Phil Cook’s got a beautiful head of hair, and the man knows it. It’s a sort of flowing mane of blond curls that stops just shoulder length and floats magnificently around him as he strums his guitar and sings. At one point during the evening, an audience member went ahead and put into words what everyone in the crowd was obviously thinking, yelling out “Nice hair Phil!” to which the singer responded by raking his fingers through and primping to the delight of the crowd.
Cook produces some luscious music to pair with those prodigious locks. The Durham, NC based artist (by way of Chippewa Falls, WI, whatwhat Midwest!) is a member of the genre bending group Megafaun, but Sunday night it was just him, his guitar, his folk songs and the crowd sharing a moment at Schubas. Cook worked his way through his new material, and thanked the crowd profusely for putting up with “an artist you probably aren’t really familiar with playing songs that haven’t even been released yet, so you definitely don’t know” (he was opening for Hiss Golden Messenger) but no apologies were necessary and the crowd quickly warmed up to the folk singer, getting especially into the closing song, a cover of “Take Your Burden to the Lord and Leave it There,” happily supplying the response to Cook’s call. Keep a look out for Cook’s Hungry Mother Blues which will be released May 10th – it’ll be worth the wait.