Joachim Cooder checks in to Dreamer’s Motel
By WTJU
Date: 11/01/2024
Time: 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Joachim Cooder will stop by WTJU this Friday afternoon to go track by track through his latest album, “Dreamer’s Motel”, which is being released that same day. Sunset Road airs Friday afternoon from 4-6 at 91.1FM and streaming at wtju.net.
“Dreamer’s Motel” continues the exploration of the sonic possibilities of Cooder’s electric mbira (thumb piano) that he started with his first album ‘Fuchsia Machu Picchu’ and refined with his second album ‘Over that Road I’m Bound’, (a radical reworking of some of Uncle Dave Macon’s most iconic songs). The songs on ‘Dreamer’s Motel’ are conjured up from such diverse experiences in his life as repeatedly visiting a favorite beachside motel – now long gone- with his parents, watching a family dining at a Texas Roadhouse restaurant in Arkansas while he was on a cross-country road trip, having a set of spooky family heirloom dolls watch his daughter go careening off down the road to school in her grandpa’s old model A Ford, and saving an abandoned dog which became a beloved pet.
In addition to the electric mbira, Cooder also adds drums and percussion, and featured guests include Joachim’s dad, Ry Cooder, on guitars, mandolins and banjo, his wife Juliette Commagere (vocals) Rayna Gellert (viola), Kieran Kane (banjo), Glen Patscha (pump organ), Ben Peeler (pedal steel) and coproducer Martin Pradler (bass, piano, keyboard).
