KEY POINTS:
Rating: * * *
The famed slide guitarist and sideman has been keeping busy since his profile rose with 1997's Cuban adventure, Buena Vista Social Club.
This enjoyable if daunting set completes Cooder's Californian trilogy following 2005's Chavez Ravine and 2007's My Name Is Buddy. Like its predecessors, which marked bygone eras in the Golden State's history, this one contemplates an era of salt flat drag races, dance halls, 60s country music and more. Often Cooder sings in character of fading racer and country singer "Kash Buk". Cooder/Buk neatly evokes the intended era on 5,000 Country Music Songs, and Johnny Cash, a soundalike tribute to the Man in Black.
As well as smoky lounge, swingin' country (the toe-tappin' Spayed Kooley), Cooder chucks in fleet-fingered mariachi (Filipino Dance Hall Girl) and rock retro-fitted for the wide open interstate (Pink-O-Boogie and Ridin' with the Blues).
There's also an accompanying novella by Cooder expanding on the songs' characters though it's not quite as involving as the album itself. It delivers its artistic concepts with an easy charm.
Russell Baillie
