Live in San Francisco
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534585
Track Listing
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15:08
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106:30
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118:19
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127:06
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25:28
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34:42
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46:18
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55:43
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65:02
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77:32
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86:15
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94:59
News & Reviews
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Nearly sixty years after they first played together, Ry Cooder and Taj Mahal, longtime friends and collaborators, reunite with an album of music from two Piedmont blues masters who have inspired them all their lives: GET ON BOARD: THE SONGS OF SONNY TERRY & BROWNIE MCGHEE, out today on Nonesuch Records. With Taj Mahal on vocals, harmonica, guitar, and piano and Cooder on vocals, guitar, mandolin, and banjo—joined by Joachim Cooder on drums and bass—the duo recorded eleven songs drawn from recordings and live performances by Terry and McGhee, who they both first heard as teenagers in California. Also out today is a video them performing the song "Cornbread, Peas, Black Molasses," which you can watch here.
Ry Cooder and Taj Mahal have released their take on Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee's "Pick a Bale of Cotton," from their upcoming album, GET ON BOARD: THE SONGS OF SONNY TERRY & BROWNIE MCGHEE, out April 22. You can watch a video of them performing the song here. Nearly sixty years after they first played together, the longtime friends and collaborators reunite with the album of music from two Piedmont blues masters who have inspired them all their lives. With Taj Mahal on vocals, harmonica, guitar, and piano and Cooder on vocals, guitar, mandolin, and banjo—joined by Joachim Cooder on drums and bass—the duo recorded eleven songs drawn from recordings and live performances by Terry and McGhee, whom they both first heard as teenagers in California.
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About This Album
Nonesuch / Perro Verde Records release Ry Cooder’s first live record in more than 35 years, Live in San Francisco, on September 10, 2013. Recorded in 2011 during a special two-night engagement at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall, the album includes 12 songs and was produced by Cooder. The Corridos Famosos band includes Joachim Cooder on drums; Robert Francis on bass; vocalists Terry Evans, Arnold McCuller, and Juliette Commagere; Flaco Jimenez on accordion; and the ten-piece Mexican brass band La Banda Juvenil. The vinyl edition includes the complete album on two 140-gram LPs plus a CD in the sleeve.
Live in San Francisco includes original songs and interpretations of other material ranging across Cooder’s entire career, from classics like “Boomer’s Story” and “Dark End of the Street” to more recent originals such as “Lord Tell Me Why” and “El Corrido de Jesse James,” with a detour for Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs’ “Wooly Bully” and Lead Belly’s “Goodnight Irene." Cooder’s only previous live album was the 1977 release Show Time, on which Evans and Jimenez were also featured. Show Time was also recorded at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall.
Credits
MUSICIANS
Ry Cooder, vocals, guitar
Terry Evans, vocals
Arnold McCuller, vocals
Juliette Commagere, vocals
Joachim Cooder, drums
Robert Francis, bass
Flaco Jimenez, accordion“La Banda Juvenil”
Edgar Castro, timbale, snare
Everardo Rodriguez, bass drum
Pablo Molina, sousaphone
Carlos “Carlitos” Gonzalez, trumpet
Arturo Gallardo, clarinet, alto sax, bass sax
Julian Diaz, trumpet
Abel Guerra, trombone
Alonso Chavez, alto horn
Gilberto Carbajal, trumpet
Willie Jimenez, clarinetPRODUCTION CREDITS
Produced by Ry Cooder
Recorded August 31 & September 1, 2011 at The Great American Music Hall, San Francisco
Recorded by Martin Pradler
Mixed and mastered by Martin Pradler at Wireland Studios, Chatsworth, CAArt Direction: Ry Cooder, Al Quattrocchi & Jeff Smith
Design: Tornado Design, Los Angeles
Photography: Susan Titelman
More From
Ry Cooder’s first live record in more than 35 years, Live in San Francisco was recorded in 2011 during a special two-night engagement with the Corridos Famosos band and a ten-piece Mexican brass band at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall. "One of those nights when you wish you'd been in Row A," says the Times of London. The album, produced by Cooder, includes original songs and interpretations of other material from throughout his career, as well as Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs' "Wooly Bully" and Lead Belly's "Goodnight Irene." The vinyl edition includes the album on two 140-gram LPs plus a CD in the sleeve.
Nonesuch / Perro Verde Records release Ry Cooder’s first live record in more than 35 years, Live in San Francisco, on September 10, 2013. Recorded in 2011 during a special two-night engagement at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall, the album includes 12 songs and was produced by Cooder. The Corridos Famosos band includes Joachim Cooder on drums; Robert Francis on bass; vocalists Terry Evans, Arnold McCuller, and Juliette Commagere; Flaco Jimenez on accordion; and the ten-piece Mexican brass band La Banda Juvenil. The vinyl edition includes the complete album on two 140-gram LPs plus a CD in the sleeve.
Live in San Francisco includes original songs and interpretations of other material ranging across Cooder’s entire career, from classics like “Boomer’s Story” and “Dark End of the Street” to more recent originals such as “Lord Tell Me Why” and “El Corrido de Jesse James,” with a detour for Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs’ “Wooly Bully” and Lead Belly’s “Goodnight Irene." Cooder’s only previous live album was the 1977 release Show Time, on which Evans and Jimenez were also featured. Show Time was also recorded at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall.
PRODUCTION CREDITS
Produced by Ry Cooder
Recorded August 31 & September 1, 2011 at The Great American Music Hall, San Francisco
Recorded by Martin Pradler
Mixed and mastered by Martin Pradler at Wireland Studios, Chatsworth, CA
Art Direction: Ry Cooder, Al Quattrocchi & Jeff Smith
Design: Tornado Design, Los Angeles
Photography: Susan Titelman

534585
MUSICIANS
Ry Cooder, vocals, guitar
Terry Evans, vocals
Arnold McCuller, vocals
Juliette Commagere, vocals
Joachim Cooder, drums
Robert Francis, bass
Flaco Jimenez, accordion
“La Banda Juvenil”
Edgar Castro, timbale, snare
Everardo Rodriguez, bass drum
Pablo Molina, sousaphone
Carlos “Carlitos” Gonzalez, trumpet
Arturo Gallardo, clarinet, alto sax, bass sax
Julian Diaz, trumpet
Abel Guerra, trombone
Alonso Chavez, alto horn
Gilberto Carbajal, trumpet
Willie Jimenez, clarinet