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‘The past is immaterial’: Ry Cooder and Taj Mahal, reunited after 56 years

At 75 and 80 years old, the much-loved musicians have finally re-formed to pay tribute to their folk-blues heroes. They explain how old records taught them how to play – and how to live

R y Cooder was just 14 when he first saw Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee playing live. “Just their walk to the stage was unbelievably dramatic,” he remembers. The harmonica and guitar-playing folk-blues duo were appearing at a small club in West Hollywood called the Ash Grove. “They came through the audience,” Cooder says, “and Brownie was walking with difficulty, with a built-up shoe, having had polio. And Sonny was hanging on to him, because he was blind. When you are that age everything you encounter – at least for me, in music – is a tremendous revelation. Particularly if you come from Santa Monica – a wasteland of nothingness!”

Three years later Cooder would be on the same stage, playing guitar in a blues band, the Rising Sons, that included Taj Mahal, a young singer and multi-instrumentalist who shared his tastes. They recorded an album that was rejected by the record company, but eventually appeared in 1992, by which time Cooder and Mahal were big stars. Ry had become a session musician for Neil Young, Captain Beefheart and more, then a versatile guitar hero under his own name, exploring a wide range of American and global styles (he would later travel to Havana to play a crucial role in the success of the Buena Vista Social Club), while Mahal had his own successful solo career. Both became cult heroes for re-working the blues, both worked with the Rolling Stones, both have recorded exquisite albums with Malian stars, and have earned eight Grammys between them.

Now, with Cooder aged 75 and Mahal nearly 80, they have recorded their first album together in 56 years – a tribute to Cooder’s early heroes that has the same title, a similar cover, but not quite the same track list, as an album that Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee released in 1952 on which they were joined by Coyal McMahan on maracas and billed as the Folkmasters. His early heroes were an unusual duo. Celebrities on the New York folk scene in the 1940s, when they worked with Lead Belly, Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, they went on to appear in Broadway productions and films, and for decades were regulars at blues festivals in the US and UK. They were deservedly successful but never fashionable, being considered too commercial by those blues fans who preferred the “authentic” styles of Skip James or Bukka White, who had been rediscovered and encouraged back on to the stage. “You couldn’t say that Sonny and Brownie were ever popular in the black communities,” says Cooder, “but they figured out: ‘What do white people like? Whatever they like, we’re going to do it.’”

Cooder and Mahal’s album demonstrates Sonny and Brownie’s range. There are folk standards originally learned from Lead Belly and Guthrie – The Midnight Special, Pick a Bale of Cotton, and I Shall Not Be Moved – and then there are blues, ranging from the upbeat Drinkin’ Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee (written by McGhee’s brother Stick McGhee) to a slide-guitar-backed Pawn Shop Blues . Cooder sang and played guitar, mandolin and banjo, Mahal sang and played harmonica, guitar and piano, while Cooder’s son Joachim (in whose house the recordings were made) added percussion and bass. Aside from a few overdubs, each song was done in “just one take, with live vocals”, says Cooder.

The album is a celebration: of Sonny and Brownie, of Cooder’s long-awaited reunion with Mahal, and of the era back in the 1950s and early 1960s when young, mostly white Americans were excitedly discovering the blues. During my phone chat with Cooder in California he stresses how this music changed his life. “I couldn’t concentrate because I kept thinking about songs,” he says. “I got in trouble with teachers and all that crap.” Mahal was captivated by this music, too: “I was never about what everybody else liked – I was lucky enough as a young black man to realise the value of these people, these elders.”

Cooder’s fascination with folk and blues began when he was “five or six years old, just a little kid, not even in the first grade”. His mother had been in the Communist party and one of her friends was a violinist who had been blacklisted in the McCarthy era. “He had these records by Lead Belly – the original 78s. I’d go over – they were neighbours – and listen on their record player. And, as you say, the door opened! It was so fascinating and alluring. And the same man gave me a little guitar and said ‘you can learn to do this’ … and that’s how I got started”.

His parents were less understanding. His mother had met Woody Guthrie and complained “he was very dirty, he hadn’t even bathed”, to which the young Cooder replied: “Sure – because he hobo-ed on trains. What do you expect?” His family were “stone broke” and his father, who liked classical music, “used to say ‘these players you like are just poor field hands. They don’t have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of’. But I never considered that these people were poor – quite the opposite.”

He learned about music at the record store where he bought Sonny and Brownie’s Get On Board. It was “way downtown in Los Angeles, where you could buy these Folkways LPs. Whatever I saw, I would get, if it was New Orleans jazz, blues, hillbilly music – so long as it had that look, with black and white photographs, and text on the cover, I was fascinated by that. It was like a whole education, right there in front of you for $5.98. And I’d say: I’m going to memorise everything on this record, I’m going to learn the tunes and lyrics and try to play along on the guitar”.

Then he would watch his heroes playing at the Ash Grove, “where I would always sit at the counter, maybe eight feet from the stage … for someone like me trying to learn guitar, you want to really pay attention”. When Brownie McGhee was playing, he would ask: “How did that bass run go, how did you do that? And he’d say, ‘well, look here, kid’ and he’d play it. When you get to see these people in person, that’s when you learn something.”

Across the country, in Springfield, Massachusetts, Henry Saint Claire Fredericks, who would become internationally known as Taj Mahal, had first become fascinated by the country blues after hearing the playing of “my nextdoor neighbour who came from Mississippi and was one of my first guitar teachers”. Mahal’s Jamaican father had been a musician, but it wasn’t until he went to Amherst, where he earned a degree in agriculture and animal husbandry, that he became involved in the “coffee house, folk music” scene, and got to hear more country blues. He was aware of Sonny and Brownie’s Get On Board, “but it didn’t come to me the way it came to Ry – it was special for him”, and the first version of The Midnight Special he heard was by Lonnie Donegan. As for Lead Belly, he never heard him until he worked on a dairy farm “and a guy called Pete who was testing the milk said he collected his records”.

Mahal played in different bands, and worked with a guitarist, Jesse Lee Kincaid, who knew Cooder. In 1965, the pair travelled to Los Angeles “specifically to meet Ry Cooder – and with the hope of forming a group with him”. They got on well, Cooder says. “He and I seemed to like exactly the same things, and have the same kind of interest in the old music”. They formed the Rising Sons, a guitar, bass and drums band reworking songs like Blind Willie McTell’s Statesboro Blues or Jimmy Reed’s Baby What You Want Me To Do. Mahal remembers: “We were booked by the Martin guitar company to play at a teenage fair, demonstrating electric guitars. Ry played bottleneck and I played harmonica and second guitar. We saw it as great music.” They played at the Ash Grove, acquired a local following, and were signed by Colombia Records. So why was the album not released? “You have to convince these [record label] people, and it’s like convincing a stone obelisk to speak!” says Mahal. Cooder remembers: “The Byrds came out with Mr Tambourine Man, and all of a sudden, everyone was showing up in their Spandex pants and little sunglasses like Jim McGuinn wore.” Singer-songwriters were in fashion, and “me and Taj liked the old songs. But I don’t look back. The past is immaterial”.

Prior to their new album, they had only played together once since the Rising Sons – at a 2014 show in Nashville when Mahal won an Americana Music Award – and they are clearly enjoying their reunion. Asked if Cooder had changed, Mahal says: “Everything about him when I first came to California in 1965 was just amplified by time and accomplishment. There just aren’t people like that. It’s like talking about the Dalai Lama.” Cooder is more down to earth. “Me and Taj are old-timers now. We’re just old cats who want to have a good time together.”

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Blues Tradition Feels Viscerally Alive On Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder’s ‘Get On Board’

By David Browne

David Browne

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, that’s not the case with his overdue reunion of Americana veterans Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder , who first worked together in the cult band the Rising Sons in the Sixties but haven’t made a full album together since.

