Ry Cooder's new album, Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down, is out now and available on CD and digitally from Nonesuch / Perro Verde Records, with the vinyl LP to follow in two weeks, on September 13. To pick up a copy, head to the Nonesuch Store, where CD and LP orders include high-quality, 320 kbps MP3s of the album at checkout; the album is also available to purchase there as MP3s and FLAC lossless digital files.

Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down sets such monumental issues as the struggle toward real democracy, the trials of the working man, and the elusive goal of equality against the mayhem of contemporary front page news, all paired with Cooder’s fluent command of the rhythms and textures of American vernacular music. The album is now streaming in full on the website of Marketplace from American Public Media.

"When it comes to musical genres, Ry Cooder can play just about anything—and does," says the show. "From rock n’ roll to country to Dixieland jazz, Cooder has mastered multiple genres on many albums. He does it again with his latest production, Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down. His songs’ lyrics are a statement on our current economic times, but the music offers a tour of the country’s musical heritage." Listen to those songs at marketplace.publicradio.org.

Cooder was the guest on the latest episode of Marketplace, which aired yesterday on public radio stations across the US. He stopped by the Marketplace studios in Los Angeles to talk with host Kai Ryssdal about the new album, the message a song can relate, and the impact it can make that other media may not.

"Guitarist Ry Cooder has collaborated with everybody from the Rolling Stones to Randy Newman and Neil Young," says Ryssdal. "It's his solo work, though, that has mostly defined his career. Albums like Into the Purple Valley from a long time ago and later Chávez Ravine were political as much as musical statements. What he thought about what was happening around us. He's now turned his attention to our current, not so great, economic situation and how we got here."

Listen to the complete interview to hear what Cooder has to say at marketplace.publicradio.org.

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The New Yorker's Alec Wilkinson has written an extensive appreciation of Cooder for the magazine's website that covers the many facets of the musician's career, including his recent Los Angeles trilogy of albums released on Nonesuch—Chávez Ravine, My Name Is Buddy, and I, Flathead—and offers a song-by-song look at his new album, Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down.  

"I can’t write briefly about Ry Cooder, the virtuoso guitarist who has a new record, Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down," writes Wilkinson. "Admiration for his accomplishments, his singularity, and the longevity and diversity of his career intervene. For more than forty years ... he has been a musician other musicians have followed closely, and no popular musician has a broader or deeper catalog. He has played songs so simple that they are hardly songs, and songs so complex that they would tax, if not overwhelm, the capacities of most lauded guitarists."

Read the complete article at newyorker.com.

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The Denver Post, in its record review, makes plain that, even as it makes a strong statement about significant issues, it remains a pleasure to listen to. "Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down doesn't sound like an angry record, with melodies that switch off between Appalachian folk and traditional Mexican music," writes reviewer Ricardo Baca. "This is a protest record at its core, but it sounds like a breezy and diverse Cooder album first and foremost." Read more at denverpost.com.