Any Cooder fans out there? Ry Cooder has a new CD out. “My Name is Buddy.” Following is an interview with Cooder from Harp Magazine:

By Jeff Tamarkin
When Ry Cooder received a doctored photo in the mail, of a red cat in the guise of Leadbelly, he knew he had found a fitting sequel to Chavez Ravine, his 2005 musing on an L.A. lost to time. My Name is Buddy (Nonesuch) hits the road in search of truth, justice and the long-gone American way.

HARP: You went 18 years between solo albums, working on world music projects and soundtracks, and now you-ve done two definitively American albums in a row. What brought you back home?

It seemed that it was possible to write songs from the standpoint of these invented characters, these situations that interest me. The story was there; you could refer to real people, to fictitious people.

HARP: Although it’s set in the past, there’s a contemporary political undercurrent to My Name Is Buddy.

It’s all about everything that surrounds us. Buddy’s looking around and they won-t let him vote, they won-t serve him, he can-t even get a beer. And then he ends up on Cardboard Avenue, the American worker homeless and out of a job. Then the little farm girl takes him in; in other words, people have to look after each other [because] the institutions have failed. There’s nothing left but us.

HARP: What fascinates you about these defunct and disappearing worlds?

Because the world is crumbling. I-m struck by this at age 60. Who stole the country? What are you going to do about it? Some people write books. Some people make movies. But I think that it’s somehow satisfying and consoling to write songs and make records.

HARP: You haven-t toured in many years. Think you might do some shows to promote Buddy?

In -88, I threw in the towel and said this touring and stage performing has got to stop. I couldn-t deal with it. Besides which, am I really gonna get up onstage and say, “When I was just a kitten, my daddy told me, son…”?

HARP: This year marks the 10th anniversary of Buena Vista Social Club, the traditional Cuban music project that you masterminded. What was Buena Vista’s most lasting effect?

For me personally, as far as music’s concerned, it broadened my understanding at least a thousand percent. I consider myself to be a far better musician and musical thinker.

HARP: What could an American Idol contestant learn from listening to Buena Vista?

The media has created a final dumbing down of everything we-ve come up with. It’s no accident that American Idol appeared during the clown’s administration. When you destroy culture, you destroy the expression of culture, and certainly music is a very big cultural thing. So you-re gonna have American Idol and crap like that everywhere
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HARP: When was the last time you spoke to Captain Beefheart?

Probably the -70s. People always want to know about him. They come all the way from London just to ask me about Captain Beefheart. I mean, you flew on an airplane and got a hotel room and rented a car just for this?

The Rolling Stone Review is here.