Marc Ribot: Map of a Blue City
“Beautiful… This record really ups his game…(his) ability to mix artistic exploration with plain-spoken profundity in ways that very few artists have been able to pull off” - NPR Music
"Ribot needs no introduction. But nothing prepares us for Map of a Blue City... Beyond jazz, steeped in humanity... an album of the year." **** - Jazzwise Magazine
”Classy, uneasy listening.” - The Observer
"A subdued, compelling album... the intimate intensity of a midnight conversation." **** - MOJO Magazine
”Hopefully this won’t be Ribot’s only record like this—but in a career that spans nearly 50 years, he prefers to keep listeners on their toes.” - Brooklyn Vegan
”Inspirational guitarist for Waits, Costello et al steps forward as a dusky singer-songwriter dispensing gnarled 2am wisdom in a variety of genres from desert blues to drum ‘n’ bass.” - Uncut Magazine
"Map of a Blue City is the closest Ribot has gotten to a singer-songwriter album. It suits him." - The Wire
"...likeably dry, fatalistic, musically sparse yet lush." - The Arts Desk
Decades in the making, Map of a Blue City was released on May 23, 2025 via New West Records. The 9-song set was produced and mixed by Ben Greenberg based on original studio sessions produced by Hal Willner, as well as home recordings. Most renowned as a wildly inventive guitarist who has collaborated with Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, John Zorn, Wilson Pickett, Marianne Faithfull, Caetano Veloso, Solomon Burke, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Neko Case, among many, many others, Map of a Blue City features Ribot’s imaginative playing and leads to what may be his definitive statement as an instrumentalist, as a songwriter, and even as a singer. While it’s not a traditional singer-songwriter album, it is his first to center his plaintive, wise voice quite so prominently throughout. Map of a Blue City showcases songs colliding disparate traditions: roots, bossa nova, no wave, noise, free jazz, and sounds that have no genre associations. Mostly featuring original compositions, the collection includes Ribot’s rendition of the Carter Family’s “When the World’s on Fire” as well as his treatment of Allen Ginsberg’s 1949 poem, “Sometime Jailhouse Blues.”
Marc Ribot has been living with Map of a Blue City for nearly thirty years. He wrote some of the songs in the 1990s and made home recordings that were all the more intimate and immediate for being so lo-fi. Other projects demanded his attention, but he never really abandoned the album. The songs just wouldn’t leave him alone. He says, “I just had an affection for them, so I never forgot about them. I wasn’t working on them constantly, but every once in a while I would take another lunge at finishing them.
Map of a Blue City ruminated on what it means to be lost—the confusion and fear, of course, but also the excitement of so many undreamt-of possibilities. Its history is an odd map of its own, full of false starts, blind alleys, and dead ends. The album bears the weight of its history gracefully, incorporating recordings made over nearly half of his life and reflecting on how he got to this particular moment. “Working on this album for so long, I’ve seen the world change dramatically and not really change at all. Some of the issues today are the same ones I thought about when I was just starting the album, but some are things I couldn’t have dreamt of at the time. But I think that’s why I was so determined to get the production values right. Recording production is really complicated, but it all boils down to what kind of room the listener feels they’re standing in. There are some hard truths and cold observations in these songs. I wanted the room to be small enough so that we couldn’t turn away; but warm enough to feel like you’re hearing it from a friend.”
Videos:
Album Info:
Lyrics & Album Credits
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Press:
The Guardian: Feature HERE
The New York Times: “Daddy’s Trip to Brazil” The Playlist HERE
NPR Music: New Music Friday Episode HERE
Kreative Kontrol with Vish Khanna Podcast: Episode HERE
BBC6 Sunday Mornings with Cerys Matthews: Interview HERE
WNYC: “All of It with Alison Stewart” Episode HERE
WNYC: “Soundcheck” with John Schaefer Episode HERE
Uncut Magazine: “My Life in Music” Feature HERE
Brooklyn Vegan: Album Announcement News HERE
Stereogum: Album Announcement News HERE
Relix: “Daddy’s Trip to Brazil” Piece HERE
The Observer (UK): Album Review HERE
Jazz Times: Feature HERE
Record Store Day Podcast: Episode HERE
Le Devoir (Montreal): Feature HERE
Magnet Magazine: Track x Track Feature HERE
Brooklyn Vegan: Album Review HERE
Rockdelux: Album Review HERE
At the Barrier: Album Review HERE
13th Floor: Album Review HERE
Tour Dates:
2025
Marc Ribot: Map of a Blue City (Record Release Tour)
USA
June 11 - Brooklyn, NY Roulette
Sept 3 - Madison, WI Art Lit Lab
Sept 4 - Milwaukee, WI Vivarium
Sept 5 - Minneapolis, MN Cedar Cultural Center
Sept 6 - Evanston, IL Evanston Folk Festival
Sept 24 - Marlboro, NY The Falcon
Sept 25 - Portland, ME Space
Sept 26 - Boston, MA City Winery
Sept 27 - Amherst, MA The Drake
Sept 28 - Fairfield, CT SHU Community Theater
Sept 29 - Philly, PA Solar Myth
Sept 30 - Philly, PA Solar Myth
Oct 3 - San Francisco, CA Hardly Strictly Bluegrass
Oct 4 - Portland, OR Jack London Revue
Oct 5 - Seattle, WA Tractor Tavern
Oct 7 - Los Angeles, CA Zebulon
EUROPE
Oct 17 - Skopje/NK Skopje Jazz Festival
Oct 22 - Tampere/FI G Livelab
Oct 23 - Helsinki/FI G Livelab
Oct 24 - Milan/IT Auditorium del CPM
Oct 25 - Torino/IT - Folkclub
Oct 27 - Bristol/UK The Lantern
Oct 28 - Manchester/UK Band on the Wall
Oct 29 & 30 - London/UK World Heart Beat
Oct 31 - Barcelona/ES - Estaperlo Club del Ritme
Nov 1 - Berlin/DE - Berlin Jazz Festival
Nov 2 - Amsterdam/NL - Bimhuis
Nov 4 - Pula/Croatia - Jazzbina