I am a white guy from the Netherlands and I listen Brownie McGhee & Sonny Terry since 1970 when I was 11. I was in a deep coma in 1974 after a serious traffic accident for seven weeks and their music helped the doctors to get me out of that coma. In the seventies I had the chance to thank them for it at a concert in Utrecht, the Netherlands.
There will be young musicians watching this that, years from now will swear that Ry and Taj were the inspiration for their music careers. It's fantastic how history repeats itself.
Glad to see Taj looking so good. I first saw him I think in 1967 with Jesse Ed Davis, Gary Gilmore, and Brother Chuck. Here's to many more years making this great music!
May the CIRCLE be unbroken...These veteran musicians can play it, always did, way back in their beginnings and like the "Prodigal Son" have made the turn after decades, and come back to the music they built their names on. Blues and American Country Music. GREAT!
I had the good fortune of seeing Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee over 47 years ago and it left an indelible impression. At the time you knew you were in the presence of blues royalty, the genuine article. It's great to see two veterans of the blues keeping their music and memory alive.
Taj and Ry are great ambassadors, music historians and will be legends for future generations. We are fortunate to be able to have their performance recorded. They are two of my favorite artists. They seem to get better and better with age.
Some people have forgotten that the roots of R&B music comes from Africa. Delta Blues is the base from which even the early English Bands were influenced. One needs too look at the early days of African Jazz and this is where the roots begin. This style is FAR more soulful than what history gives it!! It's very nice to see these gentlemen Taj, Ry and Joaquin educated all of us.
One of the first records I bought when I was about 15 (1962) was “The Blues Box.” Three record set of old blues artists- Leadbelly (why I play a 12-string), Lightning Hopkins, Big Joe Williams (what a voice!), and Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee. Blues is still my favorite style of music. Here’s two old blues singers (my age) bringing that all back.
Note: His first album was The Rising Sons (with Ryland P. Cooder) album was all over the map, commercial flop. However, Ry and Taj started a beautiful friendship which, as you hear, continues to this day.
I haven't looked forward to an album coming out this much in a long, long time. If what we're hearing is even close to what the recordings are, we are going to be blessed in a big way come April 2022.
This is amazing. A duo full of quality, years and years of experience that are reflected in each of the songs. How great are Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder. This video reminded me of that great blues duo that were Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee.
That old Folkways record started bringing these two together long ago, so the record we have now has been a long time coming - and is clearly a labor of love for both these venerable music makers.
1st Blues record i had ,still have it in cd form , thought for years it was Cooder playing slide on Statesboro Blues (actually Jesse Ed Davis) Still love to play it!!
I saw Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee live. Two rows back from the front at Sydney Town Hall about 45 years ago. There was sitting room only, but by the end of the first track everyone was standing up dancing. It was that infectious. I have never seen that happen again.
I saw Sonny and Brownie when I was 14. I was a big fan of their records as a kid and as soon as I saw that they were going to be playing in my town, I made my dad take me to the bar where they were performing. He convinced the owner to allow me in. One of the great thrills of my teens.
I was 15 years old walking down the street in 1972,I saw a couple old black men,playing in the Le Hibou tea house ,walked in and caught an incurable case of the Blues .Thanks Sonny,Brownie!!! I'm still playing those blues!
Brownie & Sonny played the Ash Grove what seemed like a lot to a teenager like I was. I saw them there three times. There was a little record store at the entrance to the club, off to one side and they had all the little labels that were to me at the time, very obscrere. I met Taj in the stacks there one night (he may have even been working there?) and he suggested a Folkways Leadbelly LP to me. This was before his first Columbia release (still my favorite). That club, man, it shaped some young men's minds!
Great. Sonny and Brownie have been favorites of mine since I was 14, and Taj and Ry not long after. I saw Taj playing in Hilo HI about 15 years ago with a big band, (ukulele and Hawaiian slack key included) but to just see him and Ry playing sonny and Brownie all night would be a dream come true. This is an album I need to get
Well, this is what we all have been waiting for. Nothing more to say. A note to Nonesuch Rec. - please do put forward a suggestion of a part two with versions of various other blues artists songs.
What a wonderful thing to see and hear. Just like getting together with your old best friend and kickin' out some jams on the front porch, what a treasure these two are, legends with so much history and stories to tell. Ry Cooder might be the most underrated guitar player, he is one of the very best with his own unique style and so much emotion but doesn't make the top 10 lists. I'd rather listen to Ry than just about anybody save Hendrix, Beck, Wes Montgomery, Nils Lofgren, Joe Pass and a few others, most of whom are. not around anymore.
