Eli Cook Delivers A
Musical Whiplash With New Album
High-Dollar Gospel
Out August 18 On
C.R.8 Records Label Debut
“Mystifying” – John Mayall
“Everybody
knows the story of the crossroads, where blues guitarists go at midnight to
trade their souls to the devil for musical prowess. It’s just a myth, of
course, but if it were true, firebrand Eli Cook could have bragging rights, as
his scarifying solo-country blues chill like a hellhound on your trail.” - Guitar Player
(2007)
Eli
Cook is a mystifying soul. He’s a keen observer, a provoking thinker and has
swagger.
All
under that messy blonde hair is a passionate heart with fingers of silver and
gold that recalls John Lee Hooker, Chris Smither, and Chet Atkins, mixed in
with a dirty, grungy sound. It’s clean playing mind you; it’s just his fingers
are covered in the dirt left over from the crossroads.
High-Dollar
Gospel
preaches a high voltage bolt to your ears and shakes you loose.
Coming
from Albemarle County in Virginia at the
Foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Eli Cook grew up listening to the blues,
country, classic rock and alternative rock. He grew up with no TV and radio
shows like Prairie Home Companion were his Saturday night entertainment.
Life moves slowly in this rural area of the world giving him time to hone his
skills with his voice and guitar chops. At 18 he was opening up for B.B. King –
a few years later he’s playing in Canada – and then the next week he’s blending
in with his hometown locals. Talent like this shouldn’t go unnoticed, and Eli
has been smoldering in the underbelly for far too long.
“It’s what was around me, and I just tried to
pick up on everything and everybody, including Doc Watson and Chet Atkins. In
fact, hearing Chet fingerpick made me realize I didn’t need a band.” (Source: Guitar Player 2007)
Produced
by Eli Cook at Full Moon Recording Studios in VA, High-Dollar Gospel
opens up with a slow bang with “Trouble Maker” – taunting and questioning his
muse to join him. Acoustic picking and slide drive the classic hoedown
backs the cautionary tale “The Devil Finds Work.” The haunting “Mixing My
Medicine” contains the cavernous sound of a detuned custom 12-string guitar; an
instrument played famously by Leadbelly and Blind Willie McTell. Cook
slows down Muddy Waters’ melancholy “Can’t Lose What You Ain’t Never Had” into
a terrifying, heart of darkness lament, his voice reaching a bottomless depth
of sorrow. The orchestral 12-string guitar underscores the metaphoric boast of
“King Of The Mountain” that shows off Eli’s huge growl of a voice with its
anthem-like chorus is a showstopper.
“Got my spirit vision mama, she's
callin’ me
head-on collision when a heart
runs free
when I'm high, lordy people,
don't nobody mess me round
I seen every kind of evil; got to
get on out this town” – King Of The Mountain
High-Dollar Gospel isn’t all balls to
the wall, for his take on “44 Blues” is a brilliantly inventive version of
Howlin’ Wolf’s classic propelled by his tapping foot. Dylan’s “I’ll Be Your
Baby Tonight” is made less declamatory than the original as Cook slows and
lightens his approach without losing the romantic heat. He again flashes his
slide accompaniment skills on the jaunty “Month Of Sundays” in a poetic
entreaty to a paramour. (Click on Eli’s face for an acoustic performance of
“Month Of Sundays”)
Eli
Cook explains his album title as “I was brainstorming
ideas that would evoke the imagery of the American South. The phrase
‘high-dollar’ is an old one, and ‘gospel’ is the Southern church music that
brought us Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and
countless other iconic musicians. The two phrases
together can have several connotations, but the one I think of is the feeling
of disillusionment that seems to be more and more pervasive. I think a lot of
young people feel a sense of apathy and a loss in direction, generally
speaking. People need inspiration, and it seems like that is becoming harder to
come by.”
“He’s in the vanguard of young, 21st-century
blues rockers!” – Tinsley Ellis
The
growl in his voice shows off an emotional connection to the music as a tool
rather than decoration, and with your eyes closed, you could be listening to
Howlin’ Wolf or Chris Cornell. On Aug. 18with High-Dollar Gospel,
Eli shows you what you can’t imagine, something so strong and melodic, so don’t
be afraid to look and listen.
“Artists often talk about the blues as a living
and growing thing and not just a style of music fit for museums. Cook puts that
theory into practice and moves things forward.” - Slant Magazine
