![]() Lowly Road is pure blues-gospel hypnotism with a neat little screamer of a riff. Sitting On A Fence Too Long cleverly forms the spine of the nine song album: "Don't want to die here in the middle, sitting on a fence too long." It's a sly stomp that becomes a sing-along (in concert, literally) that makes me want to hear Cook and company cover Black Water by The Doobie Brothers. But as his high-kicking performance showed time and again, Cook owns his material, bringing his deep knowledge of the American musical tapestry forward though commitment (that word again) and love. He didn't need to wear a Staples Singers t-shirt (though he was) to reveal his debt to Pops Staples, whose trademark shimmer gives deep roots to everyone from John Fogerty, Tony Joe White and Robbie Robertson. This was the tube amp Cook uses to get his signature over-driven, fiery guitar sound. ![]() There was actually an eighth member of the band, though it went un-introduced. It was beautiful to watch and the members of his seven-piece band were having as much fun as he was. And when I saw Phil launch his tour at Rough Trade last month he leapt into that solo like a man let out of a cage. After some bluesy strumming and a bit of barrel-house piano it busts out into an all-American gospel-inflected boogie, with fiddle, massed vocals, and a delirious slide guitar solo. The first song, Ain't It Sweet, bears this impression out immediately. Here was a guy coming out of the shadows, no longer hiding as either a session musician or band member, or behind his roots-music scholarship. For one thing, there was Phil, big as life on the cover, Buddy Holly glasses and all. It was being promoted as his first, although he had released some beautiful if studied work a few years ago under the name Phil Cook & His Feat. So when his new album, Southland Mission, was announced, I was primed. That was Phil Cook, as it happened, and his commitment was magnetic. I especially wanted to know who it was helping Taylor produce the hypnotic guitar weave of Southern Grammar and playing the sweet slide on Lucia. Taylor, the principal member of HGM surrounded by musicians who were just so into it that I had to know more. They were performing on WFUV so I dialed up the video and was stunned. I was in the first flush of infatuation (now a deep and abiding love) with Hiss Golden Messenger's brilliant Lateness Of Dancers, to which Cook contributed mightily. Then came a moment when Phil Cook became a real person to me, rather than just a hyperlinked name on a wide variety of Wikipedia posts. I was tracking all of this without totally falling down the rabbit hole, finding more satisfaction in Volcano Choir, another Justin Vernon side project.
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