Corinne Cook may not be familiar to you, yet, but with the power of her latest CD, Dressed Up for Goodbye, she soon will be. With a voice reminiscent of early Faith Hill, and the sassiness of Kellie Pickler, Cook is making a name for herself in Music City.
The title of the album is ironic in that although it is full of songs about heartbreak and goodbye, it also serves to say hello to a dynamic new voice on the indie country music scene. Cook has had some success from her earlier albums, including a #1 song (“Uninvited Guest”) and a #4 song (“I’m Not Shy”) on the Inside Country chart.
Unlike when she recorded her first two albums and lived in California, Cook now resides in Music City. As such, she had more time to spend on the entire process of writing and recording. This also allowed her to choose and record songs that not only did she like but which also allowed her to share chapters of her life story.
Another advantage to living in Nashville was the opportunity to work with its elite songwriters and studio musicians. Among those elite are The Warren Brothers (Brett and Brad), who wrote or co-wrote six of the tracks, and her producer, Denny Martin, who co-wrote three more. The final two tracks she found through the Song Matchmakers Network. Of those two tracks, “I Don’t,” a powerful duet with Paul Scott, a former opera singer, is one of the best tracks on the album. Other songs worthy of consideration include the title track, “Little Miss Understanding” and “Who.”
According to her official bio, Cook was born in Walnut Creek and raised in the Central California towns of Tracy and Escalon, surrounded by a family that was intensely musical. According to Cook, she doesn’t “remember a time when I wasn’t singing.” Her family had many jam sessions with her mom on guitar, her step-dad on bass and her brother using the chairs for drum while she sang. Although initially too shy to perform in public, she overcame that shyness and began performing in choir from middle school on, as well as solo performances in high school. Singing also became a part of her time in the Air Force where she served four years during the Gulf War.
After she was discharged, she returned to California where she began singing at festivals in Northern California while working part-time as a radio DJ for classic country station 93.9 “The Ranch” in Ripon. “Ranch Hand Jane,” as she was known, also hosted karaoke for the station at various venues, and introduced legendary country artists like Charlie Daniels and Johnny Lee when they performed in town.
Cook later moved to Mt. Juliet, a small town about 20 miles east of Nashville, so she could focus on developing her career as a singer. She participated in local community theatre productions while also performing at various songwriter nights in the Nashville area. “I definitely enjoy performing live,” she says, “but my absolute favorite part of being an artist is being in the studio, feeling the energy and feeding off the creativity of all of these great musicians. Performing my vocals on top of all that during the sessions for Dressed Up For Goodbye was exhilarating and I can’t wait to go back in and start my next project!”
“The biggest difference between my earlier albums and Dressed Up For Goodbye is the fact that on those, I didn’t have the opportunity to choose the songs I wanted to record,” continued Cook. “I was able to pick some songs that applied to my life but overall because of the circumstances of my recording deals, I was not able to really paint a full portrait of who I am. My new album is a much more vibrant and personal expression. These 11 new tunes all reflect different parts of my life, and many situations and scenarios that I have actually experienced, from the strength and confidence of the ‘don’t mess around with me’ vibe of “Little Miss Understanding” through the vulnerability and heartbreak of the title song.”
Cook is an artist who is definitely worth checking out, while her new CD should be enjoyed with an ice-cold beer or a shot of Jack.
For more about this artist, check out her website and Facebook pages, follow her on ReverbNation, Twitter and Instagram, and subscribe to her Soundcloud account, where you can stream her latest CD. Her music is also available for download on iTunes, Amazon Music and Google Play.