In its title, cover art, and some of its songs, Get on Board replicates the 1952 Folkways album by blues harp master Sonny Terry and his longtime collaborator, guitarist Brownie McGhee (with percussionist Coyal McMahan also aboard for that project). That record was a set of stomping unplugged blues that felt spontaneous and casual. Mahal and Cooder, who alternate vocals and fretted instruments throughout, extend that mood; starting with their weathered voices, the music feels intimate and lived in, the sound of two old friends jamming away in a small room.

But because they also want to romp things up, what could have been a tasteful salute becomes a record that’s bristlingly, viscerally alive; it’s like a ride in a classic old car with long-gone shock absorbers. Starting with their version of “My Baby Done Changed the Lock on the Door” (which Terry cut on a different album), Cooder and Mahal—joined by Cooder’s son Joachim on bass and drums—dig into the music. Next to the original version, their backbeat is harder, the music just a little bit gnarlier. There’s nothing dainty or prim about it.

That joyful-racket mood continues for the duration of the album, as the three men pay homage to Terry and McGhee’s expansive version of Piedmont blues. A version of the traditional “What a Beautiful City” feels like a gospel sermon, and “Deep Sea Diver” is turned into a saucy piano shuffle (let’s just say that it isn’t about underwater adventures). The sacred, the sinful and even the silly co-exist: Hamming it up through the playful “Cornbread, Peas and Molasses,” which Terry and McGhee co-wrote, you can literally hear Mahal and Ry Cooder cracking either other up as they’re playing.

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Given what institutions these men have become, this is music with both nothing at stake and yet everything at the same time. Terry and McGhee’s version of “Packing Up and Getting Ready to Go” was jaunty, but Mahal and the Cooders made it foreboding and ominous. Like the rest of the album, it could have been a yawner of a museum piece, but this song, and this museum, is at the end of a deserted country road, with unsettling noises emanating from the woods around it. In the highest compliment, Terry and McGhee probably would have been honored—and freaked out at the same time.

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Taj mahal & ry cooder reunite to honor a duo that few people have heard of.

“No, no, no, no.”

Ry Cooder is quick to put something to rest as he talks by phone from his home in the hills above Pasadena, California.

Yes, he and Taj Mahal went a full 54 years between recording projects together — from Cooder playing on Mahal’s 1968 solo debut, which grew from them co-fronting the band Rising Sons, to right now for the duo album Get on Board: The Songs of Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee . The thing is, in the decades that harmonica master Sonny Terry and Piedmont blues virtuoso Brownie McGhee worked regularly together, from 1939 to the early 1980s, they were often at odds, sometimes not even speaking to each other off stage.

But no, there were no rifts between Cooder and Mahal, no disputes, no bad feelings that kept them apart.

“Nothing like that!” Cooder insists. “No, no, no!”

The time between projects?

“Musicians, you know,” Cooder says. “He travels around all the time.”

Yet, in other regards…

“It’s funny,” says Mahal, on a separate call between tour stops, “because we’ve actually become the men that we admired. We’re the new version of it, you know? So, it’s like full circle. It’s a wonderful thing to have really accomplished that, to be in a life in music.”

The way Cooder and Mahal have become the men they admired, presumably, is in the role of elder statesmen keeping traditions alive. They are honoring and, in highly personalized ways, refreshing the music with deep ties to past generations and cultures. That full circle — global circumnavigations, really — has seen them explore a wealth of music and cultures, from Cooder’s key role in Cuban group Buena Vista Social Club projects, to Mahal’s drawing on the Afro-Caribbean roots of his musician/arranger father. Their individual efforts include collaborations with musicians from Africa and India, just for starters. But with this album they each go back to where the sparks for all that first happened.

For Cooder, it started with the first Terry/McGhee collaborative recording, also called Get on Board , a key release in the essential catalog Mo Asch created on his Folkways label. In fact, the new tribute album not only uses the title but has cover art that is an homage as well. The full title of that 1953 album was the now archaic Get on Board: Negro Folksongs by the Folkmasters .

Sonny Terry had come to some mainstream recognition as part of the original cast of Finian’s Rainbow on Broadway in the late 1940s, and as a pair he and Brownie McGhee were featured in the Broadway productions of Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Langston Hughes’ Simply Heaven . They were also championed by Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie and Harry Belafonte, among other prominent supporters. But for young Cooder, this record was a discovery marked by its vibrant energy, with Terry and McGhee joined by one Coyal McMahan on vocals and percussion.

“It’s a great record,” Cooder says. “You’ve got the mysterious Coyal McMahan on bass voice, sort of a church bass, and maracas. They should have kept him on. I don’t know why they didn’t. He added a whole other quality to it. I don’t know who he was and nobody knows at this point.”

The new album features three of the eight songs on the Terry/McGhee set — “Midnight Special,” “Pick a Bale of Cotton” and “I Shall Not Be Moved.” Its remaining songs are part of the icons’ other recording and live repertoire, from the reverent “What a Beautiful City” to the carousing “Drinkin’ Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee” to the double-entendre “Deep Sea Diver” to the down-and-out “Pawn Shop Blues.”

Adding their own touches to the songs, Cooder and Mahal recorded mostly live in the living room of Cooder’s son, Joachim, who also played various percussion instruments and bass, sort of filling the McMahan role (and more). They didn’t seek to recreate the originals. What they did do, was have fun.

“That was the intent,” Cooder says. “I mean, it seemed to me that we could pull it off and keep that feeling that those guys had back then. I don’t want to say ‘jolly,’ but foot-tapping, nice music. They had gone for a white audience, I’m pretty sure, at that point anyway. So, you couldn’t very well play very dark music at white people in those days. They wouldn’t know what you were talking about, what it was for. By the time they started recording together, I guess, black popular music had changed radically.”

Cooder is conscious of the radical changes since then in music and culture, in particular noting “Pick a Bale of Cotton.”

“They’re still really good songs,” he says. “And I think people will like hearing them as much now as they liked hearing them back when Brownie and Sonny did them. It’s a different time now. Of course everybody’s consciousness is totally different. I mean, everything is different.”

That’s part of the point, not to let the music that inspired them get lost.

“It just feels like old times,” Cooder says. “I have those records from when I was a little kid, so I can dig it. I remember how it used to make me feel listening to the record, how tremendous it was, how exciting it was.”

The circle for Mahal goes back to the early 1960s, when he was a student at the University of Massachusetts.

“There was a whole network for folk music and blues and bluegrass and country and all that old-time stuff in and around the Northeast sector,” he says. “I was like 19, 20 years old. And those guys were coming through and playing at local coffee houses. You could get to see them quite a bit. And I thought they were just an incredible powerhouse duo.”

A couple of years later, Mahal, who had started playing on the folk circuit himself, encountered a guitarist with a great feel for blues.

“I said, ‘Well, where the heck did you learn how to play like that?’” Mahal remembers. “And he said, ‘Well, you know, I took some lessons from this guy out in California named Ry. I said, ‘Do you think that guy might like to be in a band?’ And he said, ‘Well, he’s only 17 years old.’ I said, ‘Are you kidding me?’ And I said, ‘I guess I have to go to California.’”

And he did. When they connected, a love for Terry and McGhee was one of their bonds. Cooder, too, had seen the duo play a few times by then, the first coming when they played at the opening night of the Ash Grove, a Hollywood club that would become the center of the California folk and blues scene.

“My mother took me down there,” Cooder says. “I was 13 or so. I sat there and watched them. My gosh! It was something to see the whole thing come to life. You know, it was a tremendous impression when you’re young like that.”

