Americana Music Festival & Conference

Extraordinary slide guitarist, producer, composer, and roots music champion Ry Cooder has played a central role in shaping American music for nearly fifty years. He has added prized string textures to the records of everyone from Rodney Crowell to the Rolling Stones, Phil Ochs to Pop Staples, Bobby Bare to Captain Beefheart.  His groundbreaking solo albums of the 1970s introduced flavor after flavor of American and world roots music to pop and rock audiences, while demonstrating that the exploration was allowed to be fun. His soundtracks for such films as The Long Ryders, Streets of Fire, and Paris, Texas; his Grammy-winning production of the historic Buena Vista Social Club sessions; his production of recent records by Mavis Staples and the Haden Triplets; and his own pointed, often political records of this decade, have added to his remarkable legacy. Music journalist and author Barry Mazor will lead Cooder in a one-on-one conversation. Included with museum admission. Free to museum members and AmericanaFest badge-holders. Limited seating. Program pass required.