Ry Cooder is about to get in touch with his feline side.

Ry Cooder

The veteran troubadour, know for his eclectic solo work and his collaboration with Cuban musicians for Buena Vista Social Club, has penned his forthcoming album, My Name Is Buddy: Another Record by Ry Cooder, from the perspective of a character named Buddy Red Cat.

The album, which hits stores March 6 on Nonesuch Records, details the life, rambles, and political education of the title character, but is more of a sociocultural/political look at a "vanishing America" through the eyes of the cat.

The album tells the story of Buddy ditching the comforts of home to hit the road in a quest both for self-discovery and to have his eyes opened to the realities of a troubled yet beautiful America.

Cooder is joined by old-time banjo legend Mike Seeger, his brother Pete, Roland White, Van Dyke Parks, Paddy Moloney, Flaco Jiminez, Stefon Harris, Cooder's son Joachim Cooder, and others.

Each of the new album's 17 songs is accompanied by a story/vignette written by Cooder and a drawing by noted artist Vincent Valdez.

My Name Is Buddy follows Ry Cooder's 2005 Grammy-nominated Chavez Ravine, a remembrance of a vanished neighborhood in Los Angeles.