Ry Cooder

Ry Cooder (born 1947) is a guitarist, songwriter, and musicologist whose slide guitar playing and obsessive exploration of American roots music — blues, gospel, Hawaiian slack-key, Tex-Mex, Cuban son — have made him one of the most respected musicians alive. He was a session guitarist for the Rolling Stones (he played the open-G tuning that Keith Richards adopted as his signature), Captain Beefheart, and dozens of others before launching a solo career. His film scores for Paris, Texas (1984) and Crossroads (1986) are iconic. Buena Vista Social Club (1997), his collaboration with Cuban musicians, sold eight million copies and won a Grammy. His bottleneck slide technique is considered the finest of his generation. He has released over 15 solo albums spanning an impossibly wide range of American and global musical traditions.