![]() ![]() ![]() It’s delivered honestly, emotionally, and above all spiritually, tracing to Cook’s work with Mavis Staples and as Musical Director for The Blind Boys of Alabama. The album was recorded in Cook’s home state of Wisconsin and recently adopted home state of North Carolina in a mere ten days. Cook wrote or co-wrote four the ten, collaborating with Meath (Sylvan Esso) on “Miles Away.” Of the other six, he notably covers Randy Newman’s “He Gives Us All His Love” and Allen Toussaint’s “Life,” using Richmond’s NO BS! Brass Band to give it the proper NOLA treatment. Besides Waden and Brown, Amelia Meath, Molly Sable, and Alexandra Sauser-Monnig add backgrounds. The array of female voices often sounds like a choir with several tracks featuring as many as four or five of them. Cook dubbed his band the Guitarheels, comprised of drummer JT Bates, bassist Michael Libramento, and pianist James Wallace. The communal spirit of the album is apparent in the sound before you learn that his brother Brad Cook is the producer. Within my mortal body and experience, this music is my church.’’ The payoff when Mountain Man enter at the end of the double-time chant makes me cheer every time. Tamisha Waden and Chastity Brown’s vocal expressions are stunning. Lyrically, it’s playful in a way I can get behind. The left-right bass lines get my feet stepping, whereas the drums channel by hip movements and weightless carefree melodies often coax my arms from my side to the sky. The informality proves engaging for Phil Cook’s People Are My Drug, a work that taps into Cook’s affection for NOLA rhythms and his drawing together many voices.Ībout the moving opening track, “Steampowered Blues,” Cook comments, “I’ve long been drawn to the swing and swagger of New Orleans’ step rhythms. Phil Cook delivers the kind of informal gospel-flavored album you could easily associate with a southern church or simply a bunch of friends singing on a back porch. ![]()
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