Ry Cooder and Nick Lowe's tour of Japan, New Zealand, and Australia begins at Zepp Hall in Nagoya, Japan, tonight. The concerts continue the series of performances the two began this summer with a three-week run through Europe that The Herald exclaimed "confirmed Cooder's status as the king of slide guitar." As with the European tour, Joachim Cooder will join on drums, and singer Juliette Commagere will return as special guest vocalist.

All along the Japanese leg of the tour, which includes a stop in Osaka and multiple nights in Tokyo, in addition to tonight's opener in Nagoya, audiences will receive a concert program (pictured at left), featuring behind-the-scenes photos of the performers plus a short text written by Ry giving a little taste of what to expect at the shows as only Cooder could.

Below, the author/guitarist offers Nonesuch Journal readers an advance look at his essay and, in his inimitable way, a glimpse of what's to come in the concerts ahead:

THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT

There’s a 1948 Chevy Fleetline, the one with the streamlined top, headed down a dark street somewhere in the outskirts of Tokyo. This is a car for the night time, when people are asleep in their beds. A woman alone in her tiny apartment is drinking gin. She has chronic insomnia. She looks out the window and sees the car cruise by on the street below. “What’s that car, what’s it doing here?” she says. There’s no one to answer, so she pours another glass. “Must be Gaijin men, up to no good,” she says.

The car stops behind a theater in the neighborhood. Three tall men get out and start unloading musical instrument cases. They take the cases inside the stage door. Two girls follow along behind them. Americans, and one Englishman. What are they going to play? Will it be big-time pop songs? 80s disco dance? Nashville country rock? Wagnerian operas? Answer: none of these. They will play guitar, bass, and drums, in a style they make up each time, each one watching the others for clues, for signs, and interpreting the clues and signs with each passing moment. They will also sing, and the girls will sing. How will it be? Nobody can say ahead of time. They will play and sing and do the very best job they can do, then disappear into the night in the Chevy Fleetline. Maybe, they will come back to another part of town later on and play some more. But it will be different. The audience will never know for sure.

The woman, who looks to be about 45, lights a cigarette. “Why can’t I sleep?” she says. The sound of music drifts by her second story window. “Must be the Gaijin men. I don’t know that song. What happened to our Japanese way? Whatever happened to Dick Mine? I think he used to live around here,” she says. “A long time ago.”

For tour dates and information, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour.