Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder join forces for their first new album together in 57 years

Ry Cooder (left) and Taj Mahal
(Image credit: Gary Miller/Getty Images, Scott Dudelson/Getty Images)

Before Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder became legendary electric guitar players with incredible, eclectic discographies, they were bandmates. 

In the mid-1960s, the two cut their teeth in an L.A.-based band called the Rising Sons. Though the group gigged relentlessly in the area, signed to Columbia Records and won some high-profile admirers, their sole album (recorded in 1965) remained unreleased until 1992.

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Jackson Maxwell

Jackson is an Associate Editor at GuitarWorld.com. He’s been writing and editing stories about new gear, technique and guitar-driven music both old and new since 2014, and has also written extensively on the same topics for Guitar Player. Elsewhere, his album reviews and essays have appeared in Louder and Unrecorded. Though open to music of all kinds, his greatest love has always been indie, and everything that falls under its massive umbrella. To that end, you can find him on Twitter crowing about whatever great new guitar band you need to drop everything to hear right now.