And when they’re not-so-young. (Cooder just turned 75 and Mahal will be 80 in May.) They first chatted about teaming for a project after Cooder joined Mahal at the 2014 Americana Music Honors & Awards at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium on Blind Willie McTell’s “Statesboro Blues,” a staple in the Rising Sons repertoire and a standout on Mahal’s 1968 album. That latter version, which featured Jesse Ed Davis on electric slide guitar, is reputedly the recording on which the Allman Brothers’ rendition was modeled.

When Cooder suggested an album honoring Terry and McGhee, Mahal was, well, on board. “Those guys are foundational titans,” Mahal says. “Here’s a guitarist and harmonica player that spanned 40 years, at least.”

But these musicians are also largely forgotten, which adds a sense of mission to this project, to rekindle interest in the guys whose recordings and concerts meant so much to them.

“If you stood on a corner and did an exit poll and talked to a million people, none of them would know who they are,” Cooder says. “They’ve been completely overlooked. I don’t know anybody that’s ever heard of them or remembers who the hell they were, except for musicians who have made it a point to keep certain things in mind. It’s like bluegrass. If you keep Bill Monroe or Reno & Smiley in mind, it’s that kind of thing. That’s how you live, and that’s how you evoke things, this memory that you have of these records.”

Photo Credit: Abby Ross

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Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder on reuniting after nearly 60 years to pay tribute to blues legends Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry

Get On Board finds two old friends and collaborators back in the studio for an album of Piedmont blues covers that might just happen to be their finest hour on record

Talk to any dyed-in-the-wool fan of blues music and it won’t be long before they mention Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry. Hailing from Tennessee, guitarist Brownie McGhee learned his craft from Blind Boy Fuller. 

But it was when he paired up with blues harp wizard Sonny Terry that he found his perfect foil – and the duo were lionized by the folk scene of '60s America. 

Around that time, a young Santa Monica guitarist, Ry Cooder, stumbled across their records in a secondhand record store. After that, he sought out live performances by McGhee and Terry, learning licks directly from McGhee after the shows. 

Meanwhile, another aspiring blues-folk artist, Taj Mahal, was piecing together where he might witness the music of a duo he had heard fragments of over the late-night airwaves. Like Ry, he couldn’t believe McGhee and Terry weren’t major stars. And – again, like Ry – he found that their live performances were a wellspring of pure musical joy. 

Weaving together strands of blues and folk, their music defied easy categorization – which is, in itself, reflective of the underlying reality of the music of America’s South. Eclectic, entertaining and wide-ranging, it was a huge influence on Cooder and Mahal. 

The latter moved to Santa Monica in the 1960s and met Ry – and Ry played on Mahal’s eponymous debut album in 1968. Now, nearly six decades later, they have reunited to record Get On Board , a captivating tribute to the music of Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry. 

We joined these two past-masters of American music to discover why returning to their roots yielded one of the best recordings of their career, and learn why a guitar so large that Ry could barely get his arm around it was the star of the show…

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When did you first encounter the music of Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee?

Taj Mahal: “Well, I started hearing them probably when I was 15 or 16 years old. You’d hear little bits and snatches of them on the radio and whatnot. Not on regular radio – but some late-night blues program would be on and you’d hear it and be struck by how good it was. And then I just wondered where these people were. 

“But later I came to university, during the 60s, when the whole folk-craze came through. And many of these musicians, people like Brownie and Sonny and Bukka White, Mississippi John Hurt, Sleepy John Estes and others, were being brought around to coffeehouses and played at folk festivals. So I began to realize that there was a place you could go and see them play, you know?

“I got to see them and I thought they were just incredible. And I hoped that I would be able to be that good someday. I mean, I could play a little bit and I could sing quite well, but I was just learning to get my guitar chops together. But Brownie was really good and Sonny was just a wizard on the harmonica. 

“Those guys, they’d play with Lead Belly, they’d play with Pete Seeger, they’d play with Blind Boy Fuller or the Reverend Gary Davis… they had some versatility, to be honest. They were involved in different plays on Broadway, like Finian’s Rainbow , and came up with some great stuff. 

“I mean, that whole Fox Chase blues stuff that Sonny Terry came up with – that’s a Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina style. I never saw them put on a bad show. Ever.”

Why do you think history has remembered Robert Johnson and BB King, for example, but only hardcore blues fans tend to know about Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry?

Taj: “Well, I don’t even think that everybody knows the aforementioned people you’re talking about. In fact, I’d never heard Dust My Broom [by Elmore James], none of that, until I came to the university. I was about 19 years old and they put out Robert Johnson's King Of The Delta Blues Singers . I was like, ‘Who is this guy I’ve never heard of before?’ 

“Why, all of a sudden, was this whole group of folkies going, ‘Wow, wow, wow – listen to this guy play…’? I had absolutely no idea! So I put the record on and at first it sounded [quick]. And the reason was they had printed the record at too fast an rpm. But when they finally got it at the right speed, it really made more sense.

“But still, [I had] never heard of Robert Johnson before that. Now, John Lee Hooker I had heard of. BB King I’d heard about. And maybe now and then I would hear that sound when I’d be at a neighbor's house… their moms and pops were in the kitchen and maybe BB King would be on in the background.

“But I’d never heard Elmore James or even understood the sound of slide guitar, except that it was on a couple of Jimmy Reed records I knew. But a lot of that comes from the record-selling industry – they were always trying to put music in boxes. You know, like, ‘This is this kind of blues, this kind of country & western, this kind of pop,’ separating things like that. Oftentimes, the listener didn’t get a chance to realize that [music] was just one big river full of lots of different fish.”

How did the idea of working together again start?

Taj: “Well, we literally hadn’t played together for over 50 years and I was getting a lifetime achievement award in Nashville at the Ryman Auditorium, which is the Mother Church of Country Music. 

“Ry and his son were involved in the band, as well as Buddy Miller and Don Was, and so Ry reached out to me and said, ‘What material do you think you’d like to do?’ I suggested maybe something that was a little more country. 

“He said, ‘Oh, well, I mean, that’s all right, but I think we should pump it.’ And I was like, ‘Okay, I do, too – but I was trying to be a little diplomatic.’ So I said, ‘Well, that only means only one thing, Ry – Statesboro Blues .’ He says, ‘You’re on,’ and so we did a version, which is now on YouTube. 

“Little by little, we started communicating with one another again. We started sending music back and forth and, at one point, he came and he said, ‘Well, what do you think about this? I’ve got an idea. Why don’t we do a tribute to Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry?’ 

“Well, I was ready right there [ laughs ]. I came down to Los Angeles and we played together again and it was just great. We had lots of rapport, lots of communication and it took off from there. The way we recorded, it was kind of a back porch-y, living room style, you know? Real music, live music… the way it is. 

“Ry set the music up and then we got to playing and we’re talking to one another. That’s what you really want to happen is that, ultimately: you’re speaking to one another through the instruments.”

How did the sessions for Get On Board go down?

Ry Cooder: “Well, [my son] Joachim’s got this nice old Spanish-style California house down the street from us here. We’re in an old neighborhood – we’re not in LA any more. We’re all out in this other area. 

“His living room is about the shape of what you might expect in an early recording studio with a very high ceiling, wood floor and some plaster as well. The architect that designed the house was a very good architect. 

“I happen to know who it was – and at the time, in 1927, he came upon this shape of this room somehow, and he thought it would be pleasing. But maybe he didn’t know that it’s also acoustically perfect, as long as you don’t play too loud. You can’t hit a loud snare drum in there and you can’t play electric bass in there. But you can do all kinds of things acoustically.

“Then [there was] our engineer friend Martin Pradler – to say he’s a genius is like saying Beethoven was a pretty good orchestrator. I mean, he’s a tremendous interpreter of how the music should be recorded and we’ve worked with him for a lot of years now. 

