I had never heard of Phil Cook until I found the video of his performance with Nnenna Frelon, which I posted just a couple of weeks back. While I've discovered that I much prefer his banjo work, I love what he does here on guitar. He doesn't sound like anyone else, which is far more than you can say for any and every currently working lead guitarist in, say, bluegrass. How refreshing!
Equally-refreshing is Cook's choice to cover gospel singer/songwriter, Washington Phillips, whose work -- especially lyrically -- was far ahead of its time.
This one's a little more typical of gospel lyrics. It wasn't written by Phillips, who popularized it, but by Charles Tindley. Nevertheless, it's a tune much covered in Americana circles. This is Phil Cook with "Leave It There".
Oftentimes, benefit concerts fall victim to less-than inspired collaborations, but a recent benefit for a North Carolina chapter of Habitat For Humanity saw one of the oddest yet most inspired pairings ever. Phil Cook's banjo is every bit as rich and expressive as Nnenna Frelon's vocals -- so much so that I wish there were more clips available from their set.
Here are jazz chanteuse, Nnenna Frelon, and banjoist, Phil Cook (Hiss Golden Messenger, Megafaun, Alice Gerard) with a dreamy, meditative version of the Stephen Foster standard, "Oh! Susannah".
