A few months ago, Adam Taylor (with Kate Young) came to Atlanta for a series of shows. One of those shows was at Smith's Olde Bar. Wesley Cook also played that night (as did Will Mitchell), and it turned out I really liked him.
I met him a few weeks later to do an interview (I'm sorry, Wesley. I suck for not doing it justice yet.) It turned out I liked him even more. He's this really cute, really nice guy with a great sense of humor and gorgeous smile (and hair and eyes, honestly). But as I listened to both of his CD's that morning, I was really impressed.
On the surface, it's easy to group him into the indie folk rock genre, and certainly there's that aspect to his music. But there's a definite influence from, kind of, everywhere. That's because Cook is from, kind of, everywhere. He was raised all over the world—most notably Germany and Korea—and landed in Georgia when he started college at UGA. There are bits of Creole in "Home Grown Girl", a little Austin blues in "Tasty Devil Woman" (my favorite, duh!), and a little island breezy thing in "Leave It All Behind". Toss in a bit of jazz and country and whatever else you can think of, and you find a fun sonic experience.
So Cook is one of four finalists for the Rolling Stone Street to Stage competition and could really use your help. The winner gets "a chance to perform professionally and on stage at the Rolling Stone Rock Room in Austin, TX 2012 during one of the biggest music festivals in the nation." (Hmmm... wonder what it could be....)
Obviously I think the guy is nice and talented. More importantly, he works really hard. He is always promoting the Wesley Cook brand, and it seems he rarely gets a day off. I have the utmost respect for any artist who works it, rather than sitting back and waiting for their talent to get them discovered. This is really something Cook deserves.
I'm asking you to please go vote for Wesley Cook! You can vote online, and you can text Street 1 to 99799 (standard rates may apply). Voting ends September 20th—just a few days before his birthday. What better way to tell Wesley Cook "Happy Birthday!" than to help him win this contest?!?
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