Cooder will perform in the illustrious company of Nick Lowe as part of a four-piece band. They play the Olympia on three consecutive nights, Wed 10, Thurs 11 and Fri 12 June, 2009.

In a thrillingly productive career spanning almost 40 years and 34 albums – beginning in 1970 with the music to the Nicholas Roeg film Performance (which starred Mick Jagger, James Fox and Anita Pallenberg) – Cooder has blazed an inspirational trail as a guitarist and musicologist, delving into roots music with a brilliant forensic eye, allied to a remarkable sensitivity (and, where appropriate, a fine sense of humour!).

He has won three Grammys, most recently in 1998, with the hugely successful Buena Vista Social Club, in which he explored Cuban music with local musicians, performances of which were filmed by German director Wim Wenders for a documentary and subsequently nominated for an Academy Award. He also received an honorary doctorate from Queens University in Ontario Canada, in 2000.

Cooder previously worked with Nick Lowe in Little Village, who released an eponymous album in 1991. Cooder first played Dublin in the late 1970s, when he brought the Chicken Skin Review – the line-up in which he first played with Mexican accordionist Flaco Jiminez, who also joins the line-up on this occasion – to Dublin for a memorable concert at the National Stadium. The four-piece band is completed this tour by Ry's son, Joachim Cooder, who has drummed on a number of his recent records.

Tickets for the fully seated show, promoted by Raglane Promotions, are priced €131.25, €116.25 & €96.25 incl booking fee, and go on sale this Friday December 19.

The Ry Cooder Anthology – The UFO Has Landed was released in October this year.