee Midniters
Thee Midniters were an American group, amongst the first Chicano rock bands to have a major hit in the United States. Also they were and one of the best known acts to come out of East Los Angeles in the 1960s, with a cover of "Land of a Thousand Dances", and the instrumental track, "Whittier...
front man Little Willie G, and Ersi Arvizu, of The Sisters and El Chicano
El Chicano
El Chicano is an American chicano rock and brown-eyed soul group from Los Angeles, California, whose style incorporates various modern music genres including rock, funk, soul, blues, jazz, and salsa...
.
Cooder's next record was released in 2007. Entitled My Name Is Buddy
My Name Is Buddy
My Name Is Buddy: Another Record by Ry Cooder is a social-political concept album by Ry Cooder. Cooder has described it as the second in a trilogy that began with Chávez Ravine and concluded with . The album is packaged in a small booklet that includes a brief story and drawing to accompany each...
, it tells the story of Buddy Red Cat, who travels and sees the world in the company of his like-minded friends, Lefty Mouse and Rev. Tom Toad. The entire recording is a parable of the working class progressivism of the first half of the American twentieth century, and even has a song featuring executed unionist Joe Hill
Joe Hill
Joe Hill, born Joel Emmanuel Hägglund in Gävle , and also known as Joseph Hillström was a Swedish-American labor activist, songwriter, and member of the Industrial Workers of the World...
. My Name Is Buddy was accompanied by a booklet featuring a story and illustration (by Vincent Valdez) for each track, providing additional context to Buddy's adventures.
Cooder produced and performed on an album for Mavis Staples
Mavis Staples
Mavis Staples is an American rhythm and blues and gospel singer, actress and civil rights activist who recorded with The Staple Singers, her family's band.-Biography:...
entitled We'll Never Turn Back
We'll Never Turn Back
We'll Never Turn Back is a studio album by American gospel and soul singer Mavis Staples, released April 24, 2007 on ANTI- Records. Recorded in 2007 and produced by roots rock and blues musician Ry Cooder, it is a concept album with lyrical themes relating to the African-American Civil Rights...
, which was released on April 24, 2007. The concept album
Concept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...
focused on Gospel
Gospel
A gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a more general sense the term "gospel" may refer to the good news message of the New Testament. It is primarily used in reference to the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...
songs of the civil rights movement
Civil rights movement
The civil rights movement was a worldwide political movement for equality before the law occurring between approximately 1950 and 1980. In many situations it took the form of campaigns of civil resistance aimed at achieving change by nonviolent forms of resistance. In some situations it was...
and also included two new original songs by Cooder.
Ry Cooder's album I, Flathead
I, Flathead
I, Flathead:The Songs of Kash Buk and the Klowns is a concept album by Ry Cooder. It is the third in his "California trilogy" that began with Chávez Ravine and was followed by My Name Is Buddy ....
was released on June 24, 2008. It is the completion of his California trilogy. Based on the drag racing
Drag racing
Drag racing is a competition in which specially prepared automobiles or motorcycles compete two at a time to be the first to cross a set finish line, from a standing start, in a straight line, over a measured distance, most commonly a ¼-mile straight track....
culture of the early 1960s, the album is set on the desert salt flats in southern California. The disc was also released as a deluxe edition with stories written by Cooder to accompany the music.
In late 2009, Cooder toured Japan, New Zealand and Australia with Nick Lowe
Nick Lowe
Nicholas Drain "Nick" Lowe , is an English singer-songwriter, musician and producer.A pivotal figure in UK pub rock, punk rock and new wave, Lowe has recorded a string of well-reviewed solo albums. Along with vocals, Lowe plays guitar, bass guitar, piano and harmonica...
, performing some of Lowe's songs and a selection of Cooder's own material, mainly from the 1970s. Joaquim Cooder (Ry's son) provided percussion, and Juliette Commagere and Alex Lilly contributed backing vocals.
The song "Diaraby", which Cooder recorded with Ali Farka Touré
Ali Farka Touré
Ali Ibrahim “Farka” Touré was a Malian singer and guitarist, and one of the African continent’s most internationally renowned musicians. His music is widely regarded as representing a point of intersection of traditional Malian music and its North American cousin, the blues...
, is used as the theme to The World
The World (radio program)
PRI's The World is a global news radio, audio and multi-platform program created by Public Radio International based on the program's congruence with PRI's mission, and in order to fulfill the critical need for more original global news created for and provided to Americans. This was partly a...
