The Ridgefield Playhouse

American musician, songwriter, film score composer, and record producer, Ry Cooder is a multi-instrumentalist but is best known for his slide guitar work and ranked eighth on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of “The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.” Cooder has been a major proponent of roots music the world over throughout his long career. He’s utilized elements of blues, country, gospel, folk, Tex-Mex, Celtic and Hawaiian music on his engrossing solo albums — as well as his session work for artists as diverse as Captain Beefheart, the Rolling Stones, Randy Newman, Little Feat and Pops Staples — and his Buena Vista Social Club project made Cuban music an international craze in the mid-’90s. That’s to say nothing of his evocative movie soundtracks for Wim Wenders’ Paris, Texas and for director Walter Hill on films such as The Long Riders, Streets of Fire and Southern Comfort. Ry has an incredible career and a deep love of American music.