Amanda tells us it’s one that she started working on more than a decade ago, and just finished up in time to cut it for the next record.
“I started writing Lonesome Leaving Train at a festival in 2009. That night, after seeing some incredible bands and jamming late into the evening, I couldn’t get the story of the song off my mind. I was wide awake in the camper until I finished writing out the lyrics.
I held Lonesome Leaving Train in my notebook for 9 years until we started pulling material for the new album. I worked on it a little more and decided that I needed some help. I reached out to Thomm Jutz, one of my favorite current writers. He’s such a great writer and knows my voice and what I look for in songs for my albums. He put the finishing touches on the lyrics and worked up an incredible melody! The arrangement in the studio brought it all together and now, Lonesome Leaving Train is my favorite track off the new album Narrowing the Gap.”
She is supported by her touring band: Carolyne VanLierop-Boone on banjo, Joshua Faul on bass, George Mason on fiddle, Aaron “Frosty” Foster on guitar, and Troy Boone on mandolin.
It’s a highly melodic driver that tells a tragic story. See what you think…
Mountain Fever Records has released another single from Amanda Cook, the second this year from her upcoming Narrowing The Gap project.
This one is one written by band members Carolyne VanLierop and Troy Boone, who handle banjo and mandolin respectively in the group. The pair are also husband and wife, and contributed this song, West Virginia Coal, which tells of a family’s pride in the hard work their father did all his life in the mines.
Cook says that she loves this song, and that it contains a riddle for listeners.
“The first time I heard the demo from Carolyne of West Virginia Coal I knew it was a perfect fit for me and the band. I love the story the song tells and the ‘dark’ flavor of the melody and arrangement.
The band knocked it out of the park and I wonder if anyone will figure out the little surprise on the choruses….”
It’s a mournful sounding number, which Amanda delivers with her commanding voice, sure to find a ready home on bluegrass radio.
Look for Narrowing The Gap to drop sometime this summer.
By the way, the surprise is Carolyne switching to lead vocal on the chorus, with Amanda jumping to harmony. A first for this team who have been singing together for years.
Mountain Fever Records is releasing a new single from Amanda Cook tomorrow, and have agreed to give our readers a first listen a day early.
Get On Board comes from Darrell Hayes and Vida Wakeman, and it’s one Amanda and the band have been playing for years. Taken just two clicks shy of ludicrous speed, the song uses a series of train metaphors to express the need to keep moving forward.
She is joined by her crack band: Carolyne VanLierop-Boone on banjo, George Mason on fiddle, Joshua Faul on bass, Aaron Foster on guitar, and Aaron Ramsey on mandolin.
Cook says it is a perfect theme for the year they have in front of them.
“I’m so excited to release Get On Board! It’s a hard-driving bluegrass tune that’s really fun to play. We’re expecting a big 2020 so Get On Board is the perfect single to kick the year off for us!”
See what you think…
Get On Board will be included on Amanda’s next project for Mountain Fever, Narrowing The Gap, due for release this summer. She says it is her grassiest album to date, and she can’t wait for everyone to hear it.
One of the hottest voices on bluegrass radio over the past few years has been that of Florida native Amanda Cook. She found quite a bit of success with Deep Water, her debut album for Mountain Fever Records in 2017. Songs from her second album for the label, Point of No Return, have been a constant presence on the Bluegrass Today charts since even before the album’s release several months ago. For this second album, Cook’s smooth lead vocals accompany a selection of songs from her band members and well-known bluegrass songwriters, making Point of No Return an enjoyable contemporary bluegrass listen.
Cook’s pen contributed to three of the album’s songs, including her latest single, Standing ‘Cross the River. Co-written with Thomm Jutz, it’s a haunting meditation on lost love, featuring quite a creepy atmosphere thanks to banjo from Carolyn VanLierop-Boone. Jutz and Cook also collaborated on Sarah, Dear, a sweet-yet-melancholy record of correspondence by a husband and wife separated by war. Its gentle, lilting melody matches well with Cook’s plaintive vocals as she sings lines like “Watch your sons grow up to be good men, and then in faith someday we’ll meet again.”
