1970-1987

If you ever wondered how Cooder morphed from 1960s session guitarist for The Rolling Stones and The Monkees into the revered world music adventurer of the 90s, this fascinating box set will join up the dots. Between 1970 and 1987, Cooder made 11 solo albums, collected here, which map one man's journey through indigenous American roots music, via folk, blues, country, R&B, Tex-Mex, gospel, rockabilly, jazz and vaudeville.

His albums of the early 70s, Ry Cooder, Into the Purple Valley and Boomer's Story, located him deep in the basement of folk-blues ethnomusicology with covers of Guthrie, Lead Belly, Blind Willie Johnson and Sleepy John Estes. Paradise and Lunch (1974) and Chicken Skin Music (1976) added collaborations with the Tex-Mex accordionist Flaco Jiménez and Hawaiian slack-key guitarist Gabby Pahinui, and offered early pointers to his future world music excursions. Jazz (1978) was a sidestep into another rich area of ethnic Americana, this time the 20s vaudeville world of Jelly Roll Morton and Bix Beiderbecke. After that his record company ordered him to re-engage with more mainstream rock'n'roll, resulting in mixed results on the albums Bop Till You Drop (1979) and The Slide Area (1982). After Get Rhythm (1987) he turned his back on making solo records for the next 18 years, while he set out on a series of influential collaborations with Indian, African, Cuban and even Okinawan musicians. That's another story – but one for which there are endlessly fascinating portents and auguries to be spotted here.