Ever since the British Invasion inspired countless numbers of white kids to pick up guitars and delve into the rich musical language of the blues, it seems that every five years or so we see the rise of a teenage prodigy with a fierce love and dedication to the blues.
With proper marketing, it's quite possible that Eli Cook, a 20-year old from Charlottesville, Virginia whose 2005 album, Miss Blues'es Child was recently re-released on Valley Entertainment, could be the next one. While he has the requisite background of all the other previous Great White Hopes (discovered the blues through his parents' collection, opened up for legends like B.B. King and Johnny Winter), Cook stands out from the Kenny Wayne Shepards and Kid Johnny Langs of the world for several reasons.
For starters, while most new gunslingers ape the urban 12-bar electric blues of Muddy Waters, Albert King, or Eric Clapton, Cook goes back further to the solo, one-chord acoustic Delta blues of Robert Johnson and Leadbelly, both of whom are covered on Miss Blues'es Child. I can't tell you how thrilling it was to hear a new blues guitar player not try to sound like Stevie Ray Vaughn. That's not a slight on Vaughn, whom I love, but rather that his influence is so huge that it has reached the point of redundancy.
The second is that Cook's self-penned tunes – four of the twelve songs on Miss Blues'es Child, including the title track – stand up well against the traditional numbers on the album. For years I've felt that the modern crop of blues musicians are too reliant upon their guitar chops and well-worn clichés to write effective songs, so to hear someone taking a new approach to the blues is very refreshing, and breathes life into the older songs.
Finally, there is Cook's voice, a deep, gruff baritone that conjures up images of hoodoo and mojo, tin shacks and cotton fields. While it is undoubtedly an impressive-sounding instrument, Cook will have to gain greater command of his vocals in order to grow as an artist. A few bad relationships and some heavy drinking would also be helpful.
Recorded in a single session, Miss Blues'es Child is a promising album by a bright young talent, and I look forward to see how his career progresses over the next few years.
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