's Geo Quiz. The World is a radio show distributed by Public Radio International
Public Radio International
Public Radio International is a Minneapolis-based American public radio organization, with locations in Boston, New York, London and Beijing. PRI's tagline is "Hear a different voice." PRI is a major public media content creator and also distributes programs from many sources...
.
In 2009, Cooder performed in The People Speak
The People Speak (film)
The People Speak is a documentary feature film that uses dramatic and musical performances of the letters, diaries, and speeches of everyday Americans. The film gives voice to those who, by insisting on equality and justice, spoke up for social change throughout U.S...
, a documentary feature film that uses dramatic and musical performances of the letters, diaries, and speeches of everyday Americans, based on historian Howard Zinn
Howard Zinn
Howard Zinn was an American historian, academic, author, playwright, and social activist. Before and during his tenure as a political science professor at Boston University from 1964-88 he wrote more than 20 books, which included his best-selling and influential A People's History of the United...
's A People's History of the United States
A People's History of the United States
Chapter 7, "As Long As Grass Grows or Water Runs" discusses 19th century conflicts between the U.S. government and Native Americans and Indian removal, especially during the administrations of Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren....
. Cooder performed with Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
and Van Dyke Parks on the documentary broadcast on December 13, 2009 on the History Channel. They played "Do Re Mi
Do Re Mi (Woody Guthrie song)
"Do Re Mi" is a folksong by American songwriter Woody Guthrie. The song deals with the experiences and reception of Dust Bowl migrants when they arrive in California...
" and reportedly a couple of other Guthrie
Woody Guthrie
Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...
songs that were excluded from the final edit. He also traveled with the band Los Tigres del Norte
Los Tigres del Norte
Los Tigres del Norte is a norteño-band ensemble based out of San Jose, California, hailing from Rosa Morada, Sinaloa, Mexico.- History :...
and recorded the 2010 album San Patricio
San Patricio (album)
San Patricio is an album by the Irish musical group, The Chieftains and Ry Cooder, released in 2010. It tells the story of the San Patricio battalion - a group of Irish immigrant volunteer soldiers who deserted the U.S. Army in 1846 to fight on the Mexican side in the Mexican-American War...
with the Chieftains, Lila Downs
Lila Downs
Lila Downs is a Mexican singer-songwriter. She performs her own compositions as well as tapping into Mexican traditional and popular music...
, Liam Neeson
Liam Neeson
Liam John Neeson, OBE is an Irish actor who has been nominated for an Oscar, a BAFTA and three Golden Globe Awards.He has starred in a number of notable roles including Oskar Schindler in Schindler's List, Michael Collins in Michael Collins, Peyton Westlake in Darkman, Jean Valjean in Les...
, Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt is an American popular music recording artist. She has earned eleven Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, an ALMA Award, numerous United States and internationally certified gold, platinum and multiplatinum albums, in addition to Tony Award and Golden...
, Van Dyke Parks
Van Dyke Parks
Van Dyke Parks is an American composer, arranger, producer, musician, singer, author and actor. Parks is perhaps best known for his contributions as a lyricist on the Beach Boys album Smile....
, Los Cenzontles
Los Cenzontles
Los Cenzontles is a Mexican-American Roots band, heavily influenced by Tejano music, country music, rock and roll, and traditional Mexican regional music such as Son Jarocho and boleros...
, and Los Tigres.
2010s
In June 2010, responding to the passage of Arizona SB 1070, he released the single "Quicksand", which tells the story of Mexicans attempting to emigrate to Arizona through the desert.Cooder's critically acclaimed new album Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down
Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down
Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down is the fourteenth studio album by American recording artist Ry Cooder, released August 30, 2011, on Nonesuch Records. It was written and produced by Cooder and recorded at Drive-By Studios, Ocean Studios, and Wireland Studios in California...
, released on August 30, 2011, contains politically charged songs such as "No Banker Left Behind" which was inspired by a Robert Scheer
Robert Scheer
Robert Scheer is an American journalist who writes a column for Truthdig which is nationally syndicated by Creators Syndicate in publications such as The Huffington Post and The Nation...
column.
Awards
- 1988 Grammy AwardGrammy AwardA Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
– Pecos Bill (Rabbit Ears ProductionsRabbit Ears ProductionsRabbit Ears Productions is a children's series that aired from 1984-1995 on PBS. The series features famous actors such as Robin Williams, Raul Julia, Laura Dern, Denzel Washington, Danny Glover, and others narrating classic children's classics either well-known in the United States or from around...
