Elizabeth Cook (born July 18, 1972) is an American country music singer and radio host. She has made over 400 appearances on the
Grand Ole Opry since her debut on March 17, 2000, despite not being a member. Cook, "the daughter of a hillbilly singer married to a moonshiner who played his upright bass while in a prison band",
was "virtually unknown to the pop masses" before she made a debut appearance on the ''
Late Show with David Letterman'' in June 2012.
''The New York Times'' called her "a sharp and surprising country singer" and an "idiosyncratic traditionalist".
Early life
The youngest of 12 children, Cook was born in
Wildwood, Florida
Wildwood is a city in Sumter County, Florida, United States. The population was 6,709 at the 2010 census. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2018 estimates, the city had a population of 7,024. Due to rapid growth the city had over 33,000 re ...
. Her mother, Joyce, played
mandolin and guitar and performed on radio and local television. Her father, Thomas, also played string instruments. He honed his skills playing upright bass in the
Atlanta Federal Penitentiary prison band while serving time for running
moonshine. In prison he learned welding; Cook would name her 2010 album ''
Welder''.
["Elizabeth Cook: Daughter Of A 'Welder'"](_blank)
interview/report by All Things Considered
''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...
host Melissa Block, May 18, 2010. Retrieved May 18, 2010. After his release from prison, he and Joyce began playing together in local country bands. Elizabeth was onstage with them when she was 4, singing material like songwriter John Schweers' "
Daydreams About Night Things", a 1975 hit for
Ronnie Milsap.
She formed a band when she was 9.
Cook graduated from
Georgia Southern University
Georgia Southern University (GS or Georgia Southern) is a public research university in the U.S. state of Georgia. The flagship campus is in Statesboro, and other locations include the Armstrong Campus in Savannah and the Liberty Campus in Hi ...
in 1996 with dual degrees in Accounting and Computer Information Systems.
Career
Cook moved to
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...
in 1996 to work for
PricewaterhouseCoopers
PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounti ...
. She got a publishing deal and ended up sleeping on the floor of the publishing house for three years while she worked on honing her craft, with ''The Blue Album'', which contained demo recordings she had made in Nashville, finally being released in 2000. She cut her major-label debut, 2002's ''
Hey Y'all'', for
Atlantic Records. ''Hey Y'all'' wasn't a success. After taking a shot at co-writing, Cook asked to be released from her contract. A proposed deal with
Sony Records subsequently fell through.
She released 2004's ''
This Side of the Moon'', which was eventually picked up by record label
Thirty Tigers
Thirty Tigers is an American entertainment company which offers music marketing, distribution, and management services to independent artists. It is based in Nashville.
History
The company was founded in 2002 by David Macias and Deb Markland ...
. It received positive reviews from ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' and ''
No Depression''. Produced by
Rodney Crowell
Rodney Crowell (born August 7, 1950) is an American musician, known primarily for his work as a singer and songwriter in country music. Crowell has had five number one singles on Hot Country Songs, all from his 1988 album '' Diamonds & Dirt''. ...
, ''
Balls'', which included a song Cook had written with songwriter
Melinda Schneider, "Sometimes It Takes Balls to Be a Woman", was released in May 2007. ''Welder'' featured appearances by
Dwight Yoakam
Dwight David Yoakam (born October 23, 1956) is an American singer-songwriter, actor, and film director. He first achieved mainstream attention in 1986 with the release of his debut album ''Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.''. Yoakam had considerabl ...
, Crowell and
Buddy Miller
Steven Paul "Buddy" Miller (born September 6, 1952) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist and producer, currently living in Nashville, Tennessee. Miller is married to and has recorded with singer-songwriter Julie Miller ...
.
Cook toured in America, as well as in South Korea, Japan, Norway, Sweden, Poland, France and the UK. She appeared at the
Cambridge Folk Festival
The Cambridge Folk Festival is an annual music festival, established in 1965, held on the site of Cherry Hinton Hall in Cherry Hinton, one of the villages subsumed by the city of Cambridge, England. The festival is known for its eclectic mix o ...
, the Maverick Festival and the Borderline in London. She has continued to play the
Grand Ole Opry, making over 400 appearances—the most by a non-member of the radio show.
She toured the UK in support of ''Welder'', performing 18 dates with her then-husband, guitarist and songwriter Tim Carroll, and her upright bass player
Bones Hillman
Wayne Stevens (May 1958 – 7 November 2020), known by the stage name Bones Hillman, was a New Zealand musician best known as the bass guitarist for the Australian alternative rock band Midnight Oil, which he joined in 1987 and remained with un ...
, formerly of
Midnight Oil.
Cook was invited by the
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in Bos ...
to sing the
national anthem
A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and Europea ...
before their 2011 home opener on April 8, 2011.
