Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder have both made careers out of covering classic tunes from the canons of early blues, gospel, jazz, country, and soul music. As septuagenarians they can fall into these modes by instinct alone. Here these two living encyclopedias of American music (and former bandmates in the Rising Sons, a short-lived Los Angeles blues rock band circa 1965) have recorded a loose and fun jam session, revisiting classics from the catalogs of Reverend Gary Davis and the epic blues partnership of Brownie McGhee & Sonny Terry. Rather than straight covers though, Cooder and Mahal—in the studio together for the first time since 1968—put their decades of experience to work, with both singing on most tunes and adding spontaneous drums and percussion from Cooder's son, Joachim, throughout. Although this is a mostly acoustic guitar and voice affair, Ry Cooder adds electric guitar parts to several tunes including the opener "My Baby Done Changed the Lock on the Door" and an oddly reverberant and round-toned, "Packing Up Getting Ready To Go." Recorded by Martin Pradler at Temple of Leaves in Altadena, CA. and Wireland in Chatsworth, CA, the only flaw in this project is that is was recorded as Mahal says, "old school" in less-than-ideal conditions "in the front parlor of a fine n' vintage welcoming old home!" This results in a recording quality which is often distant and unbalanced. The McGhee/Terry classic, "Pick a Bale of Cotton" ("jump down, turn around, pick a bale of cotton") gets a snappy, gently rocking' take while "Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee" (written by McGhee's brother, Stick) with Cooder on slide guitar and Mahal singing and playing harmonica gets appropriately funky and low down. Mahal does his best barrelhouse piano imitation on "Deep Sea Diver." This set's best-known tune, "The Midnight Special" gets a group singalong led by Mahal's harmonica. The closer, Mississippi John Hurt's "I Shall Not Be Moved" is a just-right finale to an easygoing set where ambition is sidelined in favor of heartfelt results. It's all what Mahal calls "Big! Big! Big fun … loose 'n' tight, crazy 'bout the/that rhythm, 'cause it's ragged but right!" An album cover design reminiscent of original bare bones blues albums of the late '50s/early '60s completes this salute to disappearing but still vital American roots music. © Robert Baird/Qobuz