) - 1993 Grammy Award – A Meeting by the RiverA Meeting by the RiverA Meeting by the River is an album by Ry Cooder and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, released in April 1993 through the record label Water Lily Acoustics. Recorded in September 1992, the improvised collaborative album features Cooder on slide guitar and Bhatt on the Mohan veena, a stringed instrument created by...
- 1995 Grammy Award – Talking TimbuktuTalking TimbuktuTalking Timbuktu is the 1994, Grammy award-winning collaboration between Malian guitarist Ali Farka Touré and American guitarist/producer Ry Cooder...
with Ali Farka ToureAli Farka TouréAli Ibrahim “Farka” Touré was a Malian singer and guitarist, and one of the African continent’s most internationally renowned musicians. His music is widely regarded as representing a point of intersection of traditional Malian music and its North American cousin, the blues... - 1998 Grammy Award – Buena Vista Social ClubBuena Vista Social Club (album)- Music :"Chan Chan", the first song on the album, is a Cuban song composition by Compay Segundo, revolving around two central characters, Juanita and Chan Chan. The song was one of Segundo's last compositions and was written in 1987, already having been recorded by Segundo himself various...
- 2000 – Ry Cooder received an honorary doctorate from Queen's UniversityQueen's UniversityQueen's University, , is a public research university located in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Founded on 16 October 1841, the university pre-dates the founding of Canada by 26 years. Queen's holds more more than of land throughout Ontario as well as Herstmonceux Castle in East Sussex, England...
, Canada - 2001 – Ry Cooder received an honorary doctorate from the California Institute of the ArtsCalifornia Institute of the ArtsThe California Institute of the Arts, commonly referred to as CalArts, is located in Valencia, in Los Angeles County, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the United States created specifically for students of both the visual and the...
Discography
Singles- "Little Sister" (1979; Warner Records)
- "Crazy 'Bout An Automobile (Every Woman I Know)" Recorded live, October 25, 1980 at Victoria Apollo, London / "If Walls Could Talk" Recorded live, February 26, 1981 at Old Waldorf, San Francisco, California / "The Very Thing That Makes You Rich (Makes Me Poor)" Recorded live, February 26, 1981 at Old Waldorf, San Francisco, California/ "Look At Granny Run Run" Recorded live, February 26, 1981 at Old Waldorf, San Francisco, California (1981; Warner Records)
- "Gypsy Woman"/ "Alimony" (1982; Nonesuch Records)
- "Get Rhythm"/ "Get Your Lies Straight/ "Down In Hollywood" (1988)
- "Come Down" / "Get Rhythm" / "Little Sister" (1994)
- "Quicksand" (June 2010)
Solo albums
- Ry CooderRy Cooder (album)Ry Cooder is the eponymous debut album by roots rock legend Ry Cooder, released in 1970.-Side 1:#"Alimony" - 2:11#"France Chance" - 2:45#"One Meat Ball" - 2:27#"Do Re Mi" - 3:03...
(December 1970) - Into the Purple ValleyInto the Purple ValleyInto the Purple Valley is the second album by roots rock legend Ry Cooder, released in 1972 .-Track listing:#"How Can You Keep Moving " – 2:25#"Billy the Kid" – 3:45...
(February 1972) - Boomer's StoryBoomer's StoryBoomer's Story is an album by American roots rock musician Ry Cooder, released in 1972.-Side one:# "Boomer's Story" – 4:13# "Cherry Ball Blues" – 4:10# "Crow Black Chicken" – 2:14...
(November 1972) - Paradise and LunchParadise and LunchParadise and Lunch is the fourth album by roots rock musician Ry Cooder, released in 1974. The album contains a mix of jazz, blues and roots music led by Cooder's guitar and is considered by many the crowning achievement of Cooder's career...
(May 1974) - Chicken Skin MusicChicken Skin MusicChicken Skin Music is Ry Cooder's fifth album, released in 1976 .-Track listing:#"The Bourgeois Blues" – 3:22#"I Got Mine" – 4:28#"Always Lift Him Up/Kanaka Wai Wai" – 6:01...
(October 1976) - Showtime (August 1977)
- JazzJazz (Ry Cooder album)Jazz is a 1978 recording by Ry Cooder, produced by Joseph Byrd and Ry Cooder and released on the Warner Bros. Records label.-Track listing:LP side A#"Big Bad Bill " – 3:34...
(June 1978) - Bop Till You DropBop till You DropBop till You Drop is Ry Cooder's ninth album, released in 1979 . This was the first major-label digitally recorded album of Pop music...
