"There is a feeling in the stories, as in much of his music, that something is being documented; that voices, and personal histories, are being preserved not for posterity, but against annihilation by some overriding and corrupted power."

"Cooder's Los Angeles Stories are noir-infused, glamour-free portraits of working class loners, drifters, bums, musicians (both real and fictional), and numerous other fringe types. Each speaks with his or her own individuated, idiom-riddled (but cliché-free) patois."

David Ulin's interview with Ry Cooder (LA Times) was syndicated, and ran in the Chicago Sun Times.

Read an excerpt from Ry Cooder's short story collection, Los Angeles Stories!

"What Cooder's getting at, that elusive 'it,' is the authenticity of old Los Angeles, a 'nothing place,' and yet one with its own history and style. This is what he has built his work around these last several years, and what he continues to want to explore, the handmade world of people who 'aren't fancy talkers and thinkers. They don't ride any wave. They're just there. But if you go to any of those little houses, they'll tell you some stories. People will tell you the most amazing things.' "

"Each tale has a title and a date, and early to mid-50s seems to be Cooder's oeuvre. Some of the stories echo each other as characters (or at least names) reappear. The links are tenuous except that they all take place in the City of Angels and all involve people involved in shadowy activities -- musicians, gun shop owners, pornographers, thieves, and all sorts of women."

Enter your favorite protest song in the Truthdig contest, and one winner will get a copy of Ry Cooder's new album along with his new book, Los Angeles Stories!

Read an excerpt from Ry Cooder's new book, Los Angeles Stories.

"No matter how much music he made or how much moving he did, [Cooder] couldn't escape from the ghosts of old LA that haunted him year after year. With encouragement from his wife, he decided to exorcise them by writing a kind of ghost story about the city that once was."