[Braves Opening Day: The Fredi G. Era begins]
". ''ajc.com'' (March 31, 2011). Retrieved April 1, 2011
At the suggestion of
Paul Shaffer
Paul Allen Wood Shaffer (born November 28, 1949) is a Canadian singer, composer, actor, author, comedian, and multi-instrumentalist who served as David Letterman's musical director, band leader, and sidekick on the entire run of both ''Late Ni ...
, Cook was invited in August 2011 to be a guest on ''
Late Show with David Letterman'', where she discussed satellite radio and growing up in Florida. She considered starring in a
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
sitcom about a single mother whose life is disrupted by the arrival of her criminal father, but the show never came to fruition. In June 2012 Cook returned to the ''Late Show'' to perform with
Jason Isbell
Michael Jason Isbell (; born February 1, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is known for his solo career, his work with the band The 400 Unit, and as a member of Drive-By Truckers for six years, from 2001 to 2007. Isbell h ...
. ''
American Songwriter
''American Songwriter'' is a bimonthly magazine covering songwriting. Established in 1984, it features interviews, songwriting tips, news, reviews and lyric contest. The magazine is based in Nashville, Tennessee.
History
The ''American Songwri ...
'' notes that they sang covers of
Townes Van Zandt
John Townes Van Zandt (March 7, 1944 – January 1, 1997) was an American singer-songwriter. 's "
Pancho and Lefty
"Pancho and Lefty", originally "Poncho and Lefty", is a song written by American country music singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt. Often considered his "most enduring and well-known song", Van Zandt first recorded it for his 1972 album '' The Late ...
" and "Tecumseh Valley". On March 14, 2013, she appeared a third time on the ''
Late Show with David Letterman'' and was interviewed by Letterman. She worked extensively with
Carlene Carter
Carlene Carter (born Rebecca Carlene Smith; September 26, 1955) is an American country music singer and songwriter. She is the daughter of June Carter Cash and her first husband, Carl Smith.
As of 2020, since 1978, Carter has recorded 12 alb ...
on Carter's tenth studio album, ''
Carter Girl''. On June 2, 2014, she appeared a fourth time on ''Late Show with David Letterman'', performing
Lou Reed's "
Pale Blue Eyes
"Pale Blue Eyes" is a song written and sung by Lou Reed and performed by The Velvet Underground. He recorded a demo with John Cale in May 1965. It was included on the band's 1969 album ''The Velvet Underground''.
Despite the name, "Pale Blue Eye ...
".
In 2016, Cook released her sixth studio album, ''Exodus of Venus''.
Starting in 2020, Cook began hosting ''Upstream with Elizabeth Cook'', a fishing show on the
Circle network.
On September 11, 2020, she released the album ''Aftermath''.
She can also be heard on select episodes of the
Adult Swim
Adult Swim (AS; stylized as dult swim'' and often abbreviated as s'') is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programmed by its in-house ...
series ''
Squidbillies
''Squidbillies'' is an American animated television series created by Jim Fortier and Dave Willis for Cartoon Network's late night programming block, Adult Swim. An unofficial pilot for the series aired on April 1, 2005. The series later made ...
'', where she voices Tammi.
Radio show
Cook hosts the mid-day radio show "Elizabeth Cook's Apron Strings" on the
Sirius XM radio
Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. It was formed by the 2008 merger of Sirius Sat ...
station
Outlaw Country. She has been nominated for two Ameripolitan Music Awards for her radio work.
Personal life
After ''Welder'' was released, she and Carroll divorced, and she lost her family farm. In addition, her father, mother, brother, mother-in-law and brother-in-law died during this period. She cancelled an upcoming tour and entered rehab.
Cook later said, "I needed some help. I did not feel like rehab was what I needed and I tried to desperately convince some key people around me that in that moment I needed intensive therapy and I probably needed medication. They cancelled the tour and said you can't go because we don't trust the state that you're in. You're saying you're not addicted to anything and you're saying you don't have an eating disorder but we don't know that". She was critical of the treatment she received during rehab.
Discography
Studio albums
Extended plays
Singles
Music videos
Guest appearances
Awards and nominations
Live radio appearances
* Bob Harris Country, BBC Radio 2, July 8, 2010. Cook performed 3 songs live: "All The Time", "El Camino", "My Heroin Addict Sister".
* The Back Road Radio Show, Indianapolis, IN 91.9FM WITT, Cook did a Live Interview/>
References
External links
*
*
Elizabeth Cook CMT artist mainElizabeth Cook Interview on The Back Road Radio Show in Indianapolis, Indiana on 6/2/2010Elizabeth Cook Once Again Graces 'The Late Show with David Letterman'
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cook, Elizabeth
1972 births
20th-century American singers
20th-century American women singers
21st-century American singers
21st-century American women singers
American country singer-songwriters
American women country singers
American women singer-songwriters
American people of English descent
Country musicians from Florida
Living people
People from Wildwood, Florida
Singer-songwriters from Florida
Warner Records artists
Thirty Tigers artists