(August 1979) - BorderlineBorderline (Ry Cooder album)Borderline is a 1980 album by Ry Cooder and was released on the Warner Bros. label.- Side one :# "634-5789" – 2:56# "Speedo" – 3:20# "Why Don't You Try Me" – 4:54...
(October 1980) - The Slide Area (April 1982)
- Get RhythmGet Rhythm (album)- Track listing :# "Get Rhythm" # "Low Commotion" # "Going Back to Okinawa" # "Thirteen Question Method" # "Women Will Rule the World" # "All Shook Up"...
(November 1987) - Chávez RavineChávez Ravine (album)Chávez Ravine: A Record by Ry Cooder is a concept album and historical album by Ry Cooder which tells the story of Chávez Ravine, a Mexican-American community demolished in the 1950s in order to build public housing. The housing was never built...
(May 2005) - My Name Is BuddyMy Name Is BuddyMy Name Is Buddy: Another Record by Ry Cooder is a social-political concept album by Ry Cooder. Cooder has described it as the second in a trilogy that began with Chávez Ravine and concluded with . The album is packaged in a small booklet that includes a brief story and drawing to accompany each...
(March 2007) - I, FlatheadI, FlatheadI, Flathead:The Songs of Kash Buk and the Klowns is a concept album by Ry Cooder. It is the third in his "California trilogy" that began with Chávez Ravine and was followed by My Name Is Buddy ....
(June 2008) - Pull Up Some Dust and Sit DownPull Up Some Dust and Sit DownPull Up Some Dust and Sit Down is the fourteenth studio album by American recording artist Ry Cooder, released August 30, 2011, on Nonesuch Records. It was written and produced by Cooder and recorded at Drive-By Studios, Ocean Studios, and Wireland Studios in California...
(August 2011)
Compilations
- Why Don't You Try Me Tonight (1986)
- River Rescue - The Very Best Of Ry Cooder (1994)
- Music by Ry Cooder (1995) (two-disc set of film music)
- The Ry Cooder Anthology: The UFO Has Landed (October 2008)
Collaborations
- Tanyet (1967) (with The Ceyleib People)
- Rising Sons featuring Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder with Rising SonsRising SonsRising Sons was a Los Angeles, California-based band founded in 1964. The original lineup was Ry Cooder , Taj Mahal , Gary Marker , Jesse Lee Kincaid and Ed Cassidy...
(recorded 1965/66, released 1992) - Little VillageLittle Village (album)Little Village is an album by the supergroup of the same name, consisting of Ry Cooder, John Hiatt, Nick Lowe and Jim Keltner. They had performed as a group recording the John Hiatt solo album Bring the Family in 1987....
(1992) - A Meeting by the RiverA Meeting by the RiverA Meeting by the River is an album by Ry Cooder and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, released in April 1993 through the record label Water Lily Acoustics. Recorded in September 1992, the improvised collaborative album features Cooder on slide guitar and Bhatt on the Mohan veena, a stringed instrument created by...
(1993) (with Vishwa Mohan BhattVishwa Mohan BhattVishwa Mohan Bhatt also known as V. M. Bhatt is an Indian slide guitar player. Bhatt is the creator of the Mohan Veena...
) - Talking TimbuktuTalking TimbuktuTalking Timbuktu is the 1994, Grammy award-winning collaboration between Malian guitarist Ali Farka Touré and American guitarist/producer Ry Cooder...
(1994) (with Ali Farka TouréAli Farka TouréAli Ibrahim “Farka” Touré was a Malian singer and guitarist, and one of the African continent’s most internationally renowned musicians. His music is widely regarded as representing a point of intersection of traditional Malian music and its North American cousin, the blues...
) - Buena Vista Social ClubBuena Vista Social Club (album)- Music :"Chan Chan", the first song on the album, is a Cuban song composition by Compay Segundo, revolving around two central characters, Juanita and Chan Chan. The song was one of Segundo's last compositions and was written in 1987, already having been recorded by Segundo himself various...
(September 1997) - Hollow Bamboo with Jon HassellJon HassellJon Hassell is an American trumpet player and composer. He is known for his influence in the world music scene and his unusual electronic manipulation of the trumpet sound.-Life and career:...
and Ronu MajumdarRonu MajumdarRonu Majumdar is a noted Indian flautist in the Hindustani Classical Music tradition.-Early life and training:Born in Varanasi on June 22, 1963, Ranendranath Majumdar, popularly known as Ronu was trained under his father, Dr. Bhanu Majumdar, and later learned vocal music with the late Pt. Laxman...
