Ry Cooder offers insight on his wide-ranging musical influences and his extensive catalog of albums during this September 19, 2014, interview at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, held during the Americana Music Association conference.

After a sample of Cooder’s recording of “Goodnight, Irene” is played, the Grammy-winning singer-guitarist tells author Barry Mazor about discovering Norteño music and seeking out accordion player Flaco Jiménez to collaborate.

Cooder also shares memories of listening to a country station based in Santa Monica, California, as a boy, and pretending to be sick so he could stay home from school and play his guitar along with the songs he heard. When the station would go off the air at night, he says, he would strum to a Woody Guthrie record. He also credits Blind Boy Fuller with inspiring him musically as a young man.

As the conversation continues, Ry Cooder elaborates on an early musical collaboration with Taj Mahal called Rising Sons, reminisces about the legendary musicians he saw at a small folk club in West Hollywood, and shares his experiences as a studio musician, a film composer, and producer of the 1997 album “Buena Vista Social Club.”

The program concludes with Cooder speaking about his continued work, including projects with the Haden Triplets and Sam Outlaw.

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