But I had just started college, and with my small-town Wisconsin upbringing, I was only answering to the idea of a musician’s life, something I wasn’t fully certain was even possible. Where I came ...

There are so many references to God, Jesus, sin, saviors, righteousness and judgment in veteran roots musician Ry Cooder’s forthcoming album “The Prodigal Son,” it’s fair to wonder whether the ...

Prince’s early demos on Piano & and a Mircophone 1983 were a revelation as well. I was at a loss, however, to pick a single outstanding album, but perhaps the most timely and stirring came from Ry ...

Gorgeously gritty guitar sounds waft through a north Santa Monica neighborhood on a recent morning. They emanate from a home studio and workshop, one where veteran musician Ry Cooder spends hours ...

Slide guitar virtuoso Ry Cooder and blues musician Taj Mahal started their careers together. They formed the Rising Sons and signed to Columbia in 1965 but disbanded a year later, and the group’s sole ...

When Bonnie Raitt, Elvis Costello and Emmylou Harris are sitting in the nightclub balcony, you can bet there's a heavy-duty act onstage. Guitarist Ry Cooder making his first appearance in around 20 ...

In the May 1, 2005 edition of the Los Angeles Times, Lynell George's piece "Soundtrack for a Lost L.A." chronicles the evolution of Ry Cooder's latest album, "Chavez Ravine," and unearths a tangled ...

It was more than 50 years ago but Ry Cooder remembers it like it could have been last week; he was 8 years old and Johnny Cash came on the radio singing “Hey Porter.”A third-grader with a guitar was ...

While his own recordings have taken an unexpected literary turn, guitarist-musicologist Ry Cooder has trained his attention as a producer on the rediscovery of Latina vocalist Ersi Arvizu, one of the ...