Also co-written by Cook is Time to Say Goodbye, this time as a collaboration with VanLierop-Boone. It’s a fairly straightforward breakup song that leans toward the acoustic country sound, though Cook’s narrator doesn’t waste time pining for the past: “I’ve closed the door, it’s time to say goodbye,” she reminds herself. VanLierop-Boone’s pen can also be found on one of the album’s hit singles, You Were Mine. Another ode to a past love, it has a grassier flavor than many of the other songs here. It’s not traditional in a Flatt & Scruggs sense, but has a nice late-’80s/early-’90s vibe that many fans should enjoy.
Farther on up the traditional scale is the strong Gospel track Lonesome Soul, written by Michael Ramsey. The musicians work well together to set a bouncy, midtempo beat, while Cook offers a good mixture of soulfulness and earnestness in her vocals. Dyed-in-the-wool grassers should like the furious picking that sets the tone for John Pennell’s Will You Be Leaving. VanLierop-Boone’s banjo sets the frantic pace, while Aaron Ramsey and George Mason also contribute some hot licks on mandolin and fiddle, respectively. Again, there’s a bit of that early-’90s feel here – Alison Krauss cut this one on 1990’s I’ve Got That Old Feeling
Other strong performances come on Merle Haggard’s My Favorite Memory, with a classic country treatment and spot-on, belted vocals from Cook, and the contemporary fiddles of the album’s title track, another radio hit. Ashby Frank wrote Point of No Return, and it feels very fitting for Cook on this album, as she celebrates a new record deal and radio success: “I’ve got plenty highway left to burn, searching for the point of no return.”
Cook has assembled a top-notch band here, and they interpret her blend of contemporary and modern traditional bluegrass well. In addition to VanLierop-Boone, Mason, and Ramsey, Cook is joined by Brandon Bostic (guitar and dobro) and Joshua Faul (bass). Together, they’ve created an album that should satisfy most any fan of contemporary bluegrass.
The Amanda Cook Band has announced Troy Boone as the newest member of her touring group. He will play mandolin and reso-guitar, and share harmony vocal duties in the band.
Since leaving Sideline at the end of the summer, Troy has been filling in with Amanda, and he is proud and delighted that she has asked him to join up full-time.
“I am certainly excited to announce my on-boarding with the Amanda Cook band. I have been filling in on their show the last few months and it is a blast getting to play with them. During my time with Sideline, I was able to learn from some of the most hard-working musicians in bluegrass and it was an experience of a lifetime. My departure from them was not easily decided, but necessary in order to focus on school and family. Moving forward, I am 14 months away from graduating Full Sail University with a Bachelor of Science in Audio Production, while producing and recording bands through my home studio in North Carolina. Performing with Amanda and the amazing band she has assembled is something that fuels my musical creativity, and traveling with my wife is icing on the cake. I am extremely fortunate to continue to play with the industry’s best musicians and I look forward to seeing old friends down the line!”
He joins Carolyne VanLierop-Boone on banjo (his wife), George Mason on fiddle, Joshua Faul on bass, Frosty Foster on guitar, and Amanda on lead vocals. One suspects that Carolyne, who has been playing with Amanda since the two were living in western Florida, had some input on Troy getting the gig.
Boone taking the job has also opened up another opportunity for Cook. Billy Samford of R.Q. Jones Retrofit Resonator Guitars has become a big fan of her music, and approached her recently about the band becoming endorsers.
“I’ve followed Amanda for a while, and each time I listen to her I hear bluegrass in her soul. She couldn’t hide it if she tried! Her band reflects that as well all are outstanding bluegrass musicians in their own right. That’s why I’m so proud that Amanda has agreed to feature R.Q. Retrofit resonator guitars in her music. What more could I ask for than to have such talented and friendly people playing an R.Q.!”
So Troy gets a new rest to play on the road with the band, and Amanda gets a double-duty instrumentalist.
Cook has completed her new album for Mountain Fever Records, and a debut single is expected in the next few weeks.
All sorts of things can happen during World of Bluegrass week. With nearly the entire bluegrass industry in one place, meetings and communications that might have taken weeks with everyone back in their offices, can happen in just a few minutes face-to-face in Raleigh.
