Deep Water

Amanda Cook

2017 - Mountain Fever Records.  This is our first introduction to Amanda Cook and it is a rather decent beginning.  Amanda is an accomplished singer who at times does draw from her inner emotions to bring a song to life.  Her style is a more subtle version of Rhonda Vincent with a bit more of a traditional or old time country flavor.  As good as she sounds and performs, I do question her choice of songs for this project.  Out of the twelve cuts on this album, seven of them are covers.  These covers include Ronnie Bowman’s “Till I’m Too Old,” Gillian Welch’s 2014 haunted song “Caleb Meyer,” Guy Clark’s 2002 song “Magnolia Wind,” Mindy Smith’s 2004 song “Come To Jesus,” the Big River Bluegrass Band’s “Big River,” Jerry Salley’s “Liar’s Moon,” and Jimmy C. Newman’s song “Cry, Cry Darlin’.”  Some people can write and Amanda shows her writing skills in “Deep Water.”  “Deep Water” is a beautiful heart felt, two-step ballad that speaks about moving on after dealing with a storm within one’s life.  If I were the producer on this project, I would have encouraged Ms. Cook to seek more songs written by Thomm Jutz.  Amanda includes two songs co-written by Thomm with “Midnight 402” and “Leaving Louisville.”  It sounds as if Cook can really relate to Thomm’s writing as she is able to bring both songs to life.  I will acknowledge that Ms. Cook does a wonderful job in each of these songs.  However, I do detest entertainers recording covers as they only prove that they are a cover artist.  Now recording covers is a staple in Bluegrass, but when you have such incredible writers as Thomm Jutz, one must encourage the other to work with them.  For a first introduction, I do say that Amanda Cook is quite talented, even for a cover artist.  I’m not ready to write her off as I strongly believe that she has the talents to create a stunning album filled with new songs.  I eagerly await for a project like this from her.  $$-$$$

(This review was printed in the November / December 2017 issue of Strictly Country Magazine.)

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