Ry Cooder has for the past 50 years reminded me with surprising regularity what it means to be a musician, and a human being.

Ry Cooder, you can’t overestimate the huge influence you’ve had on generations of guitar players. Thank you.

I'm almost 80...as a kid I used to listen to blues out in the barn while I Milked the sweet natured Guernsey cow 'Agnus'... she liked my music. My parents were not blues lovers and wondered why their little boy was attracted...stayed up late at night with the AM radio and heard stuff coming from far away... had a long wire antenna. Turned into a Ham Radio geek... and now a blues guitar fanatic.

Ry Cooder is an American music treasure. A Hall of Famer in my mind.

I′m so happy that I finally got Ry’s guitar he used to own！ It‘s a Gibson J―35 Ry used either in studio, on tour or personally.

24 Thumbs Down... It looks like Ry Cooder had more Parents, than he thought he had. This was BLOODY UNREAL. Thank you for Posting.

Ry Cooder is not only an incredible musician and musicologist he is just so cool!

Ry is now around the same age as some of his blues heroes, but he still plays with all of the joy and enthusiasm of that 13 year old boy discovering the music for the first time. With Ry and Joachim at home, it's a wonder that Mrs Cooder gets any rest at all, ha ha. Big smile from this clip!

He's a wild one!! Same as my mom and dad when I brought home Ozzy lp

The first time I heard Sir Ryland of Cooder was when my older brother brought home a record from high school because it was part of a music appreciation course. For the life of me, I thought he was black; of course in my small town Canadian place, we couldn't imagine this sound from a white dude. This was more than fifty years ago.

I ❤️ YOU RY, YOURE A SAINT AMONG MORTALS.

Man never ceases to amaze

you can't get any closer to the spirit of Big Joe's playing !

Ha, I can remember going into a record store 1983 and buying my first Ry Cooder album after hearing him on Little Feat album. Then I picked up a guitar.

loved Ry Cooder from Beefart to the Stones to now. He's introduced me to such a wide range of music. I thank him from the bottom of my heart.

Just as excited when he plays it as when he first heard it.

A top favourit musician that plays one of your topfavourit bluesmen and acts as savage wonderful beast. How happy can you get? YamYamYam

No one plays this music better than Ry Cooder. I grew up in Santa Monica at the same time. A young kid could ride the bus to downtown with no worries and we had POP. It was paradise -

Wonderful! I got to see Big Joe many times in Chicago in the early ’60s. I wish Mike Bloomfield was alive to see Mr. Cooder doing this.

This is absolutely FANTASTIC!!! Ry really nails it........Big Joe would be proud!

Thank you, Ry Cooter, your music is a gift to the Human Race. This song could be the Master Of Orchasta's Finest, Cheers.

Big Joe was brilliant, Ry Cooder is a legend. Fantastic

Picked up slide after hearing Ry. His sound is still otherworldly.

That's the way it's done right there. Cooder style.

Started buying Ry Cooder records 40 years ago. The man's got a great big heart, and it shows in many ways. I'm still crazy about that music he made with them Cuban fellers a while back.

Those old blues songs still gives me goosebumps of joy.

Ry cooder is a legend,in 1967 to my hometown library and you could rent records I had a library card and I wanted to know about Mississippi delta blues Southern artist like Elmore James Jimmy Reed Leadbelly blind Blake blind boy filler Charlie Patton list goes on and on Mississippi John Hurt I love this music so I taught myself how to play in open E tuning open D and open G on guitar my first instrument I've ever learned play with armonica I hope one day Rye cooder, our paths will cross to have a hoedown it would be an honor my dream bucket list

Yeah Rock on Ry and Big Joe. I cant stop playing this over and over.

A great tribute to Big Joe Williams. Thank you Ry Cooder.

The essence of Cooder grabbed me when I was a youte. He has traveled many musical roads. I love to study his footprints. Tamp em up solid. Tamp em up so good.

Phenomenal musician and also a great character. Been listening to Ry all my life.

Man, he puts his hands on that guitar, and "Sloppy Drunk" jumps out!

Thank you for the download. The world needs more of this. Let's all get together playing and singing instead of getting together shooting one another. God bless Ry Cooder.

now THAT hit so HARD!! A master class of funk right there

Highly recommend Michael Bloomfield's little book of his friendship with Big Joe. Some wild escapades. Ry, you filled my life with musical joy for past 50+ years.

For me you have always been the guitar of America. There is no one like you, nor worthy of comparison. I remember when I heard Houston in two seconds, My head literally exploded. You can't make music with more feeling, fragility and class. Without forgetting your sense of humor... I still find everything you have done impossible. No one understands music and guitar like you do. You can't set the bar higher. Gracias, amigo. Un saludo desde Barcelona.

What a Great ! story. Thanks for sharing.

Brilliant! Ry Cooder international treasure - thank you sir.

Ry Cooder is giant ! Big part of my musical taste!!

This man is a truly great American, and has only grown as an artist as he's gotten older. May he live forever.

Ry's talent, passionate playing and commitment to preserving the legacy of this music is astonishing..

Linda Ronstadt is correct, Mr. Cooder is a truly dedicated craftsman. Love to listen to His versions of hidden gems.

Just two words totally describe the Cood'. A legend!

Ry, thanks for the music.

That may have been the greatest rendition of one of the real blues men of that era. I have heard many. Some in concert and many recordings. Your voice became Big Joe's. I was amazed.

This is pure genius and love for music embodied and given back.

the archeologist .. the scientist ... RY COODER !!

Ry’s impersonation of his mother made me laugh uncontrollably....yes, the disapproval is indeed a good sign. (Marc Clements)

Damn, thanks for that performance! It's dirty and real.

