Scott Cook

Artist Information

Biography

If you listen well, lifelong traveler and musical hobo Scott Cook's new album may remind you just how rare a commodity honesty is in today's music scene. There's an awful lot of talk about it, but very few songwriters really wear their hearts on their sleeve, and even fewer do it with such lyrical craftsmanship and raw feeling as you'll hear on this record.

It has been four years and a lot of roads traveled since Scott Cook traded in his job teaching kindergarten in Taiwan for a full-time living as a musician on the road in North America. Between booking, promoting and playing over 150 dates a year, touring back and forth across the continent while living out of his van, he's managed to release three self-produced albums: 2007's Long Way to Wander, 2009's This One's on the House, and his newest "love letter to the world", 2011's Moonlit Rambles. This latest collection of songs shows the prairie balladeer in fine form, deepening his craft and raising the stakes. Three-part harmonies, touches of electric, acoustic and tenor guitars, accordion, fiddle, organ, dobro, and pedal steel colour the arrangements, but at the heart of things is a mellow fingerstyle groove and a plain-spoken clarity that's rarely heard these days.

Scott has toured extensively in North America and Taiwan, including appearances at Taiwan's Spring Scream Festival (8 times) and Peace Festival (4 times), Canada's North Country Fair (7 times), South Country Fair (3 times), Fred Eaglesmith's Southern Picnic (2 times), Pembina River Nights (2 times), Sasquatch Gathering (6 times), Islands Folk Festival, ArtsWells (3 times), Robson Valley Music Festival (3 times), Michigan's Earthworks Harvest Gathering (4 times) and New York's Hoot on the Hudson with Pete Seeger, as well as legendary venues like the Sidetrack Cafe in Edmonton, the Ironwood in Calgary, the Railway Club in Vancouver and the Cameron House in Toronto.

Tunes, tour dates, and hobo travelogue can be found on http://www.scottcook.net.

Folks say:

"Scott Cook has distilled his travels down into songs powered by a sharp eye for imagery, a healthy dose of humanity, and that unforgettable voice, that at the same time intones the rigors of the road and the most comfortable couch you have ever slept on." -David Francey, 3x Juno Winner

"Moonlit Rambles is like a conversational bottle of Jack passed around a dawn fire, everything burning just right." -SEE Magazine, Edmonton

"Edmonton-based songwriter Scott Cook belongs to that fine tradition of traveling minstrels like Woody Guthrie... it's a good solid disc he's produced himself with lots of good players... Cook is definitely a writer to keep an eye on. Strong, decent stuff." -Barry Hammond, Penguin Eggs

"Basically, this is exactly the kind of act you'd be happy to stumble down the hill or through the birches and hear at a music festival... warm like a campfire, familiar like the lake down the road... deep-thinking, introspective stuff" -Fish Griwkowsky, The Edmonton Sun

"His music has the ability to transport one instantly to a space of campfire-lit, creek-dipping radiance. Listening to this album is perennially serendipitous--like one is chancing upon a well-traveled old soul by the fireside, whose stripping-away-the-veneer knowledge of the world is never jaded, but always innocent." -Monica Chattaway, CKUA Radio

Instrumentation

Jesse Dee - Backing Vocals, Lead Guitar
Jacquie B - Backing Vocals, keyboard, Accordion
Moses Gregg - Bass
Matt Blackie - Drums, Backing Vocals

Discography

Scott Cook - Moonlit Rambles, 2011
Scott Cook - This One's on the House, 2009
Scott Cook - Long Way to Wander, 2007
The Anglers - A Quarter Ounce of Prevention, 2003

Links

• Facebook
• Twitter
• MySpace

Audio

• scott cook-goin up to the country
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• scott cook-high and lonesome again
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• scott cook-song for a pilgrim
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• Carving Stone
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• Fish Jumpin
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Lyrics

• Carving Stone
• Fish Jumpin
• Song For a Pilgrim
• Goin Up to the Country
• High and Lonesome Again

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• The Edmonton Sun [+ Show ]
  

  "Basically, this is exactly the kind of act you'd be happy to stumble down the hill or through the b..."Basically, this is exactly the kind of act you'd be happy to stumble down the hill or through the birches and hear at a music festival... warm like a campfire, familiar like the lake down the road... deep-thinking, introspective stuff"

• The Edmonton Journal [+ Show ]
  

  "Long Way To Wander resonates with a Dylan-esque verve, a Waits-ian post-modernity, Cook baring his ..."Long Way To Wander resonates with a Dylan-esque verve, a Waits-ian post-modernity, Cook baring his soul in public for all to hear. The songs mostly revolve around Cook's strings - guitar, banjo, ukelele - and his low, booming voice... His observations are spot-on and often funny, and places and people come to life vividly, whether Cook is singing about his grandmother in Alabama or about being lost somewhere in the middle of Asia... Long Way To Wander represents a huge leap forward for a singer-songwriter who has many more stories to tell."

