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Tiny ‘heart warrior’ has first of three surgeries

<p>When local architect Rob Lewis heard Scott Cook perform at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival in upstate New York earlier this summer, he immediately wanted to bring the folk singer/song writer to the Wilkes-Barre area.</p><p>&#8220;I was really impressed with how spot-on he was with having his lyrics address current issues in this country, like the empowerment of women,&#8221; said Lewis, who has arranged for Cook to perform at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Wyoming Valley in Wyoming.</p><p>&#8220;In one of his songs, &#8216;O Say Can You See,&#8217; he says there&#8217;s no left or right; there&#8217;s just right or wrong. He speaks about bringing people back to the center and treating each other with respect. He&#8217;s very thoughtful and he has a very warm stage presence. In the song &#8216;Pass It Along&#8217; he talks about how we borrow the earth from future generations, and that really resonated with me,&#8221; said Lewis, who for years was one of the coordinators of the local Chicory House Concert Series.</p><p>Music writers have described Cook, who&#8217;s been on the road &#8220;living out of a van or a backpack&#8221; and performing for more than a decade, as &#8220;truly one of Woody Guthrie&#8217;s children&#8221; and also as &#8220;one of Canada&#8217;s most inspiring and imaginative storytellers.&#8221;</p><p>In a telephone interview on Tuesday, Cook talked about the stories he wove into &#8220;Walk That Lonesome Valley,&#8221; a musical tribute to &#8220;three people I think of as American heroes.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;I took the chorus of a traditional old song and wrote new verses,&#8221; he explained. &#8220; The first is about (abolitionist and women&#8217;s rights activist) Sojourner Truth and then there&#8217;s one about Father Daniel Berrigan who started the Plowshares (pacifist, anti-nuclear weapons) movement and one about Chelsea Manning, the Army private who gave information to WikiLeaks and was put back in jail because she refused to testify.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;Those three stories are stories that are not so well known,&#8221; Cook said. &#8220;A lot of times the people who are famous are psychopaths. I figured there&#8217;s room for telling stories about people who are doing heroic things.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;They all suffered in various ways,&#8221; he added, reflecting on how Sojourner Truth had been a slave, &#8220;sold three times before she was even a woman. She walked away with her kid &#8212; she didn&#8217;t run, because she felt running meant you&#8217;d done something wrong &#8212; and eventually had to sue her former master to get her other kid back.&#8221;</p><p>When you listen to more of Cook&#8217;s lyrics you&#8217;ll hear his appreciation for the natural world shining through, as well as his belief that our lives are &#8220;on loan&#8221; to us. As is a beloved guitar. As is the earth itself. &#8220;It&#8217;s in every child&#8217;s face, new and hopeful as a stem,&#8221; he sings. &#8220;Best be gentle with this place, &#8216;cause we&#8217;re borrowing it from them.&#8221;</p><p>His next collection of songs will deal with &#8220;the idea of the shadow; personal stuff about reckoning with my own shadow and political stuff about our shadow in the world, things we&#8217;re afraid to admit &#8230; all the problems I see in our world are problems I see in myself.&#8221;</p><p>Cook, 42, was born in West Virginia, grew up around Western Canada, in Saskatchewan and British Columbia and lived for six years in Taiwan, where he taught kindergarten.</p><p>&#8220;I go back every chance I get,&#8221; he said, explaining he&#8217;s looking forward to spending a month in the island nation where &#8220;a friend found me a place in a little fishing village; I&#8217;m going to go and write.&#8221;</p><p><ins>IF YOU GO </ins></p><p><ins>Who: Singer and songwriter Scott Cook </ins></p><p><ins>What: In concert </ins></p><p><ins>When: 7:30 p.m. Sept. 12. Doors open at 7 p.m. </ins></p><p><ins>Where: Unitarian Universalist Church of Wyoming Valley, Mt. Olivet Road at Church Road, Wyoming </ins></p><p><ins>Suggested donation: $15 for adults; $10 for students, seniors and members.</ins></p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Music writers have described Scott Cook, who&#8217;s been traveling and performing in North America, Australia, Europe and Asia for the past 12 years as &#8216;one of Canada&#8217;s most inspiring and imaginative storytellers.&#8217; He will perform in concert at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 12 at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Wyoming Valley. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_scott.cook_..jpg</photo0><caption0>Music writers have described Scott Cook, who&#8217;s been traveling and performing in North America, Australia, Europe and Asia for the past 12 years as &#8216;one of Canada&#8217;s most inspiring and imaginative storytellers.&#8217; He will perform in concert at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 12 at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Wyoming Valley. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Folk musician said to be &#8216;truly one of Woody Guthrie&#8217;s children&#8217;</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mary Therese Biebel</p><p>mbiebel@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>IF YOU GO</strong></p><p><strong>Who:</strong> Singer and songwriter Scott Cook</p><p><strong>What:</strong> In concert</p><p><strong>When:</strong> 7:30 p.m. Sept. 12. Doors open at 7 p.m.</p><p><strong>Where:</strong> Unitarian Universalist Church of Wyoming Valley, Mt. Olivet Road at Church Road, Wyoming</p><p><strong>Suggested donation:</strong> $15 for adults; $10 for students, seniors and members.</p></factboxMeta></div>

Singer/songwriter Scott Cook to perform Sept. 12 at UU Church