These ten pieces came to life on a long-cared-for and much-loved 100 year-old Steinway over three days at the church. Yet it was during hour-long stretches of improvisation in NorthStar Church of the Arts in Durham where the music could open up to the presence of divine intoxication. Phil experimented with sanctuary in order to honor the ritual: he retreated alone to the mountains in North Carolina to write, sojourned to family abodes in Wisconsin to nurture. In a note accompanying the recording, Trevor Hagen describe the process: Recorded on a 1923 Steinway in Durham’s NorthStar Church of the Arts, All These Years is “a turn toward the minimal, the meditative, the powerful” ( Volume One magazine ) that finds Cook exploring his relationship to the piano, his primary instrument. Phil Cook returns to Duke Performances for an intimate performance of the entirety of his new solo piano album All These Years. Listen to the debut single from Oliver Wood, “Soul of This Town”, featuring Phil Cook.Phil Cook Tuesday, Ma| 8:00 pm Nelson Music Room Cities are literally selling their souls in the name of growth and progress, which obviously doesn’t benefit everyone (though you’d think it should and could). I loved Phil’s ideas and thought about Nashville, and then thought more universally about a lot of cities where gentrification is not only changing the look of the place, but displacing so many people. He didn’t have lyrics, but he did reference Bob Dylan’s ‘Nashville Skyline’ and mentioned the present day rapid growth of Nashville, cranes everywhere and the face of the town changing with every visit.

The week before came he sent me chords and a melody he had. Throughout the song, Wood taps into the small town mentality that goes hand-in-hand with his roots stylings, starting with the opening line “When you come back home, boy/You gonna be so surprised/This little town that you came from/Has just left us behind.” Oliver Wood explained via a press release, Related: The Wood Brothers Perform “Little Bit Sweet” On Rooftop Of eTown Hall

“Soul of This Town” takes direct aim at what Wood and Cook see as the scourge of gentrification. However, Wood maintains that the tune is a full-on collaboration with Cook, and it also includes Wood’s son Kieran on horns in their first-official collaboration. The song finds Oliver Wood in much the same gospel-blues sound that has defined The Wood Brothers. While “Soul of This Town” is not yet attached to any album, Wood stated in a press release that he does plan to release another single in early September. One-third of Grammy-nominated trio The Wood Brothers, teamed up with North Carolina singer-songwriter Phil Cook for the ditty about the dying spiritual nature of cities across the country. Oliver Wood has gone out on his own and shared his first solo single, “Soul of This Town”.

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