S'il y a une personne dont la vie ressemble une ballade de Country - c'est une belle artiste aux talents multiples qui s'appelle Elizabeth Cook. La cadette d'une famille d'onze frères et soeurs, avec un père bassiste - qui a passé quelques années en prison pour le trafic d'alcool de contrbande; et une mère chanteuse et mandoliniste, qui a poussé Elizabeth sur la scène quand la fille n'avait que quatre ans - cette blonde ravissante 'Hillbilly' a tout pour être considérer comme la nouvelle 'Loretta Lynn' de la musique Country!
"Mes parents avaient une bande de Country," explique-t-elle, "Ils étaient toujours en train de faire des répétitions des tubes des vedettes comme Dolly Parton, Porter Wagoner, Loretta Lynn, Merle Haggard, et Conway Twitty. J'étais imbibé dans la musique Country et complètement ignorante des autres styles jusqu'à l'âge de douze ans - quand j'ai decouverte MTV, The Beastie Boys, et Madonna!"
Heureusement, l'attirance pour 'Le Pop' n'était pas aux dépens de sa passion pour le Country. Même comme lycéenne, elle avait trouvée le temps de former son propre groupe et avait un tube régional avec la chanson 'Homework Blues' - "Ce n'était pas facile," dit-elle, " j'étais comme une jongleuse - les études pendant la journée, la scène presque chaque soirée. A la fin, j'étais obligée de faire un choix - une carrière stable, ou la musique!"
En 1996, Elizabeth a dit ses 'au revoir' à l'université de 'Southern Georgia' avec deux diplômes dans sa poche et, apparemment, ses espoirs d'être chanteuse professionnelle abandonnés pour un emploi sûr dans la Comptabilité et l'informatique avec l'agence comptable de Price Waterhouse à Nashville.
Mais, quelquefois, le destin est plus fort que nous, et pour Elizabeth le voyage avait seulement commencé - "C'est bizarre, vous savez, mais après toutes mes études, je me trouvais soudainement piégée dans un bureau - et franchement, je m'ennuyais! Quand quelqu'un m'a offert la possibilité d'écrire des chansons pour une maison d'édition, je l'avais acceptée avec bras ouverts!" - elle rigole, "Enfin, j'étais libre!"
Une chose en amenant une autre, et en 2000, Elizabeth a sortie son premier album Elizabeth Cook/The Blue Album - suivi en 2002 par Hey Y'All, son deuxième album et la première fois qu'elle a signée un contrat avec un label majeur.
Cependant, encore une fois, le destin réservait des surprises pour Elizabeth, et dans la même année elle était victime, comme beaucoup d'artistes, d'un changement dans la direction du label - dont les conséquences laissaient pauvre Elizabeth sans le soutien pour son album.
Malgré ça, grâce a son talent et sa détermination, en 2004 elle a sorti This Side Of The Moon - son troisième album, une oeuvre indépendante qui a reçu des applaudissements des critiques, et lançé Elizabeth dans une tournée du monde. "J'ai fait des concerts au Japon, Corée du Nord, La Pologne, La Norvège, La Suède, et La France. C'était mon rêve devenu réalité," dit-elle.
Le succès de ses tournées l'avait menée à son quatrième album Balls - une coopération entre Elizabeth, son mari Tim Carroll, le producteur Rodney Crowell, et le label 31 Tigers Records. En vérité, cet album est la consécration de son talent et la preuve qu'elle est une star. En ascendant dans les charts, son morceau Sometimes It Takes Balls To Be A Woman est devenu un cri de ralliement pour des millions de femmes. "C'est drôle," dit-elle, "j'avais écrit cette chanson pour une blague, mais quand je l'avais chanté pendant mes concerts et constaté la réaction des femmes dans la foule - je ne pouvais pas de m'empêcher de créer quelque chose autour de ce thème, et voilà - 'Balls' est né!"
2008 s'annonce bien pour Elizabeth - une tournée mondiale, des interviews innombrables avec la Presse, et des concerts à la télé. Avec une armée de fans qui augmente tout le temps - ne soyez pas surpris si un de ces jours un autre nom va joindre les grands comme Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, Porter Wagoner, Merle Haggard, ou Conway Twitty. Oui! Vous avez deviné - c'est Elizabeth Cook!
In contemporary country music, it’s a rare performer who will dare to take on the industry on her ownhogs-and-kisses terms. But for the artist whom Nanci Griffith has called “this generation’s Loretta Lynn,” it takes a certain tenacity to meld smart attitude with classic tradition, the credibility of a lifelived with genuine hillbilly passion, and the integrity to write an acclaimed cache of uncommonly coolsongs. In other words, for Elizabeth Cook, it takes balls.
Balls is the bold declaration of an uncompromising artist unafraid to be exactly who she is. Produced by Rodney Crowell, 9 of the album’s 11 tracks are written or co-written by Elizabeth – including the brash anthem “Sometimes It Takes Balls To Be A Woman” – and the album stands defiant in its devotion to smiles, tears and sexy, sassy swagger. It’s a fiercely independent ride where shuffles,ballads and even the occasional juice harp can soar alongside an exquisite cover of The VelvetUnderground’s “Sunday Morning.” Balls is, quite simply, Elizabeth Cook’s unabashed breakthrough.“I still can’t believe I got away with going into the studio and cutting these songs,” she says with alaugh, “I feel like I’ve just robbed a convenience store.”
