Dear hearts,
Happy Solstice from our house to yours, and here’s wishing you health and happiness in this season and the year ahead. Pamela and I are holed up at home in Edmonton after three solid months of roads. We’ll be heading out again in the new year, but for now we’re just happy to be in one place. She’s doing lots of yoga—one or two classes most days—and lots of cooking and baking to celebrate being back in her own kitchen. I’m working hard on finishing our upcoming album Troubadourly Yours and writing the book that’ll accompany it out into the world. I’ll be opening up the opportunity to pre-order and support the album in the new year, but for now we just wanted to send some love and a song your way from our side of the world's longest night.
Our run through the States was full of kindnesses and connections, even in election season, and we finished off the year with twelve nights in a row across the prairies alongside Joe Nolan and Scott Nolan as Ramblers Choir.
We're incredibly grateful to everyone who came out to see us or otherwise supported us this year, and especially to everybody who sang along. You’re the reason this crazy gamble makes any sense at all. In a time when the whole industry feels increasingly unstable, there’s a special place in our hearts for the folks who buy tickets in advance, and a freakin' jacuzzi in our hearts for the 250 or so Fellow Travellers who support me monthly through Patreon and my website. You make this life feel sturdy. I wrote twelve new songs this year that I wouldn’t have written without you, and there’ll be another in your inbox before December’s out.
I finally released one of those songs-of-the-month to all the streaming services this month: my first-ever holiday single, “Christmas On the Mekong".
The song was inspired by a Christmas I spent in Laos years ago, some of the tragic history of that country, and the deep human kinship that anybody who's spent time backpacking around faraway places will be able to relate to. You can hear it on the various streaming platforms here or on Bandcamp here, and we even shot a little video tonight for my Instagram and Tiktok too:
Shows In the New Year
Our next show, just added, will be at Bez Arts Hub in Langley, BC, Friday January 10th. We did an online show for them in the early days of the pandemic, and we’re excited to finally meet them in person. Our friends Kathleen Nisbet and Ivan Boudreau as well as Bez’ artistic director Russ Rosen will all be bringing a little extra musical magic to the evening. Tickets just went on sale right here.
We’ll be braving the Wet Coast for the early part of the year, with side-trips to showcase at the Your Roots Are Showing conference in Killarney, Ireland and the Folk Alliance International conference in Montreal, Quebec. We’re grateful to the SOCAN Foundation and the Alberta Foundation For the Arts for helping to make those happen.
We’ve still got plenty of open space in our calendar once we get across the border, so if you know a good spot we should play in Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, or pretty much anywhere in the Midwest, even if it’s your living room, please reach out to scottcooksongs@gmail.com.
Lastly, we’re headed to Europe in September, and I’ve barely begun to book shows for us there. It’ll be Pamela’s first visit, so I’m excited to show her around, but we also want to sing for the people where we can! If you’re in Ireland, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, or anywhere adjacent, we’d love to hear from you.
Fri Jan 10 • Vancouver, BC • Bez Arts Hub w/ special guests Kathleen Nisbet, Russ Rosen and Ivan Boudreau
Sat Jan 11 • Seattle, WA • SOLD OUT house concert
Wed-Sun Jan 15-19 • Killarney, IRE • Your Roots Are Showing conference
Tue Jan 28 • Bowen Island, BC • Tir-na-nOg Theatre
Wed Jan 29 • Powell River, BC • Cranberry Community Hall
Fri Jan 31 • Courtenay, BC • Old Church Theatre
Sun Feb 2 • Quadra Island, BC • Heriot Bay Inn matinee show
Fri Feb 7 • Brentwood Bay, BC • Brentwood Bay Village Empourium
Thu Feb 13 • Port Alberni, BC • Char’s Landing
Fri Feb 14 • Qualicum Beach, BC • Oceanside Folk/Roots Club w/ special guest Kimberley MacGregor
Sat Feb 15 • Sooke, BC • Sooke Folk Music Society
Sun Feb 16 • Victoria, BC • Victoria Folk Music Society
Wed-Sun Feb 19-23 • Montreal, QC • Folk Alliance International conference
Thu Feb 27 • Duncan, BC • Duncan Showroom
Fri Feb 28 • Nanaimo, BC • Harbour City Concerts
Sat Mar 1 • Gabriola Island, BC • Agi Hall
Wed Mar 5 • Port Townsend, WA • Palindrome
Sat Mar 8 • Seattle, WA • Seattle Folklore Society
Sun Mar 9 • Olympia, WA • Traditions Fair Trade
Fri Mar 14 • Eugene, OR • Tsunami Books
Fri Mar 21 • Walnut Creek, CA • Devil Mountain Coffee House co-bill w/ Laura Zucker
Wed Apr 23 • Kansas City, MO • Waldo Folk
Sat May 17 • Chicago, IL • Acoustic Renaissance Concerts co-bill w/ Heather Styka
As always, all the info for all these shows is on www.scottcook.net, and we'd love to see you out there.
It's a brutal, beautiful world, friends. I'm working hard on another love letter to it, so I'll sign off here, but I hope wherever you are, you're finding the light around you. Love and luck from here,
s