“So I said to him, ‘Martin, I’m going to play acoustic guitar , which I hardly ever do in recording, and Taj is going to play harmonica. We’re going to sing. It’s all live and Joachim bangs on these strange oddball drums. And we’re going to sort of be in a triangle. 

“'The drums a little further away from the vocal mic, but it’s a good‑sized room and we want to mic the room… don’t mic us too close. We want it so it sounds like you walked into a place like a little juke joint or a little bar or somewhere where you hear the thing [as a whole], not as isolated individuals…’ 

“So he set the mics up. Tube mics, naturally. We’ve got all this old equipment – me and Martin between the two of us – that’s really good. But, the point is, it’s period equipment. It’s vintage but good. We record through an old AM radio tube-powered board [desk] and he moves mics around until you hear in the earphones, ‘Ah, that’s the spot for that mic.’ 

If you like the sound, you can record anything. If you don’t like it, you might as well go home Ry Cooder

“You know, that’s capturing something that’s well defined, but it’s ambient – like being in the room. That’s what I want. When I hear it, I’ll like it. And when we like what we hear through the earphones, then we can go ahead and play and we don’t have to work too hard. It’s very natural. If you like the sound, you can record anything, you can play anything. If you don’t like the sound, you might as well go home.

“I overdubbed stuff here and there, but the basic tracks with the live singing is what you’re hearing. Yes, I added bottleneck here and there and whatnot, and maybe another harmony sometimes because it’s nice to hear three voices just for fun. Nothing fancy but just to get the groove going right. If the groove is right, you’re in business with that music. That’s really what it is. Who cares what the lyrics say so much? They’re fun lyrics, but the point is the groove, you know?” 

The acoustic sounds on Pawn Shop Blues are incredible. What guitar did you use for that?

Cooder: “That one there is one of these Banner [logo] Gibsons J-45s. I think it’s from 1943. But I like to vary things. The real oddball guitar, the crazy guitar, was on the track [ What A ] Beautiful City . It’s the most goddamnedest thing you’ve ever seen. It’s an Adams Brothers guitar that’s so big. It’s as big as a guitarrón, and I can barely hold it and wrap my arm around it. 

“It’s enormous and it has a short neck, so it can only be played in one key, E. But it has this incredible sound. 1905 it was made, and how it survived all these years, who the hell knows. That’s a wonderful guitar. 

“But that J-45 on Pawn Shop Blues is nice, yeah. It’s not as resonant as the [Martin] D-18. I used the D-18 for most of the tunes because that’s what Brownie played. For that music it’s perfect: very big, twangy sound. But for Pawn Shop Blues I needed something a little quieter and played a little softer, so that Banner J-45 is nice – it was in a fire, I think, so it’s real damaged [ laughs ]. It looks like somebody in Pompeii had it when the volcano erupted, but it’s good.”

Taj: “Ry also had a cello banjo. The [pre-war] instrument makers made violins, viola, cello. And they made banjos like that, too – bass banjos, mandolas, mandocellos or banjolins. That was the imprint from the European instruments when they came over here and started to make them. Ry had some extraordinary ones… I had a steel guitar, a wooden guitar and a plethora of harmonicas.”

Pawn Shop Blues has a really slow, meditative tempo that gives it huge emotional weight. You don’t hear that so much any more in blues. Why?

Cooder: “First of all, everybody’s moving too fast. If you don’t think so, just go on to LA freeway sometime. People move too fast or they’re in a hurry all the time, like, ‘I get my brown shoes – no socks – I get my tattoos, I get my beard and my hat and my little box-back coat. And then I’ll get my guitar and then I’ll make my record and then I’ll be famous.'

“And that’s the order of battle, that’s how it’s going to play out. Well, that’s ridiculous. There’s no way that can work. I mean, we older people know that – but it’s basic. So it does take some time. 

If you’re going to play real slow, then you have to go into that song as a meditation. Think about nothing and just play the goddamn song Ry Cooder

“The other thing is, if you’re going to play real slow, then you have to go into that song as a meditation. I mean, shall I use that word? 

“You have to immerse yourself in it. You have to have the ability… the desire is very important, but stop thinking about ‘brown shoes, no socks, beards and tattoos’. Think about nothing and just play the goddamn song. Can you evoke something? Can you make it felt? If you feel it, your audience will feel it. And yet at the same time, you have to have enough ability. 

“By the way, it’s taken me a lifetime since I started guitar when I was four or so. It’s not something you learn overnight. I’m well aware records exist that show us there were people who were very young, such as Louis Armstrong, who had an epiphany and they became who they became suddenly. 

“So that can happen – but not me. I’m a slow learner. So now I’m playing the way I wanted to play when I was young. I actually can hear that I’m doing it, and I can say to myself, ‘This is exactly what I aspired to do all those years ago.’

I’m playing the way I wanted to play when I was young. I actually can hear that I’m doing it, and I can say to myself, ‘This is exactly what I aspired to do all those years ago.’ Ry Cooder

“I remember one time, Terry Melcher, the record producer, said to me – and I was in my 20s at the time or even younger – ‘The rate you’re going, it’s going to take you 20 years to get anywhere.’ And I thought, ‘Jeez, that’s harsh.’ But it wasn’t. He was actually way off the mark: 20, hell! 40, 50 years, maybe.

“You have to realize I’m not from some little podunk town in the South with uncles to teach me. In Santa Monica, there’s no uncles! You’re just on your own. I mean, if you can get anywhere and not have to become an insurance underwriter or an auto mechanic… I mean, they should have taught me auto mechanics when I was in high school, but they didn’t. So I went on and learned guitar [ laughs ].”  

• Get On Board is out now via Nonesuch.

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Jamie Dickson is Editor-in-Chief of Guitarist magazine, Britain's best-selling and longest-running monthly for guitar players. He started his career at the Daily Telegraph in London, where his first assignment was interviewing blue-eyed soul legend Robert Palmer, going on to become a full-time author on music, writing for benchmark references such as 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die and Dorling Kindersley's How To Play Guitar Step By Step . He joined Guitarist in 2011 and since then it has been his privilege to interview everyone from B.B. King to St. Vincent for Guitarist 's readers, while sharing insights into scores of historic guitars, from Rory Gallagher's '61 Strat to the first Martin D-28 ever made.

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Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder Reunite After a Half-Century for New Album, 'GET ON BOARD,' Out April 22 on Nonesuch

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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 April 22 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. A video for the track “Hooray Hooray” may be seen here, as well as an interview with Ry Cooder and Taj Mahal about the record. 

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 April 22, 2022, on Nonesuch Records. A video for the track “Hooray Hooray” may be seen below, as well as an interview with Ry Cooder and Taj Mahal about the record. Nonesuch Store pre-orders of Get on Board include an exclusive, limited-edition print signed by Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder, while supplies last. ( Update : the prints have sold out and are no longer available.)

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.

Explaining where Terry and McGhee took him musically, Cooder says, “Down the road, away from Santa Monica. Where everything was good. ‘I have got to get out of here,’ was all I could think. What do you do, fourteen, eighteen years old? I was trapped. But that first record, Get on Board , the 10” on Folkways, was so wonderful, I could understand the guitar playing.”

Taj Mahal adds, “I started hearing them when I was about nineteen, and I wanted to go to these coffee houses, ‘cause I heard that these old guys were playing. I knew that there was a river out there somewhere that I could get into, and once I got in it, I’d be all right. They brought the whole package for me.”

Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder originally joined forces in 1965, forming The Rising Sons when Cooder was just seventeen. The band was signed to Columbia Records but an album was not released and the group disbanded a year later. The 1960s recording sessions, widely bootlegged, were finally issued officially in 1992. Cooder then played on Taj Mahal’s 1968 self-titled solo debut album. GET ON BOARD is Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder’s first recording together since then.

