On his Nonesuch Records debut, Over That Road I’m Bound, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Joachim Cooder 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: an electric mbira (a variation on an African thumb piano).

Cooder culled songs from Macon’s vast catalogue and recorded them with his band and special guests: Ry Cooder (banjo, guitar, bass, backing vocals), Rayna Gellert (fiddle), Juliette Commagere (backing vocals), Sam Gendel(bass), Glenn Patscha (piano and pump organ), Amir Yaghmai (yalitambur), Dan Gellert (banjo and fiddle), and Vieux FarkaTouré (guitar). Macon was arguably as seminal a figure in the evolution of American music as Jimmie Rodgers, his place in the pantheon affirmed by Ken Burns’ recent country documentary series. In the early twentieth century, the Tennessee native was a major star, one of the earliest regulars on the Grand Ole Opry.

Born in 1870, Macon built a repertoire of music from the latter part of the nineteenth century and revived it for the early twentieth century ears: minstrel show and vaudeville tunes, folk songs, and spirituals, gleaned from fellow travellers both Black and white.