The latest such is an announcement today from Saga Musical Instruments that Amanda Cook will be the newest endorser of their Blueridge Guitars. These fine instruments are designed by Saga to match the specs of the classic prewar dreadnaughts, but manufactured offshore to allow for a lower selling price than one would expect for US-made guitars.
Amanda accepted her new Blueridge this afternoon at Lorraine’s Coffee House & Music venue in Garner, NC. Other prominent Blueridge artists have been Ralph Stanley II and Junior Sisk.
Cook had told us earlier in the week that she would be starting on her next band album as soon as she finishes engineering the vocals for the new Junior Sisk record at Mountain Fever Studios. Maybe we’ll get to hear the new guitar when the next one from the Amanda Cook Band is released next year.
This is a busy April for Amanda Cook. She has a new album, Point Of No Return, just released on Mountain Fever Records. And she and her husband are furiously packing for a move from Florida to southwestern Virginia early next month.
Plus, Amanda is working in some new band members, the most recent of whom was announced this week. Aaron “Frosty” Foster has joined the group on guitar.
Frosty is a native New Englander, now living in Tennessee after graduating from ETSU with a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies, with a minor in Bluegrass, Old Time, & Country Music Studies. While in school there he spent two years in the honors ensemble, the ETSU Pride Band, and now earns his living performing and teaching private lessons.
His recent single release, When I Wake Up To Sleep No More,Foster tells us has spent some time on our Bluegrass TodayGospel chart.
Foster tells us that he is eager to see where he can go with Cook and Co.
“I am very excited to start this new chapter of my career with Amanda. I love the new material and my new bandmates have been so welcoming! This is a very talented group. Amanda has built a solid team around her, and I’m so honored to be a part of it!”
He joins Carolyne VanLierop on banjo, Joshua Faul on bass, and George Mason on bass. Amanda holds down the mandolin spot with her group.
For more details on Amanda Cook or her new album, visit her web site online.
Mountain Fever has followed up their latest single for Amanda Cook, Point Of No Return, with a music video. It was shot in the studio while they were cutting this next record, set for release this week.
Point Of No Return is a deeply thoughtful song, written by Ashby Frank, about the traveling life and what compels us forward. Amanda gives it a lovely reading, supported by her touring band.
The video finds Cook and company in the Mountain Fever studio this past winter, along with shots driving through the Blue Ridge mountains, familiar to anyone who passes through southwestern Virginia where the label is located.
Point Of No Return, the album, will release of Friday, April 12, on CD, vinyl, and for digital download. Pre-orders are enabled now from the popular online resellers.
This time it’s the title track for Point Of No Return, which finds Cook in fine voice on a smooth contemporary bluegrass about making changes in life. Amanda is supported by her touring group, Carolyne VanLierop on banjo, George Mason on fiddle, and Joshua Faul on bass, with Brandon Bostic on guitar, and Aaron Ramsey on mandolin. Jess Boctic sang harmony with Amanda.
Cook says that this one captured her imagination right away, as it mirrors the ride she’s been on going from a bank employee in western Florida to the roller coaster world of the music business in just a few years’ time.
“When I first heard Ashby Frank’s song Point Of No Return, it spoke to me. I feel like it represents the journey that I’m on with my music and my career. I truly have reached the point that I could never go back to what I was doing before. Music is my life, and I’m so truly blessed to do what I do. It was a no-brainer to make this tune the title track of my new album. I’m proud of the work the band did recording it, and I hope everyone enjoys it!”
Point Of No Return, the album, is set to drop on April 12. The single is available now wherever you stream or download music online. Radio programmers can find the track at AirPlay Direct.
There are a lot of expectations for this record, Amanda’s first since signing a long-term contract with Mountain Fever. It sounds like it’s likely to live up to the hype.
It’s something of a departure for the Florida-based bluegrass singer, whose previous song was a hard-driving, in-your-face number, You Were Mine. This time, it’s an acoustic country ballad with a bluegrass twist called Good Enough (Ain’t Good Enough), written by Andrea Zonn, Thomm Jutz, and Sierra Hull.
For the release, Mountain Fever produced this music video for the song.
Good Enough will be available tomorrow wherever you stream or download music online, and to radio programmers at AirPlay Direct.
The next full album from Amanda will be released early this year.