Harmonica player Sonny Terry and guitarist Brownie McGhee, both originally from the southeastern United States, had active solo careers as well as collaborating with some of the most celebrated musicians of their time. But they were best known for their forty-five-year partnership, which began in 1939 and included mesmerizing live performances around the world and numerous acclaimed recordings.

Their Piedmont blues style became popular during the folk music revival of the 1940s and ’50s, centered in New York City’s flourishing club scene for jazz, boogie-woogie, blues and folk music. Terry and McGhee traveled in the same circles as Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Leadbelly, and Josh White, among others in a rich mix of writers, actors and musicians. As a new generation emerging in the 1960’s drew inspiration from folk and blues, Terry and McGhee toured the world as the foremost exponents of the acoustic music of the Piedmont. They were named National Heritage Fellows in 1982 in recognition of their distinctive musical contributions and accomplishments.

“You got the south on steroids, when you got the music of the south, the culture of the south, the beauty of the south, through Brownie and Sonny,” Taj Mahal says. He describes McGhee as a “solid rhythm player. To really play behind the harp like that. He would set stuff up. He wasn’t making many notes. Sonny had all the notes, running around. But Brownie, he laid it down.” Cooder adds: “This thing of squeezing the thumb and first finger and a little bit of the second finger, which I still do. I’d forgotten where it came from. That’s what Brownie did. I saw him do that and said, ‘I think I can do that.’”

Taj Mahal calls Terry “a wizard harmonica player.” Cooder says, “Sonny had incredible rhythm for one thing. Making sounds with his voice and the harmonica so you couldn’t tell quite which was which. He was good at that.”

“We’ve been doing this a while,” Cooder says. “Perhaps we’ve earned the right to bring it back. Taj Mahal concludes. “We’re now the guys that we aspired toward when we were starting out. Here we are now … old timers. What a great opportunity, to really come full circle.”

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Taj Mahal & Ry Cooder Concert Setlists & Tour Dates

Taj mahal & ry cooder at great american music hall, san francisco, ca, usa.

• Packing Up Getting Ready To Go
• My Baby Done Changed the Lock on the Door
• Hooray Hooray
• The Midnight Special
• Pawnshop Blues
• Deep Sea Diver
• Old Folks Boogie
• Take This Hammer
• Roscoe's Mule Down in Roscoe's Barn
• Haul That Wood-Pile Down
• Big Legs, Tight Skirt
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Album Review: Taj Mahal & Ry Cooder, ‘Get on Board: The Songs of Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee’

Maybe it’s been 54 years since Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder recorded together, when Cooder played on Taj Mahal’s 1968 self-titled solo debut album, but you’d never be able to tell that from the duo’s new record. Cooder and Taj Mahal join forces once again to pay tribute to two Piedmont blues musicians whose style has deeply influenced them—harmonica wizard Sonny Terry and solid rhythm player Brownie McGhee, masters of the acoustic blues.

Cooder recalls first hearing Terry and McGhee and the effect it had on him: “that first record, Get on Board, the 10 ” on Folkways, was so wonderful, I could understand the guitar playing.” Taj Mahal recalls a similar experience: “I started hearing them when I was about nineteen, and I wanted to go to these coffee houses, ‘cause I heard that these old guys were playing. I knew that there was a river out there somewhere that I could get into, and once I got in it, I’d be all right. They brought the whole package for me.”

Ry Cooder’s and Taj Mahal’s Get on Board gathers eleven songs from recordings and live performances of Terry and McGhee. Taj Mahal contributes harmonica, guitar, piano, and vocals to the songs, while Cooder sings and plays  guitar, mandolin, and banjo on the tracks. Cooder’s son, Joachim, joins the duo on bass and drums.

The album kicks off with the wailing “My Baby Done Changed the Lock on the Door,” a propulsive country blues that features rousing call and response vocals in the final verses and choruses. Cooder and Taj Mahal are firing on all pistons on this down-to-the-bone roadhouse blues shaker.

There are hundreds of versions of the classic “Midnight Special,” but Cooder’s and Taj Mahal’s captures the pure joy of the song with its cascading harp, bright vocals, and steady, circling rhythm guitar.

Wailing harmonica swells open the shuffling “Hooray Hooray,” and the song follows spiraling harp lines all way down the blues highway, while the circling guitar strums and lead lines wrap around harp blows, and warm vocals propel the raucous jump blues “Pick a Bale of Cotton.” Taj Mahal’s gruff and gravely vocals on “Drinkin’ Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee” evoke the grittiness and the pure joy of a night of drinking wine, as well as the roughness of the morning after. Cooder’s a cappella vocals open the gospel blues “What a Beautiful City;” the song’s spareness evokes the desire for a world in which ugliness fades away to reveal enduring beauty.

The album closes with a rousing version of “I Shall Not Be Moved,” which opens with a country gospel guitar strum that leads to a mostly a cappella first verse; Cooder’s and Taj Mahal’s gospel-inflected harmonies and syncopation capture the song’s anthemic quality and its musical call to action. It’s hard not to be moved by Taj Mahal’s and  Cooder’s inspiring version.

While Get on Board honors the indispensable heritage of Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder give us an album that showcases their warm and intimate playing and their superb musicianship. We can only hope that we’ll now have more musical collaborations between the two.

Get on Board: The Songs of Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee is  available HERE.

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Ry Cooder (born March 15, 1947) is a seminal and inspiring American roots guitarist, film composer, and session musician, best known for his memorable slide guitar work and cross genres appeal, hailing from Los Angeles, California, U.S.

Having first picked up the guitar aged three, it would be a further 13 years before Cooder made his debut alongside Jackie DeShannon in his first blues band. Continuing the blues themes, the guitarist subsequently joined Taj Mahal and Ed Cassidy in the Rising Sons, and later worked as a session musician for Paul Revere & the Raiders. On top of this, the gifted guitar-smith has notably worked with Randy Newman, the Rolling Stones, Little Feat, and Van Dyke Parks, of which Cooder’s signature slide guitar work can be heard. Known for adopting the sounds of a host of North American genres including the blues, rock and roll, Tex-Mex, gospel, R&B, folk, Dixieland jazz, and Hawaiian, Cooder’s extolled musical output represents an exploration is sound and American history.

The singer-songwriter made his debut solo album release in 1970 with a self-titled country-rock record. Two years later its successor, “Into the Purple Valley” arrived, marking a more rootsy album and the contributions of musical friends Jim Keltner and Jim Dickinson. Cooder’s third full-length “Boomer’s Story” was released later in 1972 boasting much the same style as its predecessor and earned similarly popular reviews. Arguably his most revered album, 1974’s “Paradise and Lunch”, is a carefully crafted patchwork-quilt of influences. Featuring railroad songs, blues numbers as well as songs by Bobby Womack, Blind Willie McTell, and Burt Bacharach, the record showcases Cooder’s composition and songwriting virtuosity.

Drawing influence from Tex-Mex, Hawaiian music, and gospel, Cooder’s subsequent album “Chicken Skin Music” was released in 1976. Three years later the musician’s first major label record to be recorded digitally was issued under the name “Bop Till You Drop”. After this time Cooder would continue to release solo albums however also began composing music for films, notably on the films “The Long Riders”, “Southern Comfort”, “Paris, Texas”, “Blue City”, and “Cross Roads”.

Following a brief stint alongside Keltner, John Hiatt, and Nick Lowe in the band Little Village, Cooder began to focus on children’s and world music, subsequently winning the 1988 Grammy Award for Best Recording for Children with his “Pecos Bill”. Five years later Cooder was picking up another Grammy Award for Best World Music Album for his 1993 album “A Meeting by the River” with Vishwa Mohan Bhatt. These successes would prove to be the first of six Grammy Awards bestowed upon the talented multi-instrumentalist, with his albums “Talking Timbuktu”, “Buena Vista Social Club”, “Mamba Sinuendo”, and “Beunos Hermanos” also earning the accolade.

