Mandolin Kings - #2 Ry Cooder

The second of my mandolin kings is Ry Cooder.

I had not realised that he was one of my inspirations until I recently bought Mandolin Blues: From Memphis to Maxwell Street, an excellent tuition book and CD by Rich Delgrosso. I had always loved the mandolin solo in the Rolling Stones "Love in Vain" from the 1969 Let it Bleed album. What I didn't know was who played it. In the book Rich explains that the Stones, aware of the roots of their material, asked Ry Cooder to play Yank Rachell-style mandolin on their cover of the Robert Johnson song.

Take a listen to the solo on Love in Vain - it's perfect.

I love the following quote about Ry, attributed to Carl Sagan. When the USA sent the Voyager spacecraft out into the solar system, with a cargo of  recordings of human intelligence, Sagan was asked if they should include some Ry Cooder. He said "no, no, no! We don't want to show off - just put in some Beethoven".

Ry Cooder on wikipedia

Key tracks: