Watching my dad in his most natural element, seeing my dad in his purest form. The joy of the music was infused with the joy of what my family did together, how we bonded. That was me when I was like seven or eight. The one song I remember being on every single mixtape was “Try a Little Tenderness” by Otis Redding. My dad had a ton of Muscle Shoals stuff on there, a ton of Memphis stuff on there. So it’s all this stuff about seeing my dad in his natural element, with listening to all this really great music. My dad is the best skier I’ve ever seen in my entire life. And then my dad would take it out - he had a Walkman - he would put headphones on, and my dad would ski to his tape all day long. There was some overlap every year, but he made this ski tape, and we would drive up in our minivan - Brad, dad, and me - and it was the only thing we listened to the whole way up … a four-, five-hour drive. He would take off of work and his whole purpose for that whole day of taking off was he would make a vinyl-to-cassette mix tape for the whole day. My dad would take off the day before we left. So my brother and I went skiing every week, and we’d go on these winter break trips over Christmas, and we’d go for 10 days way up north. One of the things that happened, growing up, one of the ways he curated his record collection for my brother and me was - one of the things you do up north is you go downhill skiing. My dad had a huge record collection, and he had, like, a thousand records when I was growing up. My parents were both involved in protests my parents were both involved in all kinds of stuff in Madison, WI, which was a big counter-culture epicenter. I was one of those kids who grew up, and my parents were both hippies. You’re really big into American roots music. It’s a bright celebration of music that Cook says is the best thing he’s ever done. From his front porch, Cook talks about the long gestation of Southland Mission, which covers ground from soul, gospel, and Americana all the way to good ol’ rock ‘n’ roll. His forthcoming record, Southland Mission, is more than just another solo album - it blows just about everything that Cook has ever done out of the water. As Megafaun fizzled out, Cook wrote and recorded simple guitar and banjo material as Phil Cook and His Feat, which allowed him to begin developing his voice as a solo artist. In 2007, Cook and his partner, Heather, bought a house in the adjacent city of Durham, where they still live with their four-year-old son. Another, Justin Vernon, would return to Wisconsin to make songs that he’d soon release under the name Bon Iver. One of these, Joe Westerlund, would stick around to help the Cooks form the wild and wonderful Megafaun. In 2005, Cook relocated from Wisconsin to Raleigh, NC, with his younger brother Brad and a handful of other bandmates. For the past few months, he’s spent a lot of his time on the road playing keys with Hiss Golden Messenger, who share Cook’s current home of Durham, NC. The 35-year-old Wisconsin native has thrown himself whole-heartedly into working with artists like the Blind Boys of Alabama, the Indigo Girls’ Amy Ray, and Matthew E. But for a listener, there’s a lot to believe in when it comes to Cook. As he’s telling you about one of his many projects, he’s overflowing with enthusiasm, sounding like he can barely believe he’s getting to do it. When you speak with him, he’s warm and engaging. Phil Cook is one of those guys who exudes positive energy.
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