When I was 18 (50 yrs ago) I walked into a bar and Taj Mahal was there. He saw me and said "look at this little thing" picked me up over his shoulders. Funny to think back on so long ago
I was about 16 or 17 and got a job waiting tables at a coffeehouse in what is now Thunder Bay, Canada and was fortunate enought to meet Sonny and Brownie when they played for a few days (back in '63 or '64). They were amazing on stage but in their dressing room you wouldn't believe how they ripped each other. Man, it could get mean! I couldn't figure how they managed to stay together all those years. Talk about a disfunctional marriage!
How long ago was it that these two played as part of the Rising Sons? It's about time they teamed up again, and doing an homage to Sonny & Brownie is a perfect project. I can't wait to hear what they come up with.
I saw Sonny and Brownie in the early 60s in London. It was wonderful. I was around 20 years old. and had listened to their records for a few years before that.
Hello 👋 Margaret. How are you doing? Hope you’re fine. I’m Zack Hudson and am from Denver Colorado. Where are you from? You seem like a real country girl
I saw Taj Mahal in the early 70s in Bolder Colorado he was playing at a church that was turned into a club I'll never forget it . He was still popular because of his set at Woodstock ☮️🕊️✌️
Ah, check your Woodstock '69 setlist. Taj did not perform there. See "The Road to Woodstock" by Michael Lang with Holly George-Warren. Perhaps you confused Taj with Richie Havens. (It's a great book )
in the late 60s, early 70s, I ran small concerts and a coffeehouse at my college. Sonny and Brownie were booked a few times. At the coffeehouse, I had Sonny appear solo several times since he lived in Queens when he was not on tour. He was always dressed in a suit and tie and all he asked for was a chair and a microphone and from his right hand jacket pocket he pulled out a harmonica. Sonny never failed to give with great performance audiences loved his music and his stories. It is not generally known that's Sonny Terry played on Broadway for about two years in the show finian's rainbow. the producers had a role for Sonny. Discussing the role they asked him to play a song, they liked it very much they said that's perfect it's what we want now we want you to play that song the same way six or seven times a week Sonny said oh I can't play it the same way and the producers said but we really need to have it played the same exact way every time Sonny said I don't think I can play it the same way every time the producers said we will pay you $800 a week Sonny said I'll play the song same way every time. I never met a nicer man then Sonny Terry.
I knew of Sonny Terry & Brownie McGee when I was 17 years old getting dressed for school and the fabulous FM stations we listened to with the original genuine and often hilarious DJ's. The song that comes to mind and in fact the only one I know of their's is People Get Ready. Unbelievable. Our local FM station not only played great music but music that was relevant to the times: Woodstock, the students killed in Ohio (Neil Young), Jimi Hendrix's National Anthem re: the Vienam war and the list goes on. Looking back over the last 20 years I don't know of any band or artist of note that raised social issues (U2 Sunday Bloody Sunday), Jusin Timberlake......ah don't think so, Janet Jackson.....even less. The 70's for FM Rock was the best!!! I think.
A couple of my favorites!! Amazing artists with incredible chops, inspiration, soul, heart and genius. I only hope they can keep up with me. Bwuahahahaahaha . . . let me have my delusions. I can't wait for this to drop. :)
This is true; 77 approx. Sydney Town Hall, Australia... Sonny &Brownie on the road for the umteenth time, but now, the White Boys, the the young boys are bouncing to The Blues. They were radiant ! '"I'm just a white boy lost in the Blues" Ever was ever will be . They were The Cream.
Pinch me once! Pinch me twice! (once for each of them) Celebrating their musical friendship of over 50 years. To the Grammy Awards: Here is your Best Acoustic Blues album for this year! And there is no truth to the rumor that Taj and Ry did an updated new song called "She caught the Covid and left me a Moderna to ride! " (You old heads will need to explain that to the millennials!) HAH
Looking forward to picking this CD up asap. But … couldn’t help remembering Steve Martin dancing and singing to “Pick A Bale of Cotton” at the end of “The Jerk”. With his African-American “family”.
Whether you are already familiar with Brownie McGee or not, there is an excellent TV studio interview and recording of him that you can find on the Folk Seattle channel on RUclips. Lots of excellent blues musicians on that channel ---- Elizabeth Cotten is one of them ---- and whoever was manning the cameras in the studio concentrated on the musicians' hands as they played.