• AnE Vibe, Toronto [+ Show ]
  

  4 Stars Reviewed By: Kindah Mardam Bey Scott Cook goes to show you what talent and a banjo can...4 Stars
  
  Reviewed By: Kindah Mardam Bey
  
  Scott Cook goes to show you what talent and a banjo can do; in fact he shows that a man with talent and a banjo can make far more beautiful music than something shiny and blitzy and over produced. Sometimes you want to wear dress up and other times you want to slip into something comfortable, Cook's album Long Way To Wander is the latter.
  
  Somewhat reminding me of Johnny Cash or Bob Dylan in style, but a deep lush vocal (did he play Baloo in Disney's The Jungle Book?) that makes a song a story every time. Aside from his voice, Cook's lyrics are beautifully constructed tracks of patchwork quilt stories within an entirely concrete and realist perspective. Cook is as memorable as Waylon Jennings, but without the country twang, even with instruments like banjos, harmonicas, hand drums, ukuleles and the like, Cook manages to keep his music away from the country category. What Cook's music can be defined as is undeniably genuine.
  
  Long Way To Wander is best set for a laidback day, when you decide to do nothing much and care very little about your lack of `productivity.` It is delightful to hear a distinct style from an album, particularly from someone who has just recently decided to follow the journey of his music with whole heart. Separating track by track accounts each song would be useless, because each song is unique but equally as caressing, soothing, and memorable as its predecessor.

• CKUA Radio [+ Show ]
  

  "His voice is Tom Waits, his sensibilities are Bob Dylan, Kerouac, and Walt Whitman, and his music i..."His voice is Tom Waits, his sensibilities are Bob Dylan, Kerouac, and Walt Whitman, and his music is a mixture of folk, rhythm and blues, country, bluegrass and reggae. Being a writer as well as a musician, his songs are rich, atmospheric stories about his geographical and philosophical journeys... His music has the ability to transport one instantly to a space of campfire-lit, creek-dipping radiance. Listening to this album is perennially serendipitous – like one is chancing upon a well-traveled old soul by the fireside, whose stripping-away-the-veneer knowledge of the world is never jaded, but always innocent."

• Vue Weekly, Edmonton [+ Show ]
  

  Even though our winter has been far from menacing this year, there’s no better way to warm up the Ja...Even though our winter has been far from menacing this year, there’s no better way to warm up the January blahs than throwing a hot reggae party. The Anglers—who split their time between Edmonton and Taiwan—are more of a roots/funk/jam band than a reggae act, but they fit the bill perfectly nonetheless. Alternating between an acoustic guitar and a banjo, frontman Scott Cook led the steamy crowd of dreadlocked dancers along like a barefooted pied piper with his eclectic mix of musical styles. At the heart of it all was an undeniable groove and a message of universal love that gave the night a warm fuzzy vibe even a cynical old bastard like myself couldn’t ignore.

• Taipei Times, 2008 [+ Show ]
  

  On a steel horse he rides By Alita Rickards CONTRIBUTING REPORTER Friday, Apr 18, 2008, Page 15 ...On a steel horse he rides
  By Alita Rickards
  CONTRIBUTING REPORTER
  Friday, Apr 18, 2008, Page 15
  
  The image of a lone man on a motorcycle with a guitar slung over his shoulder, cruising down the highway and living on rock and roll, is undeniably romantic. Even more so when it's not an image from a movie or the distant past, but is the simple existence of a simple man who is accessible, here and now.
  
  Scott Cook is a wandering poet/singer/musician who is currently on tour in Taiwan, driving from town to town, from Kenting to Taipei and everywhere in between. He writes often of life on the road: Listen to that old, cold steel engine roar/ Going where I've never been before.
  
  This is a solo tour, though he also has some dates scheduled when he will be playing with his well-known band, The Anglers. For the last year he has toured extensively in his home country, Canada, where he got his "first inkling that things would turn out and that this could be sustainable."
  
  Cook will be doing another round from Vancouver Island to Halifax and back through the US on his return.
  
  When we spoke during Spring Scream he was very excited and happy to be back in Taiwan, and expressed an obvious affection for the country and his many friends and fans here.
  
  "I love this place," he said in a phone interview on Monday. "I love it because it's free, and I hope it stays that way."
  
  On Sunday, Cook staged an impromptu show in Taichung, relying on friends he had made here previously to spread the word: "It was so sweet, we set up a show with only a few hours' notice, and a flurry of text messages went around and filled the place."
  
