No matter the genre, tribute albums tend toward the reverent, as if the musicians and singers doing the saluting don’t want to appear even remotely disrespectful toward their subjects. Thankfully, ...

Slide guitar virtuoso Ry Cooder and blues musician Taj Mahal started their careers together. They formed the Rising Sons and signed to Columbia in 1965 but disbanded a year later, and the group’s sole ...

Ry Cooder records are never about Ry Cooder. Yet his new album, "Chavez Ravine," may be the musician's most personal work to date. It's a moving, musically rich requiem for a vanished neighborhood ...