Ry Cooder's first-ever stand-alone written work, Los Angeles Stories, is out now from City Lights Books and available in the Nonesuch Store. "Cooder fans will enjoy the upbeat mix of music and murder," says the San Francisco Chronicle. "Aficionados of noir fiction will love the characters, all of whom have something to hide and all of whom are engaged in illegal activity." Cooder will discuss the book at San Francsico's Herbst Theatre on Wednesday. Blurt, reviewing his new album, Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down, says it "ranks not only among his very best releases, but among the best socio-political albums ever made."
Ry Cooder, whose latest album, Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down, was recently released on Perro Verde / Nonesuch Records, has written his first-ever stand-alone written work, Los Angeles Stories, out now on paperback from City Lights Books. Both the book and the album are available in the Nonesuch Store.
Los Angeles Stories is a collection of loosely linked tales that evoke a bygone era in one of America's most iconic cities. Rich with the essence and character of the times, suffused with patois of the city's underclass, these are stories about the common people of post-WW II L.A. and the strange things that happen to them. Musicians, gun shop owners, streetwalkers, tailors, door-to-door salesmen, drifters, housewives, dentists and pornographers, new arrivals and hard-bitten denizens all intersect in cleverly plotted stories that center around some kind of shadowy activity.
"Cooder pays homage to the jazz, the blues and the Latin beat of a bygone era," writes reviewer Jonah Raskin in the San Francisco Chronicle. "Cooder fans will enjoy the upbeat mix of music and murder. Aficionados of noir fiction will love the characters, all of whom have something to hide and all of whom are engaged in illegal activity." Read the review at sfgate.com.
Ry Cooder will discuss Los Angeles Stories with journalist Lynell George at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco this Wednesday. A week later, he'll bring things closer to home when he discusses the book at LA's Book Soup with Tosh Berman. For more information, go to nonesuch.com/on-tour.
To pick up a copy of the book, head to the Nonesuch Store now.
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"Ry Cooder for President!" cries Blurt in its review of Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down, with reviewer John Schacht stating that the new album "ranks not only among his very best releases, but among the best socio-political albums ever made."
On the album, Cooder takes on corporate greed and political corruption and gives voice to those affected by both. Schacht quotes Cooder's own lyrics to explain:
"Take in mind the credo of a jackass prospector/take what you need but leave the rest alone," he sings on the elegant, pro-environment album-closer "No Hard Feelings," while some of the most gorgeous guitar fills he's ever put to tape drift down like falling leaves. This simple advice for harmonious living courses through the record from the first moment to the last. That Cooder has written it into songs that rival the best in his remarkable four-decade catalog speaks both to his ageless skill and the timeless justice of this cause.
Read the complete review at blurt-online.com.
Truthdig, the site whose reporting inspired the album's opening track, "No Banker Left Behind," has re-posted an earlier interview with Cooder and Truthdig's Robert Scheer and Kasia Anderson, now expanded to include music from the album. Listen online at truthdig.com.
To pick up a copy of Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down, head to the Nonesuch Store, where CD and vinyl orders include high-quality, 320 kbps MP3s of the complete album, which is also available to purchase as MP3s and FLAC lossless files.
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