  He was on the road when we spoke and by tonight will have played in Tainan, Chaiyi, Pingtung and Kaohsiung. He's excited and says he "hopes to see monkeys" on the trip.
  
  Many of Cook's songs are about traveling and wanderlust; his feelings about taking the Southern Cross-Island Highway for the first time sound like the lyrics from the title track of his new solo album Long Way to Wander: One of these days I'll go rollin' back/ To all the things I left lying around/ For now I'll keep on wandering along/ Long way to go, don't know where I'm bound.
  
  Tomorrow he'll be in Hualien at the Pine Grove Center (松園別館) for a Peacefest pre-party from 5:30pm to 8pm with Mister Green, and The Admissionaries.
  
  On Wednesday, he'll be playing, along with other musicians, at Bliss in Taipei. Then on Thursday, he plays a set in Shijr City (汐止) at the Dream Community (夢想社區). Cook is planning a performance with the Anglers in Taipei next Friday, April 25, but as of press time has not secured a venue, and in Taichung on Saturday, April 26, at 89K. A few more shows are in the works, and his farewell gig is on Wednesday, April 30, at Bliss.
  
  Cook starts his solo shows with folk songs, playing ukulele and guitar for his first set. The second set involves the use of a loop station, so he can layer sound to create what he calls "hobo hi-fi." The second set has elements of reggae and hip-hop, but what stands out most in all of his music is his rumbling, rambling, growling vocals and original lyrics.
  
  In person Cook is incredibly welcoming, charming, and laidback. There is a warmth and sincerity about him that you hear in his music, which is why he has so many fans. The songs on Long Way to Wander relay his experiences with an intimacy that is both poetic and accessible.
  
  He sings of a long-distance journey across North America by bus that anyone who has traveled this way can relate to: There were Bible-belters arguing their doctrinal schisms/ There were also rednecks advocating vigilante-ism/ We were just outside of ludicrous and headed for profound/ On that armpit-smelling, leg-cramping, smoke-colored Hound.
  
  Both Long Way to Wander and Cook's previous album with the Anglers, A Quarter Ounce of Prevention, are filled with songs that are so relaxed and honest they make any day seem like a long Sunday afternoon. But there is nothing like seeing this artist perform them live, standing alone in front of you or surrounded by other musicians, living his dream.
  

• SEE Magazine, Edmonton [+ Show ]
  

  By the time the Anglers took the stage, emotions were already running high. As entranced bodies bobb...By the time the Anglers took the stage, emotions were already running high. As entranced bodies bobbed up and down, the room became filled with a mass of swirling hair and excited hands pointing upwards. For a band separated by vast distances for the better part of the year--frontman Scott Cook makes a living teaching in Taiwan while bassist Darryl Els commutes between Alberta's dusty plains and his home in South Africa--they delivered an incredibly tight set that lit up the Sidetrack. Cook's spot-on reggae vocals had a way of latching on to your cerebral cortex, sending universal shivers coursing through your spine until your feet answered the call. Coupled with Els' pulsating acoustic bass lines, Cook's roots-tinged reggae songs spread smiles through the crowd as quickly as the common cold (which they both probably caught as they performed the whole set in true exotic fashion, barefoot).

• Moonlit Rambles CD review [+ Show ]
  

  A second sating and gushing source of water in the Edmonton landscape comes to us from Scott Cook, w...A second sating and gushing source of water in the Edmonton landscape comes to us from Scott Cook, whose new album is responsible for some barbed conflict in my path right now. The troublesome song is “Goin Up to the Country,” a love ballad for North Country Fair, which fate would keep me from in ‘11. But Cook’s lyrics about meeting old friends and hanging out with Carolyn Mark are working their dark magic. Other places can wait, you know?
  
  Cook’s easygoing, hardworking-hippy ideology is the sinew in every song here, from an ultra-sentimental tribute to his grandfather Ray to a killer honky-tonk jingle called “The Lord Giveth (and the Landlord Taketh Away).” Cook might get a little too romantic — you almost feel like you’re intruding into a shared sleeping bag, but as one of the most genuine writers making music in town there’s no question he means every word, even if he’s a little mean to fellows with moustaches. Who’s to say they’re always ironic? Sometimes a person might just have a cold upper lip.
  
  Above all, warmth, though. Moonlit Rambles is like a conversational bottle of Jack passed around a dawn fire, everything burning just right. To get to know it is to know a good man and his well-worn guitar.
  
  -Fish Griwkowsky

Setlist

Original songs and stories, plus lesser-known covers by friends of mine like Corin Raymond, Jonathan Byrd and Geoff Berner, and others I admire like Greg Brown, Bob Dylan, John Prine, and Hank Williams.

Basic Requirements

Calendar