In 1987 Cooder issued the album “Chavez Ravine”, the first in a trilogy of albums documenting the loss of Los Angeles’ cultural history, succeeded by “My Name is Buddy” in 2007, and “I, Flathead” in 2009. Alongside the Chieftains, Cooder issued the album “San Patricio” in March 2010, followed by the live album “Live in San Francisco” in September 2013.

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After a career spanning nearly six decades, six grammy awards and being labeled by Rolling Stone Magazine as one of the greatest guitarists of all time, a Ry Cooder live show is something that should be on everyone’s bucket list. The man is somewhat of a legend to anyone who has ever laid hands on a six string and his talent is evidenced by his collaborations with the likes of the Rolling Stones, Van Morrison and Eric Clapton.

It takes going to a Ry Cooder gig to appreciate the level of talent that the man has, with the skill of his slide guitar work beautifully complementing his folk and blues style songs. Ry Cooder’s fans from all over will be able to testify that the excitement that fills the room when we hear the first few bars of ‘Vigilante Man’ is like no other and we watch in awe of the man who is truly a master of his craft.

On stage wearing nothing more extravagant than a shirt and jeans, Ry Cooder succeeds in captivating his audience into losing themselves in his melodies. Music-loving strangers create memories that they will never forget at Ry Cooder gigs and only when you see him live will you understand why.

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For anyone who saw Ry perform earlier in his career and want more, this tour is for you. Even if you didn't, you will still be blown away. The setlist was nothing short of superb - a combination of some really great older material, plus songs from his latest album "Prodigal Son". Remember the all-male choirs on "Paradise and Lunch" and "Bop Till You Drop"? Ry added The Hamiltones, an amazing group of 3 vocalists from North Carolina. The band? Absolutely top notch including Ry's son Joachim Cooder on drums. Ry himself? The Man. Best slide player on the planet. Shifted effortlessly from electric to acoustic and back. Brought out his Electric Bouzouki (remodeled from a Vox Wyman Bass) for several songs. The tuning is unique. I seriously doubt anyone else on the planet can play it, especially with Ry's finesse.

Here is a link to the setlist. If you were there, I was the guy in the back who knew that a deuce-and-a-quarter is a Buick (Electra 225).

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/ry-cooder/2018/great-american-music-hall-san-francisco-ca-3eb3d17.html

There are few guitarists held in similar acclaim to six time Grammy award winner Ry Cooder. His collaborator list includes the likes of The Rolling Stones and equally talented Eric Clapton to give you some impression of the calibre of artist he is. At almost 70 years old, he takes to stage time and time again as a demand from the fans keeps him enthused and excited to play from his lengthy discography.

He is considered to be one of the most esteemed guitar players of all time by a number of publications so part of the live appeal is seeing if the hype is all justified. Fortunately it truly is as Ry steps onto stage and performs complex instrumentals all evening and never drops a single note. His fingers move at lightning speeds and you cannot comprehend how somebody would ever be able to play and recall all these songs at such an impressive pace and perfection. 'Down In Mississippi' is a real highlight and is perhaps the best showcase of his talents so far tonight.

Roseanne Cash and Ry Cooder started their tour in Nashville at the Ryman auditorium, the mother church of country music. What a perfect place to play on Father’s Day. The two of them did Johnny Cash songs that were written and performed by Johnny before he split from Roseanne’ s mother. I really like Roseanne but admittedly I was there for Ry Cooder and he did not let me down. Ry’s son Joachim played the drums and Rosanne Cash‘s husband played rhythm. Great articles online all about the limited 5 show tour.

Songkick was great and very very easy to use. Much easier than going direct through Ticketmaster. I just put in my favorite artists and immediately was informed about Ry’s Ryman appearance before the show was announced to the general public. So I ended up getting great seats without all the hassle and at the correct price.

What’s not to like? Very impressed and will always use them. No fuss no muss great show.

A wonderful show from a living legend of the slide guitar.

I'd forgotten how good his voice is. He's up there with the likes of Weller and Daltry imho. he's also got a very wry sense of humour, especially about politics and heaven.

A mature selection of rockified gospel songs, old and very old.

Amazing band, including son Joachim on drums.

I hope he doesn't leave it so long to return.

Fabulous show from a guitar genius. 90 minutes of excellent rhythm and blues and Americana music with a fine 3 piece harmony vocal group. Not to be missed. Particular favourites from the Bop till you drop album.

Outstanding night! Venue and the performers were top notch. All songs were pre 1965 gospel or genuine country. Could of used a little more of Cooder's 70's style guitar though.

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GET ON BOARD

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Moscow: City Sightseeing by Car/Bus

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Visiting a new city is akin to going on a first date, it is something you will never forget. Many people imagine Moscow as just a bunch of sporadic landmarks: Red Square, the Kremlin, Lenin’s Mausoleum and GUM. There is so much more to this wonderful city than that and even though we only have a few hours, we will do all we can to show you everything we know and love about our capital in one fell swoop. We will take you on a journey through the ages, from centuries ago, right up to the modern day, soaking in the sights of this vast and bustling metropolis. Bright, luxurious and both ancient and modern at the same time, Moscow invites you on a date you’ll never forget!

On our sightseeing bus tour of the city, you will see:

• The wonderfully historic city centre and its unique museums, magnificent cathedrals, the exquisite Chambers of the Romanov Boyars and of course, the famous towering red brick walls of the Kremlin, The charming beauty of the Alexander Garden awaits the capital's guests - a lush green oasis in the midst of the glass and concrete clad metropolis, basking in the etherial aura emanating from the whitewashed stone walls of the restored Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, the world- renowned fairytale onion domes of St. Basil's Cathedral and other impressive monumental buildings such as the library built in Lenin's honour - the Russian State Library - and the State Duma.
• The Lubyanka KGB headquarters is notorious to members of older generations and although nowadays, the face of the secret police has changed dramatically, the looming enigmatic building on the waterfront maintains its aura of mystery, shrouded in a variety of murky rumours and dark myths. Then, there’s another of Moscow's main attractions - the marvellous Bolshoi Theatre, yew simply cant leave Moscow without taking in its breathtaking architecture. Engrained in the fabric of Russia's cultural heritage, virtuoso performers such as prima ballerina Galina Ulanova, opera singer Feodor Chaliapin and pianist, composer and conductor Sergei Rachmaninoff once stood centre stage of this vaunted institution.
• The memorial complex on Poklonnaya Hill was constructed in the glory and honour of our heroes who defended our nation in the many crucial battles of the Great Patriotic War (WWII). This is a place that embodies a particularly acute and inextricable link between older ancf younger generations. Moving on to the Moscow International Business Centre, not dubbed ‘Moscow City' for nothing, a true glimpse of the future in the present. This incredible, rather jaw-dropping project in the capital has shown that Moscow has come to accept the age of the skyscraper. Finally, the stunning views from the observation deck at Sparrow Hills will leave professional and amateur photographers alike itching to capture them. How could one resist?

The most beautiful of all the world's cities - lady Moscow invites you out on a date!

The cost of an excursion with a personal guide for 1 person

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St. Basil's Cathedral

House on the Embankment

Cathedral of Christ the Saviour

Vorobyovy Hills

Poklonnaya Hill Poklonnaya Gora

Moscow-City

Alexander garden

Russian State Library

Bolshoi Theatre

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Moscow Vibes – Three Day City Escape

Duration 3 days

Price from USD $730 ? Currency Conversion Converted from USD based on the latest exchange rate. Final amount and payment will be in USD. Final conversion rate is determined by your bank.

