Ry Cooder Special – February 27, 2012

KPFA presents the ultimate “Ry Cooder Special,” four hours of the guitar legend’s most influential recordings, from 8 p.m. to midnight. Host Larry Kelp leads listeners through this roots music upstart’s recording with such artists as Randy Newman, the Rolling Stones, Captain Beefheart and Taj Mahal by the time he was 21; to his unique style incorporating Tex-Mex, blues, R&B and Hawaiian sounds; plus his award-winning film soundtracks (“Paris, Texas,” “The Border”) and on to his world collaborations with Ireland’s Chieftains, India’s V.M. Bhatt, Mali’s Ali Farka Toure and the creation of Cuba’s Buena Vista Social Club. An American musical activist, Cooder’s own recordings have brought out some of the oldest and newest political songs, Woody Guthrie’s “Do Re Mi” on his 1970 debut album, to last year’s viral video, “Mutt Romney Blues.”