Joachim Cooder brings his debut Nonsuch album Over The Road I’m Bound to the Howard Assembly Room.
Cooder has been a sought-after percussionist for two decades now, on now-legendary recordings with his father, Ry Cooder, like the landmark Buena Vista Social Club sessions and with artists like Ali Farka Touré, who inspired Cooder to take up the mbira (a variation on an African thumb piano).
On the new album the songwriter and multi-instrumentalist uses the plain-spoken songs of country-music progenitor and banjo player Uncle Dave Macon as a jumping off point, playing with the lyrics and reworking melodies for his chosen instrument.
Family is at the heart of the project – as an impetus and as a theme – and Cooder enlists family members to join him as he explores and expands upon tunes that his father had played for him and that Cooder now sings to his young children.
Joachim’s Nonesuch labelmate and Howard Assembly Room favourite Sam Amidon will open the show.
★★★★ “Warm, uplifting and spectacular”
– Uncut
★★★★★ “Other-worldly textured layers of acoustic roots music at its most inventive and beguiling”
– Songlines
“A delight. An ethereal, electronica-tinged journey through the traditional repertoire.”