Trip Style Sightseeing

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Home / Moscow Tours / Moscow Vibes – Three Day City Escape

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This short Moscow tour will give you a true taste of the history, culture and incomparable urban vibe that define one of the world’s largest metropolises. In just three days, this Moscow itinerary takes in all the most iconic sights of this attraction-packed destination. After two and half days getting acquainted with the city, we’ve set time aside for you to explore Moscow your way and discover your own favourite hang-outs in a city overflowing with hidden treasures

3-Day Moscow Tour Highlights:

• Panoramic Tour of Moscow: See Moscow beyond the postcard images on a private excursion by car through the city streets including a drive along the banks of the Moskva River. Visit the famous Bolshoi Theatre, pass by Gorky Park and the Novodevichy Convent, and admire the city from on high at the Sparrow Hill observation platform.
• Moscow Historical City Centre Guided Walking Tour : Immerse yourself in the atmosphere of one of the world’s biggest metropolises and discover local haunts on foot, including the Red Square, the Kremlin and the multi-coloured domes of St Basil’s Cathedral.
• Armory Chamber tour: Explore the endless treasures of this unique museum, displaying the wealth accumulated by Russian rulers from the 12th century until the October Revolution of 1917. Walking through the exhibition halls is a journey through the centuries.
• Moscow Metro Tour : Go deep underground on a subway tour of the famous Moscow metro. The world’s deepest metro system is renowned for its palatial, art-adorned stations, complete with marble columns and chandeliers.

On your first day, you’ll be treated to a panoramic, drive-by tour of Moscow to get a feel for the immense scale of one of the world’s most rapidly developing urban centres. The city’s history unfolds in real-time as you pass lavish imperial mansions, solemn Soviet structures and luxurious modern shopping centres.

Day two kicks off exploring Moscow’s historic centre on foot, followed by a tour of the Kremlin, the seat of Russian power and political intrigue for centuries. Stand in the Red Square, surrounded by the stunning architecture as you hear stories of the people and events behind many of Moscow’s most iconic landmarks.

On your final day, we’ll head beneath the city for a tour of the Moscow Metro and its famously ornate underground stations. Art lovers should hit up one of Moscow’s many world-class galleries such as the Tretyakov State Gallery, the Pushkin Museum or Garage, Moscow’s cutting-edge contemporary art museum. History fans can follow a Soviet trail through the city including Stalin’s Bunker, while those seeking a more indulgent experience can browse trendy neighbourhoods like Kitay Gorod or shop for everything from fashion to kitsch souvenirs at the enchanting Izmaylovo Flea Market. Foodies can head to one of the countless speciality stores sampling vodka, caviar and chocolate.

If you only have a few days to spend in Moscow, this tour will ensure you make the most of your time in the city. Let the experts navigate you through this complex and occasionally overwhelming capital, giving you plenty of time to soak up the city’s most unmissable attractions.

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Not Included

Sightseeing

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3 days / 2 nights

Private - Any Date

Day 1 Panoramic city tour

Welcome to the glorious capital of Russia, Moscow! You’ll be met by your driver at the airport and taken to your centrally located hotel.

After check-in and rest, meet your private guide at the hotel lobby for a comprehensive tour of Moscow by car. Visit the starkly contrasting Theatre Square to see the stunning Bolshoi Theatre, pass Tverskaya Street, the city’s main boulevard and home to the landmark Yeleseyevskiy Grocery Store.

You’ll enjoy a panoramic drive along the Moskva River, where a huge, controversial state of Peter the Great was erected. Pass by the legendary Gorky Park and the White House before a stop at the architecturally stunning Novodevichy Convent, and the observation platform at Sparrow Hills, for a bird’s eye view over this staggering megalopolis.

Day 2 Red Square and Kremlin

After breakfast at the hotel, your guide will take you on a walking tour of the historical city centre. Stroll through the Red Square, the hub of cultural life in Moscow, with its elaborate ‘stone flower’ fountain and fantasy-like St Basil’s Cathedral – a postcard-perfect symbol of the nation. Admire the grandiose façade of GUM, the city’s most luxurious shopping centre, and visit Alexander’s Garden, with its eternal flame and the chance to watch a changing of the guards.

Break for lunch before continuing on a tour of the Kremlin and Armoury Chamber, famous of its collection of tsarist fashion, with regalia such as jewel-encrusted crowns, orbs and sceptres as well as arms and armour, exotic gifts from the leaders of faraway lands, and an illustrious case of Imperial Faberge eggs.

As an option* spend an evening on a sumptuous dinner cruise, taking in the stunning sights and city lights of this mesmerising metropolis by night.

Day 3 Metro and Arbat Street

Start a day with a tour of Metro, stopping on the way to marvel at some of the most elaborately decorated stations of the world-famous Moscow subway system. Take a stroll along Old Arbat street - the most famous street in Moscow. Through the centuries Arbat used to be one of the most bohemian places in Moscow. Today Arbat is a promenade full of small cozy cafes and street life.

The afternoon is free for you to either enjoy the rest of the day on your own or choose among optional excursions to explore more of Moscow. Visit the Tretyakov Gallery or Pushkin State Museum to admire Russian art. Join locals for a stroll at the Gorky or VDNH park.

Visit beautiful Kolomeskoye Estate or Izmailovo Kremlin, or spend a day exploring the beautiful city of the Golden Ring (Russian province) - Sergiev Posad. In the evening you will be transferred to the airport for your departure to your next destination.

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Group airport/train-station arrival and departure transfers

All transportation according to the itinerary with a private driver

4* hotel accommodation in the historical city center (twin/double)

Local licensed English-speaking guide

All activities, indicated in the itinerary, except optional

Entry fees according to the itinerary (skip-the-lines policy)

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Russian visa and visa fees. Russian visa can be arranged by 56th Parallel for an additional cost (for Australian citizens only). Apply for concierge visa service here .

Optional excursions/activities

*Private tour. Price is per person, based on min 2 people

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Our team offers over 18 years of experience travelling and planning travel in Russia. Delivering outstanding travel experiences in Russia’s capitals and in some of the most stunning & remote locations takes experience, special access and the right connections. We make sure that all the fine details are handled perfectly so you can enjoy your Russia travel experience.

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The choice to join a small group on a guaranteed departure or chose to travel on your own dates with your own mates. Each destination we travel to in Russia offers an option between private tours and small group tours. Please note: on our adventure tours in remote destinations, we mostly run group tours to keep the cost down.

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From USD $730

Day 1: Panoramic city tour

Day 2: red square and kremlin, day 3: metro and arbat street, not included, start planning your tour.

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The Comprehensive Guide to Moscow Nightlife

• Posted on April 14, 2018 July 26, 2018
• by Kings of Russia
• 8 minute read

Moscow’s nightlife scene is thriving, and arguably one of the best the world has to offer – top-notch Russian women, coupled with a never-ending list of venues, Moscow has a little bit of something for everyone’s taste. Moscow nightlife is not for the faint of heart – and if you’re coming, you better be ready to go Friday and Saturday night into the early morning.

This comprehensive guide to Moscow nightlife will run you through the nuts and bolts of all you need to know about Moscow’s nightclubs and give you a solid blueprint to operate with during your time in Moscow.

What you need to know before hitting Moscow nightclubs

Prices in moscow nightlife.

Before you head out and start gaming all the sexy Moscow girls , we have to talk money first. Bring plenty because in Moscow you can never bring a big enough bankroll. Remember, you’re the man so making a fuzz of not paying a drink here or there will not go down well.