(bansuriBansuriThe bansuri is a transverse alto flute of Bangladesh, India and Nepal made from a single hollow shaft of bamboo with six or seven finger holes. An ancient musical instrument associated with cowherds and the pastoral tradition, it is intimately linked to the love story of Krishna and Radha, and is...
) (2000) - Mambo SinuendoMambo SinuendoMambo Sinuendo is a studio album released by Cuban performer Manuel Galban and producer Ry Cooder. This album became the first number-one album in the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart for Galbán and the second for Cooder...
(January 2003) (with Manuel GalbánLos ZafirosLos Zafiros were a Cuban close-harmony vocal group working from 1961–1970. The group was part of the filín movement, inspired by American doo-wop groups such as The Platters...
) - San PatricioSan Patricio (album)San Patricio is an album by the Irish musical group, The Chieftains and Ry Cooder, released in 2010. It tells the story of the San Patricio battalion - a group of Irish immigrant volunteer soldiers who deserted the U.S. Army in 1846 to fight on the Mexican side in the Mexican-American War...
(March 2010) (with The ChieftainsThe ChieftainsThe Chieftains are a Grammy-winning Irish musical group founded in 1962, best known for being one of the first bands to make Irish traditional music popular around the world.-Name:...
)
Soundtracks
- PerformancePerformance (soundtrack)Performance is a 1970 soundtrack album to the film Performance by Donald Cammell and Nicolas Roeg. It features music from Randy Newman, Merry Clayton, Ry Cooder, Jack Nitzsche, Buffy Sainte-Marie, The Last Poets and Mick Jagger....
(1970) - The Long Riders (June 1980)
- Southern ComfortSouthern Comfort (film)Southern Comfort is an American action/thriller film directed by Walter Hill, working from a script by Hill, longtime collaborator David Giler, and Michael Kane. It featured Keith Carradine, Powers Boothe, Alan Autry, Les Lannom, Peter Coyote, T. K...
(1981) - The Border (1982)
- Paris, Texas (February 1985)
- Music from Alamo Bay (August 1985)
- Blue City (July 1986)
- CrossroadsCrossroads (1986 film)Crossroads is a 1986 film starring Ralph Macchio, Joe Seneca and Jami Gertz, inspired by the legend of blues musician Robert Johnson.The film was written by John Fusco and directed by Walter Hill and featured an original score featuring Ry Cooder and Steve Vai on the soundtrack's guitar, and...
(July 1986) - Cocktail (1988)
- Johnny Handsome (October 1989)
- TrespassTrespass (film score)The film score to the 1992 film Trespass, was heavily influenced by experimental jazz. The performers include producers Ry Cooder and Jim Keltner, as well as Jon Hassell.-Track listing:# Cooder, Hassell, Keltner – "Video Drive-By" – 2:55...
(January 1993) - Geronimo: An American Legend (1993)
- Last Man Standing (1996)
- The End of Violence (1997)
- Primary Colors (1998)
Performs on:
- Safe as Milk (1967) with Captain BeefheartCaptain BeefheartDon Van Vliet January 15, 1941 December 17, 2010) was an American musician, singer-songwriter and artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. His musical work was conducted with a rotating ensemble of musicians called The Magic Band, active between 1965 and 1982, with whom he recorded 12...
- Neil Young (album)Neil Young (album)Neil Young is the self-titled debut studio album by Canadian musician Neil Young, which was his debut release as a solo artist following his departure from the band Buffalo Springfield...
(1968) with Neil YoungNeil YoungNeil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation... - 12 Songs12 Songs (Randy Newman album)12 Songs is a 1970 album by singer/songwriter Randy Newman. His second album, 12 Songs received much better reviews than his first. On 12 Songs Newman collaborates with Clarence White and Ry Cooder. The album set the stage for Newman's later career with songs sung from the point of view of...
(1970) with Randy NewmanRandy NewmanRandall Stuart "Randy" Newman is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, composer, and pianist who is known for his mordant pop songs and for film scores.... - The CandlestickmakerThe CandlestickmakerThe Candlestickmaker is the lone solo album by American musician Ron Elliott, released in 1970 on Warner Bros. It was recorded following the dissolution of The Beau Brummels, with whom Elliott had been the chief songwriter and guitarist...