I am a white guy from the Netherlands and I listen Brownie McGhee & Sonny Terry since 1970 when I was 11. I was in a deep coma in 1974 after a serious traffic accident for seven weeks and their music helped the doctors to get me out of that coma. In the seventies I had the chance to thank them for it at a concert in Utrecht, the Netherlands.
De onzichtbare kracht die muziek heet….mooie tekst…ry cooder fan sinds eind jaren 70.
Everything Ry touches turns to gold. Taj's gravel is bliss.
'Gravel and Gold' would be a good name for their next collaboration.
Grandes musicos y maestros del Blues Ry Cooder y Taj Mahal. Arte puro y autentico
a LONG-awaited, GLORIOUS reunion of like souls who have come home again.
Got old with Taj and Ry. Still kickin' it, boys. Never die!
Well, I'm only 70 years old, and I just got my rocks off to that . Loved them both for years . See you later, gotta go buy some music.
Two living legends. We’re blessed to still have them with us.
There will be young musicians watching this that, years from now will swear that Ry and Taj were the inspiration for their music careers. It's fantastic how history repeats itself.
Hello 👋 Jim. How are you doing? Hope you’re fine. I’m Zack Hudson and am from Denver Colorado. Where are you from? You seem like a real country girl
Glad to see Taj looking so good.
I first saw him I think in 1967 with Jesse Ed Davis, Gary Gilmore, and Brother Chuck.
Here's to many more years making this great music!
May the CIRCLE be unbroken...These veteran musicians can play it, always did, way back in their beginnings and like the "Prodigal Son" have made the turn after decades, and come back to the music they built their names on. Blues and American Country Music. GREAT!
That's the Truth
More down to earth is not possible.
I love this
It's a very live recording.
OH MAN!!!! I hope and pray that these two GREATS will tour together and play this wonderful music!
Oh God,how i wold like to give a big hug to mr.Ry Cooder and Taj Mahal!
This interview and the music brought warmth to my life, at 70. remembering when I heard their first album. Amazing. Priceless. Thank you for the music
I had the good fortune of seeing Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee over 47 years ago and it left an indelible impression. At the time you knew you were in the presence of blues royalty, the genuine article. It's great to see two veterans of the blues keeping their music and memory alive.
hell yeah! consider it sold! they are both living legends.
Nice to see Joaquin Cooder's involved too, he's a serious talent in his own right.
I was looking to see if anyone was going to say it! Thanks!
For sure
It's about time these two got back together to make some more amazing music!!
Taj and Ry are great ambassadors, music historians and will be legends for future generations. We are fortunate to be able to have their performance recorded. They are two of my favorite artists. They seem to get better and better with age.
Some people have forgotten that the roots of R&B music comes from Africa. Delta Blues is the base from which even the early English Bands were influenced. One needs too look at the early days of African Jazz and this is where the roots begin. This style is FAR more soulful than what history gives it!! It's very nice to see these gentlemen Taj, Ry and Joaquin educated all of us.
One of the first records I bought when I was about 15 (1962) was “The Blues Box.” Three record set of old blues artists- Leadbelly (why I play a 12-string), Lightning Hopkins, Big Joe Williams (what a voice!), and Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee. Blues is still my favorite style of music. Here’s two old blues singers (my age) bringing that all back.
Awesome! All these years Taj and Ry are still making great music as always. Their combined recorded legacies are among the greatest in music history.
So good that these two are keeping the music going.🙏🎵🎶🎸❗👀
Well done gents, to all four of you.
"Ole Timers is Us" Great album name...and tour theme.
God, I hope they tour.
This is going to be one TASTY album!
The great Taj, followed since first album - got the sleeve on my wall! Saw him in England late 60's.
Note: His first album was The Rising Sons (with Ryland P. Cooder) album was all over the map, commercial flop. However, Ry and Taj started a beautiful friendship which, as you hear, continues to this day.
Thank you so much Bluesmaster Ry Cooder and Taj L O V E
I haven't looked forward to an album coming out this much in a long, long time. If what we're hearing is even close to what the recordings are, we are going to be blessed in a big way come April 2022.
This is amazing. A duo full of quality, years and years of experience that are reflected in each of the songs. How great are Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder. This video reminded me of that great blues duo that were Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee.
Taj and Ry "Get Back" to THEIR roots... Lovin' it! :)
Ry & Taj are leading lights for blues at the minute
This came as an answer to my prayers God bless Ry Cooder and Taj Mahal
They been keepin' the older artists alive for fifty years! Salut!
