The album kicks off on an upbeat note with “Ain’t It Sweet”, a song that wouldn’t sound out of place on an early ’70s Grateful Dead record, mostly due to its laid back populist sentiments. It’s exactly what one would expect of a musician who’s laboured so devotedly in the heartland and made his own mark in the process. Happily, the arrangements are kept simple and without fuss, making Southland Mission an unabashed set of rural revelry. Cook co-produced the album with his brother Brad Cook and engineer Jon Ashley (the War on Drugs, Dawes, Zac Brown Band, Avett Brothers) and then enlisted such notables as Justin Vernon, Matt McCaughan, Frazey Ford, and Matt Smith, among the many, to lend a musical assist. Not that he was alone in his mission, Southland or otherwise. Fortunately, the multi-tasker in him must have prevailed, because sure enough, Southland Mission arrives fully-formed and bearing all indication that Cook was completely dedicated to his purpose. Given that extensive workload, it’s amazing that he was able to find time to do an album of his own. White, Amy Ray, and Alice Gerrard, among the many. Indeed, Cook’s credits have appeared on albums by the Blind Boys of Alabama, Hiss Golden Messenger, Matthew E. Phil Cook’s been keeping himself busy over the course of the last several years, expanding his parameters from Eau Claire, Wisconsin to his home environs of Durham, North Carolina, and working with a wealth of musical talent who inhabit the terrain in-between.
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