Ry Cooder Releasing New Album + Tour Dates

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The first new solo album by Ry Cooder in six years, The Prodigal Son, is set for release by Fantasy Records on May 11. Listen to the lead track, “Shrinking Man” below.

Pre-order the CD here and the LP here.

Recorded in Hollywood, Calif., and produced by Cooder and his chief collaborator, drummer Joachim Cooder, The Prodigal Son is described in a press release as “all America—our spiritual, hopeful voices, our raw cries and our sly provocations, voiced through the songs of the Pilgrim Travelers, the Stanley Brothers, Blind Willie Johnson and Ry Cooder himself.”

The album’s 11 tracks, including three Cooder originals and a collection of his favorite spirituals of the last century, “share a particular resonance in this time and place, forming an unflinching look at the state of play in modern America,” says the press release. Explains Cooder, “I do connect the political/economic dimensions with the inner life of people, since people are at risk and oppressed on all sides in our world today. There’s some kind of reverence mood that takes hold when you play and sing these songs. ‘Reverence’ is a word I heard my granddaughter’s nursery school teacher use, a Kashmiri woman. She said, ‘We don’t want to teach religion, but instill reverence.’ I thought that was a good word for the feeling of this music.”

Cooder will bring The Prodigal Son Tour to venues throughout North America this spring and summer, his first full tour since 2009. Confirmed tour dates are below with more to be added soon.

Tickets are available here and here.

Ry Cooder (Photo by Joachim Cooder, used with permission)

The Prodigal Son Track List
1. Straight Street (James W. Alexander / Jesse Whitaker)
2. Shrinking Man (Ry Cooder)
3. Gentrification (Ry Cooder / Joachim Cooder)
4. Everybody Ought To Treat A Stranger Right (Traditional; Blind Willie Johnson, Arr. By Ry Cooder)
5. The Prodigal Son (Traditional: Arranged By Ry Cooder /Joachim Cooder)
6. Nobody’s Fault But Mine (Blind Willie Johnson / Arranged Ry Cooder / Joachim Cooder)
7. You Must Unload (Alfred Reed)
8. I’ll Be Rested When The Roll Is Called (Blind Roosevelt Graves)
9. Harbor Of Love (Carter Stanley)
10. Jesus And Woody (Ry Cooder)
11. In His Care (William L. Dawson)

Ry Cooder Tour Dates
June 3-4 – Alexandria, VA – Birchmere
June 6 – Ridgefield, CT – Ridgefield Playhouse
June 7 – Boston, MA – Wilbur Theatre
June 8 – New York, NY – Town Hall Theatre
June 9 – Derry, NH – Tupelo
June 26 – Toronto, ONT – Massey Hall
June 27 – Ottawa, ONT – Centerpoint
June 29 – Montréal, QE – Jazz Festival @ Maisonneuve
June 30 – Burlington, VT – Flynn Theater
July 1 – Lenox, MA – Tanglewood
July 3 – Philadelphia, PA – Mann Center
July 14 – Courtenay, BC – Vancouver Island MusicFest
July 17 – Portland, OR – Revolution Hall
July 20 – San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall
July 21 – Napa, CA – Uptown Theatre

Watch the video for “Shrinking Man” from The Prodigal Son