about
Amy Cook has found her home amongst the musical family of Austin. Since moving to Texas from LA some years ago, she has earned critical acclaim, a solid fan base, and a place at the mic alongside some of music’s most beloved troubadours – including collaborations and performances with Alejandro Escovedo (who produced Cook’s 2010 album Let The Light In), Ben Kweller, David Garza, Heartless Bastards, Joe Ely, Patty Griffin, Hacienda, Ryan Bingham, and Shawn Colvin, among others.
Having moved to Los Angeles as a teenager, Amy spent the early years of her career informed by legends of the folkies and freaks of Laurel Canyon, as well as the rockers on the strip. She began to craft a style and career all her own, becoming part of a group of songwriters gathering at the Hotel Cafe, and acquiring song placements in dozens of television shows and films. Los Angeles proved a perfect place to hone her craft, with opportunities as wide ranging as writing music for a full length feature documentary, to singing Maggie Mae onstage with Rod Stewart in front of thousands. But eventually Cook looked to set the compass for a new place to hang her hat and refuel her creative soul. She came to Texas.
“From L.A. where she penned tunes for TV and film to the eclectic, West Texas town of Marfa (the backdrop for films like No Country for Old Men) to Austin, Cook has traveled and evolved, all leading to the finest recording she’s made to date, Let the Light In.”
–Tim Basham, Paste Magazine
Austin rocker Alejandro Escovedo heard some of Amy’s songs and asked her to open for him on the East Coast for a few weeks. This was the beginning of a mentorship that would inspire and produce Amy’s strongest work to date, Let the Light In. Featuring the single, “Hotel Lights,” a beautifully crafted song about alienation and belonging, the record shows an artist exploring different styles and pushing her own boundaries. The two continue to collaborate and perform together.
Amy’s sound has evolved in Austin and the rock and roller inside of her continues to emerge. David Fricke of Rolling Stone Magazine recently compared her to “. . . a brassier, dusty Deborah Harry” and she’s perhaps more likely to make you howl at the moon than cry a tear for love these days. The last few years on the road with her band has witnessed the blossoming evolution of Amy’s sound and her ease as an artist in front of a crowd, and the once contemplative live performer now occupies the stage in a style more reminiscent of Marc Bolan than Joni Mitchell.
Alejandro Escovedo says, “Amy Cook has a gift: a voice and songs that inspire, that become soundtracks for the moonrise and hotel lights. Love and the twisted tales it can become are here in Amy’s voice and songs… Just listen.”
Amy is currently working on an album with producer Craig Street (Chris Whitley, Meshell Ndegeocello, Joe Henry).