“In an era of fabricated fame, Elizabeth is the real deal,” says Rodney Crowell, the legendarysinger/songwriter whose work as producer has also included acclaimed records with Guy Clark, Beth Nielsen Chapman, Jim Lauderdale and five landmark albums with Roseanne Cash. “Elizabeth has a quirky Loretta sensibility that is positively poetic. She’s got that Emmylou quality that inspires thosearound her. Then factor in her amazing family history -You simply cannot make that stuff up.”
To say that Elizabeth Cook’s background is like something out of a country song would be wildlyunderestimating the entire genre. The youngest of 11 half-brothers and sisters, she grew up in ruralFlorida where her musician parents met while playing in local country bars. Her father learned to play upright bass in a Georgia prison band while serving 11 years for running moonshine. Her mother, asinger and mandolin player from the hills of West Virginia, wrote her daughter’s first songs, including “Does My Daddy Love The Bottle More Than He Loves Me,” and had Elizabeth singing on stage at 4 years old. Elizabeth had her own band at 9 – as well as the regional hit “Homework Blues” – and performed prolifically throughout her school years. “The way I sound and my musical references camefrom what I heard and learned as a child,” Elizabeth explains in her rich twang, “I had this accent when I was 2 years old. It’s not an apology or even an explanation; it’s just what I am. My way of talking,singing and writing is just how I use language, my cultural vernacular. The only difference between meand most of my family is knowing that there’s actually a word such as ‘vernacular’.”
Elizabeth graduated from Georgia Southern University in 1996 with dual degrees in Accounting and Computer Information Systems, and accepted a job offer from Price Waterhouse’s Nashville office.But her gift for music proved inescapable and the young accountant signed a publishing deal within ayear. She released the independent album Elizabeth Cook/The Blue Album in 2000, and made her
major label debut in 2002 with Hey Y’All. But following a corporate re-structuring that left the albumvirtually abandoned, Elizabeth fought back with her 2004 independent release This Side Of The Moon,drawing raves ranging from The New York Times (which named her One Of The Top Ten Unheard Artists Of The Year) to No Depression (who called her “an artist to whom attention must be paid,reminiscent of Dolly Parton or a more burnished Julie Miller). Through it all, Elizabeth remained arelentless performer, playing shows across America – as well as in South Korea, Japan, Norway, Sweden, Poland and France – and well over 200 performances at The Grand Ole Opry.
All of this leads directly to Elizabeth’s Balls. “This is a very ‘indie’ album,” Crowell says. “In order to get it made, we all had to pull together and pitch in. But, Elizabeth brings out the best in people. Mostof the record was performed live. There’s very little overdubbing and no layering. What I wanted wasa snapshot of Elizabeth’s sensibilities. In the end, it was almost as if we filmed these songs. “ Thealbum bounces from the box with the hardcore hillbilly abandon of “Times Are Tough In Rock N’Roll,” which boasts such plucky couplets as “All my feelings, all my fears/Were confirmed with Britney Spears.” “Don’t Go Borrowing Trouble” and “What Do I Do” are torchy roadhouse shuffles,while “He Got No Heart” sears like the second coming of Wanda Jackson, and “Gonna Be” is a fiery honky-tonk affirmation. “Mama’s Prayers” is a loving testament to simple spirituality; the delicate“Down Girl” is a tender ode to survival, and “Always Tomorrow” – written by Elizabeth’s husband, the iconoclastic songwriter Tim Carroll – is both plaintive and powerful. “Rest Your Weary Mind” is a stirringly cinematic mountain ballad performed with Bobby Bare Jr., and Elizabeth transforms LouReed & John Cale’s elegiac “Sunday Morning” into a stunningly beautiful declaration of love and hope. ”I think that country music and country people can sometimes be associated with ignorance,” Elizabeth says, “But being poor does not equal being stupid. Country music and country people can befunny and smart and quirky and unique, and that’s exactly what I love about it.”
But it’s the album’s centerpiece that has already taken on a life of its own as a runaway anthem forstrong women everywhere. “I started writing ‘Sometimes It Takes Balls…’ as a joke,” Elizabeth says,“and never thought I’d ever perform it live. But when I started playing it at shows, the song would getthis crazy response whether I was opening for Nanci Griffith in the Northeast or playing the NASCARFestival in downtown Nashville.”
“If you mention Emmylou or Lucinda or Patty Griffin or other artists who have longevity, it’s becausetheir work is based on recognition of their artistry,” says Rodney Crowell. “My hope for this album isthat Elizabeth is recognized as the same kind of artist that deserves to be heard. She has something to add to it all.” And for the artist who dares to describe herself as “a girl with an affinity for vintagecocktail dresses but believes in baiting her own hook,” her new album is the twanged clarion of a bold new stage in an already fearless career. “I write what I love,” says Elizabeth, “And I love tocommunicate what I write. Most of all, I write to help heal myself. Music has traditionally helped people feel better and gotten them through hard times. With this album, I want people to feel like they got a laugh and got a cry. I want people to feel understood, if only for a few minutes.” Because for Elizabeth Cook, having Balls is just the beginning.