Famous Roots and slide guitarist, Ry Cooder, has been featured as number 8 on Rolling Stone's 2003 "100 Greatest Guitarists of all Time." Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.org

Few guitarists have had as much success in as many different music styles as Ry Cooder.  From folk to gospel, and soul to Tex-Mex, Cooder has been featured as one of the great guitarists of all time according to the magazine Rolling Stone.  Cooder is known best for his slide guitar playing, and has been able to apply it in recording sessions with some of the biggest names in music history including Taj Mahal, Randy Newman, The Rolling Stones, Little Feat, Van Morrison, the Buena Vista Social Club, and many others.  Ry Cooder has built a successful music career as a guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist.  I hope you enjoy a few videos that feature the great Ry Cooder on stage with special guests!

I’d like to start off with a solo performance from Ry Cooder of the song, “Vigilante Man.”  Check it out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4KmbUCwkyE.

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The next video features another great slide guitar performance by Ry Cooder.  This time, it’s only the audio, but the performance comes from the soundtrack for the movie, “Crossroads.”  Check it out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIwYGZlBw9Y&feature=related.

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The last video I will leave you with features Ry Cooder on slide guitar with a very special guest, John Lee Hooker.  This is about as bluesy as it gets.  Enjoy the video performance at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZWflGIjDss&feature=related.

[youtube_sc url=”http://youtu.be/jZWflGIjDss” width=”420″ rel=”0″]

Now these are just a few of Ry Cooder’s blues performances; there are many other videos featuring a variety of performances from him.  Cooder can be seen all over YouTube performing in many different styles of music.  I hope you enjoyed the post because I had a great time making it for you.

Thanks,

Griff


    6 replies to "Roots And Blues Guitarist, Ry Cooder"

    • Marshall Salvucci

      Fantastically excellent bless you, It is my belief your trusty followers may well want more information such as this keep up the terrific effort.

    • Bob

      Thanks Griff, Sounds great and simple to understand. Ihave always loved the blues but didn’t know how to play. Thanks again

    • john lee

      Now this is the blues I have always wanted to play wish you could show the tabs on John Lee Hooker

    • Chaliq@live.com

      ABSOLUTLY FANTASTIC TEXAS SLIDE RIGHT UP THERE WITH JOHNNIE WINTERS, BUT A LOT SLOWER BLUES. I’D LIKE TO HEAR HIM WITH MICK TAYLOR

    • Tom Inglis

      The first I heard of Ry Cooder was his 1971 release “Into The Purple Valley”. I wore the original LP out completely and have since owned the album on whatever the current media was, 8 track, cassette, cd and now digital download. It’s served to renew my interest in blues and roots music many times over the years. I would likely never have put a slide on my finger or used an open tuning, hell, I may have even put guitar down all together, were it not for the inspiration I’ve gotten from listening to Ry Cooder over the years.

      My other favorite albums from him are ‘Bop Til You Drop” 1979, “Borderline” 1980, and “Get Rhythm” 1987. Besides the artists you listed above, he also worked with Randy Newman, Marc Benno, Arlo Guthrie, :Leo Kottke, Arlo Guthrie, Norman Greenbaum, The Doobie Brothers, Linda Ronstadt, Rodney Crowell, T-Bone Burnett, Eric Clapton and many other artists over his long and distinguished career. His latest album, 2011’s “Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down” shows that he’s still a master.

    • Bruce Brosch

      Moving and touching, soul stirring blues. Its exactly how I feel right now, with the situation I’m in at this moment. Ry Cooder nails it!

      Thank you Griff

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