That old Folkways record started bringing these two together long ago, so the record we have now has been a long time coming - and is clearly a labor of love for both these venerable music makers.
Oh man, I'm just so happy!
Love that Mississippi saxophone
1st Blues record i had ,still have it in cd form , thought for years it was Cooder playing slide on Statesboro Blues (actually Jesse Ed Davis) Still love to play it!!
I saw Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee live. Two rows back from the front at Sydney Town Hall about 45 years ago. There was sitting room only, but by the end of the first track everyone was standing up dancing. It was that infectious. I have never seen that happen again.
wow, great artists, great legacy, ty
I saw Sonny and Brownie when I was 14. I was a big fan of their records as a kid and as soon as I saw that they were going to be playing in my town, I made my dad take me to the bar where they were performing. He convinced the owner to allow me in. One of the great thrills of my teens.
Way cool!
That's beautiful. I got to see Ry play last time he toured. My Brother-in-law, my dad and I went. That was really special.
@@ens0246 Urbana Illinois circa 1975.
Beautiful! Thank you, Taj & Ry
I was 15 years old walking down the street in 1972,I saw a couple old black men,playing in the Le Hibou tea house ,walked in and caught an incurable case of the Blues .Thanks Sonny,Brownie!!! I'm still playing those blues!
These beautiful musicians.. 🥳🤗❤️
Springfield,Mo, many years ago, Brownie & Sonny did a show. Amazing Evening
LOVE this tribute!
LEGENDS
Brownie & Sonny played the Ash Grove what seemed like a lot to a teenager like I was. I saw them there three times. There was a little record store at the entrance to the club, off to one side and they had all the little labels that were to me at the time, very obscrere. I met Taj in the stacks there one night (he may have even been working there?) and he suggested a Folkways Leadbelly LP to me. This was before his first Columbia release (still my favorite). That club, man, it shaped some young men's minds!
I'm thankful that I lived long enough for this!
I am so glad to see Taj looking good! This sounds terrific!
Great. Sonny and Brownie have been favorites of mine since I was 14, and Taj and Ry not long after.
I saw Taj playing in Hilo HI about 15 years ago with a big band, (ukulele and Hawaiian slack key included) but to just see him and Ry playing sonny and Brownie all night would be a dream come true.
This is an album I need to get
Well, this is what we all have been waiting for. Nothing more to say. A note to Nonesuch Rec. - please do put forward a suggestion of a part two with versions of various other blues artists songs.
Good to see the Rising Sons back together again
Oh, to be a fly on the wall in THAT room...
So Very Cool, Thankyou. Two Masters
This is a great documentary
Oh that's good stuff.
Congratulations on your Grammy win.
What a wonderful thing to see and hear. Just like getting together with your old best friend and kickin' out some jams on the front porch, what a treasure these two are, legends with so much history and stories to tell. Ry Cooder might be the most underrated guitar player, he is one of the very best with his own unique style and so much emotion but doesn't make the top 10 lists. I'd rather listen to Ry than just about anybody save Hendrix, Beck, Wes Montgomery, Nils Lofgren, Joe Pass and a few others, most of whom are. not around anymore.
When I was 18 (50 yrs ago) I walked into a bar and Taj Mahal was there. He saw me and said "look at this little thing" picked me up over his shoulders. Funny to think back on so long ago
Oh. My. Goodness.
So excited to have these heroes paying homage to these older heroes.
I was about 16 or 17 and got a job waiting tables at a coffeehouse in what is now Thunder Bay, Canada and was fortunate enought to meet Sonny and Brownie when they played for a few days (back in '63 or '64). They were amazing on stage but in their dressing room you wouldn't believe how they ripped each other. Man, it could get mean! I couldn't figure how they managed to stay together all those years. Talk about a disfunctional marriage!
Nice to see this. Big blind lemon fan. Blindboy fuller too
Yes ..❤❤❤
I saw Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee at the Cellar Door in Georgetown.
WOW! super excited for this release. Learned about Taj in 1989 when I saw him open for Stevie Ray Vaughn under the summer stars in Park City, Utah.
Fantastic
Bravo !
They never made blues boring, always interesting....
This is so important.
Living legends makes my life better listening
How long ago was it that these two played as part of the Rising Sons? It's about time they teamed up again, and doing an homage to Sonny & Brownie is a perfect project. I can't wait to hear what they come up with.
How long ? 56 years.
I saw Sonny and Brownie in the early 60s in London. It was wonderful. I was around 20 years old. and had listened to their records for a few years before that.
