Ry Cooder’s new album The Prodigal Son, was released on Friday, May 11, on Fantasy Records.
The same day he talked to the L.A. Times' Randy Lewis about making the record and going out on tour for the first time in a decade. The sessions, featuring a lot of old gospel and blues songs as well as some originals, started off with some atmospheric background tracks his son Joachim had been working on. The material includes a couple of Blind Willie Johnson songs, "Nobody's Fault But Mine" and "Everybody Ought to Treat a Stranger Right," Alfred Reed's "You Must Unload," Carter Stanley's "Harbor of Love" and the traditional gospel song "I'll Be Rested When the Roll Is Called."
Cooder and his band are playing the Vancouver Folk Music Festival July 13-15.