Phil Cook - All These Years - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Wake's debut album offers up a refreshing blend of Celtic & contemporary music, from the haunting & evocative title track to the poignant sentiment of InchTime to Go.Inch the arrangements are well-balanced, giving an equal emphasis to the compelling voice of Cecelia Jones & the predominantly acoustic accompaniment.

In the Fall of 2022, Phil Cook found himself living alone in a small homeat the edge of field and forest in North Carolina's Piedmont. For most ofCook's life he lived near the hearts of the towns he had called home,near the groan of traffic and hubbub of coffee shops. Such closequarters helped make the gregarious Cook a prolific collaborator, fromco-founding Megafaun to working with The Blind Boys of Alabama, BonIver, Hiss Golden Messenger, and endless others. But Cook's closestneighbor now was a trailhead, so he went and listened, enraptured firstby the stillness and then by the manifold birds. He began leaving hiswindowsill slightly cracked each night, so that the dawn chorus greetedhim. Cook began recording these tangled bird songs, and he slowlyjoined them. With the sun finally high, Cook would listen to the day'srecordings and improvise in real time on the instrument that remains thefirst and most steadfast love of his musical life, the piano.When Cook left that cabin after a year, he moved into a home of his ownin Durham, with plenty of space for his two boys to play and forsomething he'd never actually owned-a proper piano. Over the nextseveral months, Cook spent untold hours drilling down on these pieces.During lessons with the Southern gospel great Chuckey Robinson, thepianist had challenged Cook to sustain fewer notes, to stop cloudingand crowding his melodies by using the instrument's pedals ascrutches. His music suddenly had more clarity, with the sounds and thefeelings they ferried given more room to function. Cook dug into thedanger and delight, into the idea that we twist our bodies into knotstrying to understand what is best for our hearts.In April 2024 Cook returned to Wisconsin's Chippewa Valley where hewas raised. His lifelong friend and bandmate, Justin Vernon, had justfinished an overhaul of April Base, the studio compound where Cookhas worked on

Jean Young has been writing songs for children to sing since her own children (featured on the CD jacket!) were young. Her family's backpacking trips to the Adirondacks inspired these twelve new songs, all about the adventures and animals that can be found when you get out into the woods. Amy Conley, who first heard the songs when Jean shared them at a Music Together directors' conference, suggested creating this CD. She contributes her singing and her many instrumental talents, on banjo, guitar, ukulele, dulcimer, and harmonica. Jean, who has a background in Orff Schulwerk, adds her own voice, plus xylophone, glockenspiel, and recorder. Jean and Amy are joined by six members of Jean's children's choir from Community Unitarian Church in White Plains, NY. The choir premiered many of the songs in Sunday services at the church. They were honored to sing 'Cedar Waxwing', accompanied by Pete Seeger on banjo and JIm Scott on guitar, at a benefit concert at CUC this spring. The songs in this collection will appeal to many audiences. Camp directors will happily pass along the safety tips of 'In a Canoe.' Science teachers will love all the animal facts, especially the detailed bird descriptions in 'Great Blue Heron/ Snowy Egret.' Classroom teachers will find 'Something is Hiding' excellent for teaching rhyming words and 'We're Off to Climb a Mountain' a great memory game. Choir directors and music educators will appreciate the introduction to blues harmonica and to part singing 'See the Otter' is a call and response song; 'Bats' is a 2-part canon; 'Cedar Waxwing' verse and chorus are partner songs; 'A Beaver' layers multiple speech chants and melodic ostinati. Parents trying to lull restless children to sleep will find 'Wilderness Lullaby' very helpful, and kids everywhere will delight in laughing along with 'Loon Serenade' and making a mud bath to battle 'Mosquitoes.' Jean u