![]() “So often, nowadays, I suddenly find myself onstage playing with someone I respect,” he says. The album-nine tracks of living, breathing, deeply human, Southern soul-finds Phil embracing his surroundings with lyrics of unity and compassion.īut the magic he’s felt out of the spotlight has never left him. “I want my kids to know the beauty of a garden with more than one kind of flower.” “We chose to raise our kids in a community with strong, female leaders and people of color,” he continues, noting his adopted home of Durham, N.C. We need to see ourselves in any mother, in any family.” “The problem will never be solved unless our society, especially the silent, white, sympathetic majority, are ready to break their silence. “ to me is the biggest window of empathy and growth,” says Phil. Its centerpiece is “Another Mother’s Son,” a meditation on police brutality, featuring the lyrics, “Police man let his pistol free/ and the poet ran to write a eulogy… But only mama, she holds all that silence.” People Are My Drug is a more sober take on the summer BBQ soul of Southland Mission. “We came in with confidence, and played from the gut, full of feeling,” says Phil. ![]() With the help of his touring band, he recorded People Are My Drug front to back in 10 days, split between Vernon’s studio and Brad’s backyard shed in North Carolina. White, The Blind Boys of Alabama and many others.Ī marathon of collaborations around 2013, “Opened up my brain and heart to the possibilities that maybe I could also run in the pack,” says Phil, “That I had my own things to say and contribute to the canon of American musical expression.” Phil’s journey from bandmate to frontman was a long one: his solo debut, 2015’s Southland Mission, arrived nearly two decades after he first stepped onstage and, in addition to his steady post in Hiss Golden Messenger, he has recently played with the Indigo Girls’ Amy Ray, Matthew E. The importance of a tight community never left Phil-and the theme is front and center on People Are My Drug, a warm, worn-in collection of gospel- infused, roots-rock and folk-blues tunes. “I’m so grateful to look back on the people I learned to play music with.” “We created this tribe back then, shining a light onto each other’s dark path of adolescence,” says Phil Cook, who continued to play music with Brad in Megafaun for years after DeYarmond Edison parted ways. Vernon’s Bon Iver remains one of indie-rock’s finest enigmas Brad is now an in-demand producer, player and manager and Phil has just wrapped his second solo record (not counting his 2011 instrumental album Hungry Mother Blues), People Are My Drug. The former members of beloved early 2000s band DeYarmond Edison hadn’t caught up in a bit. See all the articles posted so far here.Ī few months back, Phil Cook was sitting with his brother Brad Cook and Justin Vernon in the latter’s studio just outside of Eau Claire, Wis., cracking into a bottle of fine whiskey and some really beautiful sativa and listening to their teenage friendship play through the speakers. To commemorate the past 44 years of our existence, we’ve created a list of people, places and things that inspire us today, appearing in our September 2018 issue and rolling out on throughout this fall. The composition of the record plays as a love letter to Phil’s greatest inspiration of all: People.Welcome to the Relix 44. He heard Brevan Hampden's distinct sanctified tambourine in his head the whole time he was writing for the sessions. He imagined vocalist Tamisha Waden (Foreign Exchange) soaring above "Steampowered Blues" and turned to collaborator Amelia Meath (Sylvan Esso) to co-write Miles Away. His band The Guitarheels forged a common language touring the world with Cook and he crafted each new song with reverence for each players’ artistic brilliance. ![]() ![]() Since Southland Mission, Cook has performed with childhood heroes including Mavis Staples, Bruce Hornsby, John Prine, Amy Ray and The Blind Boys of Alabama. Each track asserts that he alone is no greater than the sum of the people who have brought him to this moment. Having only recently stepped to the center of the stage as a solo artist, Cook now takes a moment, citing the power of community as his thesis statement. With the arrival of People Are My Drug, Phil Cook is taking the spark from lights left on by musical heroes and offering a torch for listeners as they navigate their own dark corners. In present times, choosing to amplify community and positivity through art can seem like a radical act. ![]() Transforming pain and injustice into love and compassion is a rendering that has been universal to poets and prophets for centuries. ![]()
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