Holy smokes! This is a great and unusual recording of Ry in a most intimate setting. Thank You!

Made my year Ry.........!!!! keep em coming

what a version. Bravo Ry

Big Joe Williams was superb. Saw him with John Lee Hooker, Curtis Jones, Oscar Peterson trio at the Fairfield Hall in Croydon near London in the 1969 Festival of Blues. What a concert!!!!

Cool music and great video. Thumbs Up !

Ry cooder u the man‼️ The best blues man that ever drew breath ‼️🤩🇬🇧

Beautiful

yah! Ry Cooder, what a masterful player. An intelligent player and soulful player, also. Love his work on Paris Texas, brilliant. And with Ali Farka Toure, Talking Timbuktu, as a steel player, that influenced me greatly and still reverberates to this day.

Ry Cooder love and respect for blues music is limitless and now eternal.

What a great Ry Cooder clip. The way he captures the essence of the music he is drawn to has always opened new avenues for me. If you play guitar you know that laugh at the end of doing some piece of music that Ry lays on us here!

Youngsters listening and watching this have no clue of the musical royalty unfolding in front of their eyes!

Best thing I've heard in a while Can't wait to see Ry live

First time in my youtube life that I caught myself spontaneously applauding to a clip! Besides his great version of the song I like most his miming of his parent's reaction when they listend to Big Joe Williams' record (1:57)! And how Ry interprets his completely different perception of this kind of music as an act of emancipation from his parents.

Ry is the bomb !!! I have been 'with' him since first hearing in 1969. Great to hear from where his own sound was derived...reminds me of Chicken Skin Music.

This is the Groove! Ry you are an icon thank you for so many hours of bliss and joy I have spent with your music! Greetings from Austria

LET'S FUCKING GOOOOOOO !!!! You're rocking it man, thanks for that. At first I was having a shitty day but now I'm feeling better

Absolutely excellent!!!!

I LOVE THIS . I want Cooder as my neighbour . Got most of his stuff and never get tired of listening to him.

I have have a lot to thank my father for, one of things is exposing me to Ry Cooders music from a young age.

How does this not have a million views?

It is not only that Ry Cooder gives a powerful interpretation of Big Joe‘s song, he has also built a 9 string guitar like Big Joe had invented. That indicates how deep Ry dived into Big Joe‘s music. Fantastic!!! I have seen Big Joe Williams live twice, but I have not yet seen Ry Cooder live. I hope he is gonna tour again (including Europe)!

I didn't discover him until way too late. Ry Cooder is a monster. How a white kid from LA can do this... He's a real student of the blues.

Outstandig!!! You sir are an artist in the truest sense of the word.

quel son!!!! je ne peux pas imaginer vivre sans le "blues" que ces gens ont inventé Bravo

Legendary player, brilliant stuff.....felt like applauding as I watched on KZfaq when he finished, so so good

The blues just keep living in all of it forms. Wonderful

Excuse . . are you kidding me . . that's THE most devoted, dedicated, sincere performance I've ever seen on this channel and I've seen a few . . all the best from Dänemark

Saw Ry live in Melbourne, Australia in the late 70's when I was around 18 or 19. I'd just bought Paradise n Lunch...What an album...He came on stage with just an acoustic guitar and a stool, maaaan it was a great concert. Now I'm 62 and after listening to this tribute to Big Joe.... he's still blowin me away. Ry, you are truly one of the greatest, thanks mate.

What an insightful commentary about Big Joe Williams! Ry is an amateur, in the original meaning of the word -- a lover of the music -- not a faddist. You don't get to his level of playing unless you really love the music. This is why he's had a career that's lasted for six decades.

Two of the best

Devotion to authenticity is having a 9 string guitar put together to play Big Joe's stuff. Bet nobody gonna try to pick it up and play it besides Ry!

Incredible. I love the introduction he gives, but I wasn't expecting him to start playing the song that way. So much energy!

The most versatile player alive

Bless you brother Ry. Big Joe was a force. Great story as told thru your HiFi.

Beyond wonderful!! Thank you Ry!!

Wherever Big Joe Williams is, I'm sure that version put a big grin on his face.

It's funny to me to hear Ry reminisce about his parents reaction to hearing him play the Big Joe Williams record on the family phonograph. When I was a teenager in the early '70s, Ry performed on a Detroit television show called "Tubeworks", that featured "underground" music. Ry played the instrumental piece, "Dark is the Night" by Blind Willie Johnson on slide guitar. I had never heard anything like that and was totally mesmerized. My dad was sitting with me, and at the end of the performance I looked at him with a sense of astonishment over the soulful beauty of the song we had just heard. I was even more astonished when my dad made a face similar to the one that Ry imitated from his own dad, and said, "You call that music?" I've been a big fan of Ry ever since.

Keep on rockin’, maestro Cooder! You are one of the greats.

Happy 75th birthday Ry!

Probably the best video on KZfaq

you re a great bluesmannnnn

great fun, thank you Joe & Mister Cooder!

"That's Big Joe" Yessir, it certainly is - Ry just rocks it!

This is my favorite Ry Cooter. Such delight and enthusiasm. Ry is the best I’ve ever heard. Wow!

He's a treasure alright........bought a lot of the old black music to us whities........God bless him!!

Pure Blues at its Finest👍Great tribute to Big Joe!🇺🇸 thanks Ry- U be the Man!

Big joe williamssssssssssd with 9 string guitar i love him good imitation. Where is that guitar it belongs in a museum.

Freaking hilarious!!! Right on Ry!!

Wonderful Artist! Love you Ry Cooder!

God I love this guy .. we are so blessed to share these times..

Fantastic footage of the blues MASTER. Love this sound, peel the paint.