04-01-19 | Songs for Listening | Phil Cook
Bandleader and multi-instrumentalist Phil Cook picked tunes at Songs for Listening for Monday, April 1. Phil and his brother Brad, along with drummer Joe Westerlund, made up the band Megafaun. (A group they formed after their previous project, DeYarmond Edison, a band including the trio, plus Justin Vernon, split.) Megafaun was a wonderfully disorienting unit, made of roughly equal doses: old, weird America, American minimalism & the great American funk of Professor Longhair & George Clinton's Parliament-Funkadelic. This week at Songs for Listening will feature tunes picked by members and contributors to that fine band with Phil up first.
Since Megafaun disbanded, Phil has released a pair of full-band albums, Southland Mission and People Are My Drug, and just last week he put out a special compilation of instrumental recordings, As Far As I Can See. Phil has produced, composed, written for, and recorded on dozens of releases including albums by The Blind Boys of Alabama, Hiss Golden Messenger, Bon Iver, Matthew E. White, Amy Ray, and Alice Gerrard. Phil is a kind, lovely, and generous individual and, to boot, a profoundly gifted musician.
'There's a New World Coming' by Bernice Johnson Reagon from 'Give Your Hands to Struggle'
'The Homeless Wanderer' by Emahoy Tsegue-Mariam Gebrou from 'Ethiopiques, Vol. 21: Emahoy'
'I Think It's Going to Rain Today' by Nina Simone from 'Nina Simone & Piano'
'People Get Ready' performed by James Booker from 'Let's Make a Better World! (Live in Leipzig)'
'Lord's Prayer' performed by Cory Henry from 'The Revival (Live)'
