The first step was getting confident enough to step up and say what I wanted to say. I’ve never had the waves of self-doubt and terror that come with being responsible for the whole thing. How different did this feel from writing with the other bands you’ve played with? I’ve been a part of writing songs my whole life but I’ve never put my own name on them. I don’t know how traditional that is, but hey, I’ve only really written nine, man. I hear harmony a lot and that usually offers up a pretty good melody that goes on top of it. Because I’m an instrumentalist and piano player at my core, most things started on piano and then I transferred them to the guitar or vice versa. For me, the process starts on the back end. I would say that it’s probably not traditional compared to a lot of songwriters. What’s your typical songwriting process like? For whatever reason, I just started saying “yes” to a lot of things that were in my head, and I guess in the past I had mostly been saying “no.” Working with my heroes and then getting to be in their band for a few weeks, that process was really huge for me. The second was that I got to be bandleader on the Blind Boys of Alabama record. One was that I had a kid, and in that process a lot of things became clear about what my purpose on this planet is and I got a lot more serious about some things. A lot of things collided at the same time to start the ball rolling. That being true, it’s not like I’ve been writing this record my whole life. There are some things on there that are so old that I forgot about them.
I can trace some of the guitar parts to piano things I wrote when I was 14. How long had you been writing some of these songs for? When it was time to bring everyone into the studio to record, the parts were done, but everyone still played like themselves, which was what I wanted. Basically, long story short, I had parts to the songs for the last few years and then it all kind of snowballed when I went to a cabin in Virginia for four or five days and ended up demoing the whole record. They represent my first 36 years on this planet. They’re all my song! They’re the first nine songs I’ve written in my life. How much of the songwriting process for the album was collaborative? You played with a lot of different musicians on Southland Mission. We chat with the newfound songwriter about his studio team, the major life changes that led to the creation of this record and the magic of “Amazing Grace.” With help from members of Bon Iver, Sylvan Esso, Blind Boys of Alabama and more, Cook churned out a wonderfully honest record about American life.
North Carolina-based musician Phil Cook, who has played in bands like Hiss Golden Messenger, Gayngs and Megafun, decided to take an unusual approach to his first full solo album and assemble a massive supergroup of musicians to fill out his band.