Joey Cook is an artist in every sense of the word…
From her authentic personality to her true-to-self style to her rock star talent, Joey embodies the fun and fluidity of the music industry that we pack stadiums to see.
Before being cast as the “quirky character” in Season 14 of American Idol, Cook was a busker on the streets of New Orleans. Armed with her accordion and lively spirit, she entertained countless tourists.”I really just played the Game of Thrones theme song over and over” she quips about that time.
It was during this season that her family, who loves reality shows, convinced her to audition for American Idol “on a whim.”
“Realistically, I didn’t think anything was going to happen,” Cook says “There’s no way they’re going to let this girl with blue hair and an accordion be on here. That’s not a thing!”
As we all know, they absolutely did.
Joey explains that she filled the role of the “quirky character” on the popular series and it worked for her.
Since that time, she has grown an evolved into a strong, unique artist in her own right, with talent reaching far outside the small box of reality TV.
Directly after the show, Postmodern Juxebox, the rotating musical collective founded by arranger and pianist Scott Bradlee in 2011, reached out to Cook after hearing her perform one of their songs on AI.
They invited her out to LA where she recorded three videos with them back to back and subsequently went on several tours with the band.
Fast forward to the cusp of quarantine, Joey decided to get sober “for the first time in my life.”
She describes the time as “brutal…I was a high functioning addict.”
One would think that was hard enough to face right before a global lockdown but then…”I decided to get divorced from my partner of eleven years.”
It was then Joey moved into an apartment by herself for the first time and it was there out of the heartbreak, she began to write.
The songs she penned during that time quickly grabbed the attention of a studio that invited her to come record what she calls her “bedroom” songs.
“Because of the isolation, I came out of it with so much material.”
Joey goes on to explain the importance of those songs. “It was good. For the first time ever, I wasn’t getting hammered and writing songs in my garage that I listen to the next day thinking ‘This is trash.’ – I got to have clarity and write these songs about what was obviously an emotionally insane time for me.”
She looked at the quarantine as an opportunity to prepare.
“I want you to feel something” Cook says of her music. “It’s priceless to get lost in a song, to forget everything around you and get absorbed in some lyrics.”
That’s exactly what her new single, “Chamomile” does.
A swirling, cathartic rock song with piercing lyrics, it is obvious that Joey drew from the depths of her own heartache and presented it to the world.
Joey Cook is an artist to keep an eye on. Not because she was the blue-haired girl on American Idol, not because she’s “quirky,” but because she is a damn good artist.
She won’t fit into your box, and will break any mold you put in front of her. Joey Cook is and will always be authentic to herself in the moment and we would be wise to listen in on what those moments produce.
Check out her latest single “Chamomile” below, as well as the recently release “Highland Flowers”
For the full interview with Joey, check out the debut episode of Bridge Music Podcast on Spotify, iHeart Radio and many more or click the “Podcast” page in our menu.
