I was first introduced to Cooder’s music when he performed with Caitlin Canty in November 2023, so when it was announced that he’d be returning to NPT, I didn’t hesitate at the chance to see him perform again.
Expecting a couple hours of unique and beautiful acoustic music I was not disappointed. But the evening also turned into a subtle plea for peace and justice as opening duo, West of Roan – Channing Showalter, Annie Schermer, asked for a moment of silence to honor the people of Gaza and mourn the war victims.
Joachim took the stage shortly before 8pm, his mbira providing a stylistic counterpoint to West of Roan’s. After Annie’s and Channing’s intimate, uplifting though tranquil music, Cooder’s blues-based, uptempo melodies provided a welcome energetic contrast.
His set featured tunes from his 2020 release, Over That Road I’m Bound — The Songs of Uncle Dave Macon. Though known as a percussionist, his mastery of electric mbira produces unique, thrilling music. That mastery was enhanced by Rayna Gellert’s lovely violin and backup vocals as Cooder sang songs about trees, New Orleans, cars, and most importantly, family.
Blending traditional folk and blues with the mbira, a West African musical instrument, produces a pleasing drone overlaid with a driving melody and an unmistakable backbeat. “They consist of a wooden board (often fitted with a resonator) with attached staggered metal tines, played by holding the instrument in the hands and plucking the tines with the thumbs at minimum, the right forefinger – most mbira, and sometimes the left forefinger.
Unlike stringed instruments or air-column instruments like flutes, the overtones of a plucked lamella are inharmonic, giving the mbira a characteristic sound. The inharmonic overtones are strongest in the attack and die out rather quickly, leaving an almost pure tone. When a tine is plucked, the adjacent tines also create secondary vibrations that increase the harmonic complexity of an individual note.”
Cooder opened with Uncle Dave Macon’s, “Come Along Buddy,” the first of several tunes from Over That Road I’m Bound. Uncle Dave, known as the grandfather of country music and the Grand Ole Opry’s first bona fide star, is widely considered the link between 19th-century American folk and radio-based music of the early 20th-century.
The way Cooder performs these “old-timey” tunes on mbira revealed another, deeper connection recalling the African origins of blues and gospel. One can still hear echoes of Macon’s country twang but the mbira’s almost symphonic sound gave the songs an “international Americana” vibe.
Watch Joachim perform “Come Along Buddy” with several very special guests on YouTube:
Cooder reached back into his catalog for songs like “Throw Me Something Mister.” Inspired by New Orleans’ Mardi Gras celebration, it had that spooky, bluesy vibe one might associate with the Big Easy. That song, inspired by a family reunion, set a template for other songs performed this evening.
“Sight and Sound,” about a fast (and loud) car, grew out of the time Cooder’s young son remarked, “That engine made my heart move.” The show closer, Fuchsia Machu Picchu (from his 2018 album of the same name), is about cultivating beauty after the Cooder family realized the house they had bought was located at the former site of the town dump.
Watch Joachim Cooder perform “Fuchsia Machu Picchu” live in studio on YouTube.
The encore, Steve Earle’s “Christmas in Washington,” closed the circle for the evening’s (though unintentional) theme: peace and justice. A moving and many would say, timely, song “Christmas…” recalls the spirit of Woody Guthrie and on this Leap Day night reminded us how music, and especially live music, can be a spontaneous act of acknowledgement and truth.
He was born in Santa Monica in 1976 and grew up surrounded by music alongside his father, legendary guitarist Ry Cooder, who took his son on the road at an early age as a drummer.
Joachim has collaborated with iconic names like Johnny Cash, Ali Farka Touré, Mavis Staples, Steve Earle, John Lee Hooker, Dr. John, Nick Lowe and Buena Vista Social Club.
He released his most recent album Over That Road I’m Bound in 2020. The project is his interpretations of songs made famous by Appalachian banjoist Uncle Dave Macon.
In 2022 Joachim played drums and bass on his father and Taj Mahal’s Grammy-winning tribute to Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee ‘Get on board.’