Hello 👋 Margaret. How are you doing? Hope you’re fine. I’m Zack Hudson and am from Denver Colorado. Where are you from? You seem like a real country girl
My oh my oh my.
These guys are what musicians should be brave explorers evermore searching the land for the sounds of life yes sir
I saw Taj Mahal in the early 70s in Bolder Colorado he was playing at a church that was turned into a club I'll never forget it . He was still popular because of his set at Woodstock ☮️🕊️✌️
Ah, check your Woodstock '69 setlist. Taj did not perform there. See "The Road to Woodstock" by Michael Lang with Holly George-Warren. Perhaps you confused Taj with Richie Havens. (It's a great book )
Brilliant stuff
in the late 60s, early 70s, I ran small concerts and a coffeehouse at my college. Sonny and Brownie were booked a few times. At the coffeehouse, I had Sonny appear solo several times since he lived in Queens when he was not on tour. He was always dressed in a suit and tie and all he asked for was a chair and a microphone and from his right hand jacket pocket he pulled out a harmonica. Sonny never failed to give with great performance audiences loved his music and his stories. It is not generally known that's Sonny Terry played on Broadway for about two years in the show finian's rainbow. the producers had a role for Sonny. Discussing the role they asked him to play a song, they liked it very much they said that's perfect it's what we want now we want you to play that song the same way six or seven times a week Sonny said oh I can't play it the same way and the producers said but we really need to have it played the same exact way every time Sonny said I don't think I can play it the same way every time the producers said we will pay you $800 a week Sonny said I'll play the song same way every time. I never met a nicer man then Sonny Terry.
Glad that they collaborated back together, but I wish that Ry Cooder would throw in some electric slide.
A lovely homage to Sonny and Brownie.
I knew of Sonny Terry & Brownie McGee when I was 17 years old getting dressed for school and the fabulous FM stations we listened to with the original genuine and often hilarious DJ's. The song that comes to mind and in fact the only one I know of their's is People Get Ready. Unbelievable. Our local FM station not only played great music but music that was relevant to the times: Woodstock,
the students killed in Ohio (Neil Young), Jimi Hendrix's National Anthem re: the Vienam war and the list goes on. Looking back over the last 20 years I don't know of any band or artist of note that raised social issues (U2 Sunday Bloody Sunday), Jusin Timberlake......ah don't think so, Janet Jackson.....even less. The 70's for FM Rock was the best!!! I think.
I was exposed to Terry & McGee, in high school - in the '70s.
Midnight Oil have been doing it from start to finish.
Great video here of the Blues - thanks.
A couple of my favorites!! Amazing artists with incredible chops, inspiration, soul, heart and genius. I only hope they can keep up with me. Bwuahahahaahaha . . . let me have my delusions. I can't wait for this to drop. :)
It's a beautiful THANG
These guys were in a short lived band called The Rising Sons together back in the day.
Really cool man .
This is true; 77 approx. Sydney Town Hall, Australia... Sonny &Brownie on the road for the umteenth time, but now, the White Boys, the the young boys are bouncing to The Blues.
They were radiant !
'"I'm just a white boy lost in the Blues"
Ever was ever will be .
They were The Cream.
Pinch me once! Pinch me twice! (once for each of them) Celebrating their musical friendship of over 50 years. To the Grammy Awards: Here is your Best Acoustic Blues album for this year! And there is no truth to the rumor that Taj and Ry did an updated new song called "She caught the Covid and left me a Moderna to ride! " (You old heads will need to explain that to the millennials!) HAH
Taj is the goat now
Ordered.
heaven!!
The masters
Looking forward to picking this CD up asap. But … couldn’t help remembering Steve Martin dancing and singing to “Pick A Bale of Cotton” at the end of “The Jerk”. With his African-American “family”.
Just a great video.
Glad to see Ry don't use no prissy cutaway-dreadnought.
classic ...
Whether you are already familiar with Brownie McGee or not, there is an excellent TV studio interview and recording of him that you can find on the Folk Seattle channel on RUclips. Lots of excellent blues musicians on that channel ---- Elizabeth Cotten is one of them ---- and whoever was manning the cameras in the studio concentrated on the musicians' hands as they played.
Also watch Sonny and Brownie’s killer version of « Key to the highway » on Rainbow Quest, Pete Seeger’s TV show in the 60’s, also on RUclips
One of my favorite quotes from Taj, “I got an old friend here……Stomp it!”
A long way from the Risings Sons...
Looking forward to April .....and not for the better weather !