BACK ON BOARD

“GET ON BOARD WAS THE FIRST ALBUM OF THEIRS THAT I KNEW ABOUT AS A KID, AND IT SIMPLY CAME ACROSS AS GOOD MUSIC”

RY COODER AND Taj Mahal started out together with the short-lived Rising Sons before parting ways and going on to become two of the most important individual figures in American music. Now they’ve come full circle to pay tribute to two of their original heroes with the album Get On Board: The Songs of Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee (Nonsuch).

To be honest, we had a sense that a project between these heavyweights was in the offing. Last year, as Mahal turned 80, he graced our pages with a historic two-part interview [August and September 2021]. While he told us at the time that he was in contact with Cooder, it seemed futile to speculate on what that might mean while the pandemic was in full swing.

This time, we spoke with Cooder on the date of his 75th trip around the sun — March 15 — and he enlightened