(1970) with Ron ElliottRon Elliott (musician)Ron Elliott on October 21, 1943) is an American musician, composer and producer, best known as songwriter and lead guitarist of rock band The Beau Brummels. Elliott wrote or co-wrote the band's 1965 U.S... - Washington CountyWashington County (album)Washington County is a 1970 album by American folk singer Arlo Guthrie.-Track listing:All tracks composed by Arlo Guthrie; except where indicated#"Introduction" - 3:22#"Fencepost Blues" - 3:11#"Gabriel's Mother's Highway Ballad #16 Blues" - 6:23...
(1970) with Arlo GuthrieArlo GuthrieArlo Davy Guthrie is an American folk singer. Like his father, Woody Guthrie, Arlo often sings songs of protest against social injustice... - LivingLiving (Judy Collins album)Living is a 1971 live Judy Collins album, taken from the singer's 1970 concert tour. It peaked at No 64 on the Billboard Pop Albums charts....
(1971) with Judy CollinsJudy CollinsJudith Marjorie "Judy" Collins is an American singer and songwriter, known for her eclectic tastes in the material she records ; and for her social activism. She is an alumna of the University of Colorado.-Musical career:Collins was born and raised in Seattle, Washington... - Money and CigarettesMoney and CigarettesMoney and Cigarettes is an Eric Clapton album, released in 1983. The memorable cover depicts Clapton, cigarette in hand, standing next to a melting Fender Stratocaster guitar. Eric Clapton named the album like this "because, that's all I saw myself having left." The single "I've Got a Rock 'n' Roll...
(February 1983) with Eric ClaptonEric ClaptonEric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and... - Midnight Mission (1984) Carla Olson & The Textones (featured on two songs)
- Bring the FamilyBring the FamilyBring the Family is John Hiatt's eighth album. It was his first album to chart on the Billboard 200, and featured his first single entry on the mainstream rock chart with "Thank You Girl". It features Ry Cooder on guitar, Nick Lowe on bass guitar and Jim Keltner on drums. The four would later...
(1987) with John HiattJohn HiattJohn Hiatt is an American rock guitarist, pianist, singer, and songwriter. He has played a variety of musical styles on his albums, including New Wave, blues and country. Hiatt has been nominated for several Grammy Awards - although he has never won- and has been awarded a variety of other... - Live and Let Live (1988) with Bobby KingBobby KingBobby King is an American gospel-style, R&B and soul singer. He formed a singing duo with Terry Evans in the early 1970s. Since 1973, King has sung on most Ry Cooder albums. He was also the lead backing vocalist in Bruce Springsteen's Human Touch tour band of 1992-93...
& Terry Evans - King Cake Party (1994) with The Zydeco Party Band
- Good Dog, Happy ManGood Dog, Happy ManGood Dog, Happy Man is the eleventh album by Bill Frisell to be released on the Elektra Nonesuch label. It was released in 1999 and features performances by Frisell, Greg Leisz, Wayne Horvitz, Viktor Krauss and Jim Keltner with a guest appearance by Ry Cooder on guitar.-Reception:The Allmusic...
(1999) with Bill FrisellBill FrisellWilliam Richard "Bill" Frisell is an American guitarist and composer.One of the leading guitarists in jazz since the late 1980s, Frisell's eclectic music touches on progressive folk, classical music, country music, noise and more... - The WindThe Wind (album)The Wind is the last studio album by American singer/songwriter Warren Zevon, released in 2003. Zevon began recording the album shortly after he was diagnosed with inoperable pleural mesothelioma , and it was released just two weeks before his death on September 7, 2003 .The album was awarded the...
(2003) with Warren ZevonWarren ZevonWarren William Zevon was an American rock singer-songwriter and musician noted for including his sometimes sardonic opinions of life in his musical lyrics, composing songs that were sometimes humorous and often had political or historical themes.Zevon's work has often been praised by well-known...
(slide guitar on two tracks: "Dirty Life and Times" and "Prison Grove")
Written works
- Los Angeles StoriesLos Angeles StoriesLos Angeles Stories is a short-story collection by Ry Cooder. Cooder's first published story collection, the book was published by City Lights Books in late 2011 as part of its City Lights Noir collection.-Table of Contents:* All in a day's work...
, City Lights PublishersCity Lights BookstoreCity Lights is an independent bookstore-publisher combination that specializes in world literature, the arts, and progressive politics. It also houses the nonprofit City Lights Foundation, which publishes selected titles related to San Francisco culture. It was founded in 1953 by poet Lawrence...
(2011) http://www.citylights.com/book/?GCOI=87286100553260&fa=author&person_id=14660#content