Scott Cook and the Second Chances

(scottcook.net)

Wednesday, August 10, 2022
7:30 pm
OUTDOORS! (weather permitting)

Suggested donation $25 (price flexible, pay what you can/will, all proceeds to the artists)

Alberta’s Scott Cook has spent the last fifteen years as a full-time troubadour, living out of a van or a backpack across North America, Europe, Australia and Asia, talking to strangers and distilling his experiences into straight-talking, keenly observant verse. He’s currently touring with longtime shipmates the Second Chances (Melissa Walker on upright bass and harmony vocals, and Bramwell Park on banjo, mandolin and harmonies) in support of his seventh album Tangle of Souls, which comes packaged in 240-page hardcover book of road stories and ruminations, equal parts introspection and insurrection.

Advance payment is greatly appreciated! We’ll gladly refund you or donate your ticket $ to Scott if you can’t make it (your choice!) *Advance ticket options coming soon*

If you wish, bring a drink for yourself. We’ll have some snacks and canned drinks to share.

No need to bring a chair! Our usual chairs will work great on our new patio. Bring your own chair/blanket if you wish, but we’ve got plenty.

All are welcome (bring the kids, friends, family, people off the street, whatever)! Our yard is family-friendly, easy-going, friendly, and open to all! If you don’t know us yet, come on down and make some new friends!

The Sunset Saloon is a house concert venue in Westwood (near the YMCA on Portage.) We’re open to all. Feel free to pass along the event info, bring friends, bring your kids, or just come by yourself and make some new friends! Admission is by donation, which goes directly to the artists. Most folks pay a minimum of $20, but any hard-working performer wouldn’t turn down more and will take whatever amount is comfortable for you to give. Whatever you are comfortable paying will be gratefully

Please RSVP for the address and more information!

Questions? RSVP? Fill out the contact form below! Forward this to a friend!

Check out this incredible song, which we got to hear first at the Sunset Saloon dining room table last year.

Scott Cook is a masterful songwriter and one of the warmest and most engaging performers that we know. He’s also a heck of a down-to-Earth, decent human being. He’s able to put heart and soul into song about as well as anyone we know.

If you want an example of songwriting perfection, look no further than “Just Enough Empties,” from his latest masterpiece, Tangle of Souls. It’s as powerful a song as I’ve ever heard. Check it out: (LYRICS and purchase HERE)

This town full of strangers, I remember it back when
How they look at me, they’d never guess that I was one of them
It’s getting rougher by the river, people I never seen
Dropped off by oxycontin, and methamphetamine

But I’m trying to stay sober, trying my best to care
Sometimes at night I catch a whiff of dinner on the air
And I’ve seen the light drain out of every dream I ever had
But Rosa says she’s pregnant, and I might be the dad

Wow! And the guy’s got loads of songs that good! He comes highly recommended by our friend and another Sunset Saloon performer Corin Raymond. On his now-legendary double CD package, Corin and the Sundowners covered, “The Lord Giveth (and the Landlord Taketh Away.)”

Speaking of his first listen to Scott’s album “Long Way to Wander,” on a road trip with Jonathan Byrd, Corin says, “I popped it in and it wasn’t just good – it was great. The writing was beautiful. The songs were seamless… This guy was the real deal. He’d done the work but there was no trace of the effort. Scott’s songs were so well crafted that I’d listen to that same album years later and hear rhymes I hadn’t noticed… I don’t know anyone who writes with the heart and humility that Scott does. I look to Scott’s songs to remind me why I do what I do… They’re like hands being offered to lift us up.”

Alberta’s Scott Cook (www.scottcook.net) has been living out of a van or a backpack for a dozen years now, touring almost incessantly across Canada, the US, Europe, Asia, Australia and elsewhere, and distilling his experiences into straight-talking, keenly observant verse. His fourth independent release, One More Time Around, was nominated for a Canadian Folk Music Award, and its opening track “Pass It Along” won the Folk and Acoustic category in the 2013 UK Songwriting Contest, with UK magazine Maverick Country naming him “one of Canada’s most inspiring and imaginative storytellers”. His sixth studio album Further Down the Line won him his second CFMA nomination (English Songwriter of the Year), and comes packaged in a 132-page book containing a look back, in words and pictures, on a decade of full-time travel. He’s currently touring in support of his seventh collection, Tangle of Souls, which comes in a hardcover book of road stories and ruminations, both personal and political. Cook is one of the hardest-working DIY troubadours on the road today, averaging around 150 shows including a dozen festivals every year since 2007. All the hard miles notwithstanding, he still believes that songs can change your life, and your life can change the world.

“As good a modern folkie as we have these days. A voice perfect for the genre. An understanding beyond the norm.” –No Depression

“He sings his heart and soul, and in doing so lets light flood into your own… Truly one of Woody Guthrie’s children.” –RnR Magazine

Feel free to fill out the contact form below if you have any questions or if you want to reserve your seat (your details aren’t public, just emailed directly to me.)