Luckily most Moscow clubs don’t do cover fees. Some electro clubs will charge 15-20$, depending on their lineup. There’s the odd club with a minimum spend of 20-30$, which you’ll drop on drinks easily. By and large, you can scope out the venues for free, which is a big plus.

Bottle service is a great deal in Moscow. At top-tier clubs, it starts at 1,000$. That’ll go a long way with premium vodka at 250$, especially if you have three or four guys chipping in. Not to mention that it’s a massive status boost for getting girls, especially at high-end clubs.

Without bottle service, you should estimate a budget of 100-150$ per night. That is if you drink a lot and hit the top clubs with the hottest girls. Scale down for less alcohol and more basic places.

Dress code & Face control

Door policy in Moscow is called “face control” and it’s always the guy behind the two gorillas that gives the green light if you’re in or out.

In Moscow nightlife there’s only one rule when it comes to dress codes:

You can never be underdressed.

People dress A LOT sharper than, say, in the US and that goes for both sexes. For high-end clubs, you definitely want to roll with a sharp blazer and a pocket square, not to mention dress shoes in tip-top condition. Those are the minimum requirements to level the playing field vis a vis with other sharply dressed guys that have a lot more money than you do. Unless you plan to hit explicit electro or underground clubs, which have their own dress code, you are always on the money with that style.

Getting in a Moscow club isn’t as hard as it seems: dress sharp, speak English at the door and look like you’re in the mood to spend all that money that you supposedly have (even if you don’t). That will open almost any door in Moscow’s nightlife for you.

Types of Moscow Nightclubs

In Moscow there are four types of clubs with the accompanying female clientele:

High-end clubs:

These are often crossovers between restaurants and clubs with lots of tables and very little space to dance. Heavy accent on bottle service most of the time but you can work the room from the bar as well. The hottest and most expensive girls in Moscow go there. Bring deep pockets and lots of self-confidence and you have a shot at swooping them.

Regular Mid-level clubs:

They probably resemble more what you’re used to in a nightclub: big dancefloors, stages and more space to roam around. Bottle service will make you stand out more but you can also do well without. You can find all types of girls but most will be in the 6-8 range. Your targets should always be the girls drinking and ideally in pairs. It’s impossible not to swoop if your game is at least half-decent.

Basic clubs/dive bars:

Usually spots with very cheap booze and lax face control. If you’re dressed too sharp and speak no Russian, you might attract the wrong type of attention so be vigilant. If you know the local scene you can swoop 6s and 7s almost at will. Usually students and girls from the suburbs.

Electro/underground clubs:

Home of the hipsters and creatives. Parties there don’t mean meeting girls and getting drunk but doing pills and spacing out to the music. Lots of attractive hipster girls if that is your niche. That is its own scene with a different dress code as well.

What time to go out in Moscow

Moscow nightlife starts late. Don’t show up at bars and preparty spots before 11pm because you’ll feel fairly alone. Peak time is between 1am and 3am. That is also the time of Moscow nightlife’s biggest nuisance: concerts by artists you won’t know and who only distract your girls from drinking and being gamed. From 4am to 6am the regular clubs are emptying out but plenty of people, women included, still hit up one of the many afterparty clubs. Those last till well past 10am.

As far as days go: Fridays and Saturdays are peak days. Thursday is an OK day, all other days are fairly weak and you have to know the right venues.

The Ultimate Moscow Nightclub List

Short disclaimer: I didn’t add basic and electro clubs since you’re coming for the girls, not for the music. This list will give you more options than you’ll be able to handle on a weekend.

Preparty – start here at 11PM

Classic restaurant club with lots of tables and a smallish bar and dancefloor. Come here between 11pm and 12am when the concert is over and they start with the actual party. Even early in the night tons of sexy women here, who lean slightly older (25 and up).

The second floor of the Ugolek restaurant is an extra bar with dim lights and house music tunes. Very small and cozy with a slight hipster vibe but generally draws plenty of attractive women too. A bit slower vibe than Valenok.

Very cool, spread-out venue that has a modern library theme. Not always full with people but when it is, it’s brimming with top-tier women. Slow vibe here and better for grabbing contacts and moving on.

High-end: err on the side of being too early rather than too late because of face control.

Secret Room

Probably the top venue at the moment in Moscow . Very small but wildly popular club, which is crammed with tables but always packed. They do parties on Thursdays and Sundays as well. This club has a hip-hop/high-end theme, meaning most girls are gold diggers, IG models, and tattooed hip hop chicks. Very unfavorable logistics because there is almost no room no move inside the club but the party vibe makes it worth it. Strict face control.

Close to Secret Room and with a much more favorable and spacious three-part layout. This place attracts very hot women but also lots of ball busters and fakes that will leave you blue-balled. Come early because after 4am it starts getting empty fast. Electronic music.

A slightly kitsch restaurant club that plays Russian pop and is full of gold diggers, semi-pros, and men from the Caucasus republics. Thursday is the strongest night but that dynamic might be changing since Secret Room opened its doors. You can swoop here but it will be a struggle.

Mid-level: your sweet spot in terms of ease and attractiveness of girls for an average budget.

Started going downwards in 2018 due to lax face control and this might get even worse with the World Cup. In terms of layout one of the best Moscow nightclubs because it’s very big and bottle service gives you a good edge here. Still attracts lots of cute girls with loose morals but plenty of provincial girls (and guys) as well. Swooping is fairly easy here.

I haven’t been at this place in over a year, ever since it started becoming ground zero for drunken teenagers. Similar clientele to Icon but less chic, younger and drunker. Decent mainstream music that attracts plenty of tourists. Girls are easy here as well.

Sort of a Coyote Ugly (the real one in Moscow sucks) with party music and lots of drunken people licking each others’ faces. Very entertaining with the right amount of alcohol and very easy to pull in there. Don’t think about staying sober in here, you’ll hate it.

Artel Bessonitsa/Shakti Terrace

Electronic music club that is sort of a high-end place with an underground clientele and located between the teenager clubs Icon and Gipsy. Very good music but a bit all over the place with their vibe and their branding. You can swoop almost any type of girl here from high-heeled beauty to coked-up hipsters, provided they’re not too sober.

Afterparty: if by 5AM  you haven’t pulled, it’s time to move here.

Best afterparty spot in terms of trying to get girls. Pretty much no one is sober in there and savage gorilla game goes a long way. Lots of very hot and slutty-looking girls but it can be hard to tell apart who is looking for dick and who is just on drugs but not interested. If by 9-10am you haven’t pulled, it is probably better to surrender.

The hipster alternative for afterparties, where even more drugs are in play. Plenty of attractive girls there but you have to know how to work this type of club. A nicer atmosphere and better music but if you’re desperate to pull, you’ll probably go to Miks.

Weekday jokers: if you’re on the hunt for some sexy Russian girls during the week, here are two tips to make your life easier.

Chesterfield

Ladies night on Wednesdays means this place gets pretty packed with smashed teenagers and 6s and 7s. Don’t pull out the three-piece suit in here because it’s a “simpler” crowd. Definitely your best shot on Wednesdays.

If you haven’t pulled at Chesterfield, you can throw a Hail Mary and hit up Garage’s Black Music Wednesdays. Fills up really late but there are some cute Black Music groupies in here. Very small club. Thursday through Saturday they do afterparties and you have an excellent shot and swooping girls that are probably high.

Shishas Sferum

This is pretty much your only shot on Mondays and Tuesdays because they offer free or almost free drinks for women. A fairly low-class club where you should watch your drinks. As always the case in Moscow, there will be cute girls here on any day of the week but it’s nowhere near as good as on the weekend.

In a nutshell, that is all you need to know about where to meet Moscow girls in nightlife. There are tons of options, and it all depends on what best fits your style, based on the type of girls that you’re looking for.

Related Topics

• moscow girls
• moscow nightlife

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