Times Leader

‘Back by popular demand,’ Scott Cook will be in concert

Singer/songwriter Scott Cook will perform in concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, July 23 at the Wyoming Valley Unitarian Universalist Church. Doors open at 7 p.m. Submitted photo

“This guitar came from a timber, from the body of a tree, through the workshop of a luthier, now it’s on loan to me. And it’s good company after dinner, and it fits my hands just fine. But some day another singer with a pair of hands like mine, will coax out songs much prettier, still hiding in its strings, and sing stronger, braver words than I could ever sing.”

“And folks are gonna love it, of this I’m almost sure. So I’ll take good care of it, ‘cause I’m borrowing it from her.”

Those are the opening lyrics in “Pass it Along,” a number that Canadian singer/songwriter Scott Cook is sure to include in a concert set for 7:30 p.m. Saturday, July 23 at the Wyoming Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Wyoming, Pa.

The song isn’t simply about Cook’s guitar; it’s about earth and land, rights and resources that he urges people to preserve for future generations.

“It’s in every child’s face, new and hopeful as a stem. Best be gentle with this place, ‘cause we’re borrowing it from them.”

“He writes great lyrics that really touch on topics near and dear to my heart. They resonate with the principles of our UU congregation as well,” local architect Rob Lewis said, explaining why he was eager to organize the concert, similar to one Cook presented locally in 2019.

“He’s back by popular demand,” Lewis said of Cook, who has been described by music writers as “one of Canada’s most inspiring and imaginative storytellers,” and “truly one of Woody Guthrie’s children.”

In a telephone interview last week, Cook said he’s glad to be back on the road again after the enforced idleness of the pandemic — though he admits it was nice to stay in one place long enough to see the changing of the seasons.

“I’m grateful to be able to travel,” he said. “Being able to talk to people gives me more opportunities to be optimistic than if I was just listening to the news.”

“Every day there’s something that happens that reminds you of how decent and generous people can be,” Cook said, noting that “one really powerful bit of sweetness was just stopping in and seeing my family. They run a hardware store in Michigan. We don’t see eye-to-eye on politics and have a different media diet. But the hardware store is kind of like a drop-in center where people speculate about how to fix things.”

“My cousin is a master of ways to figure out how to fix things,” Cook said, explaining that sometimes, rather than sell a gadget or tool, his cousin will suggest a low-cost or no-cost repair.

There’s a tribute to people like his cousin in another of Cook’s songs, “Say, Can You See,” which includes these lines: “See, I got a neighbor, we don’t always agree. He’s a bit of a redneck, according to a hippy like me. But if you’re in the ditch, he’ll pull you out, I know he will. And that’s more than I can say for all those (fools) on the hill.”

Cook said he’s hopeful that people will look beyond political differences to find common ground.

“There’s always plenty of reasons to be optimistic, and plenty of reasons to be pessimistic,” he said. “I’m hopeful ‘cause I choose to be.”

“There’s a lot in our shared history, the way we used to live in communities and take care of each other. We weren’t so alienated before, and we made do with less, and we talked to each other more. There was an ingenuity to living with less instead of ‘buying a new one’ when something breaks.”

Since his last visit to the Wilkes-Barre area, Cook released “Tangle of Souls,” a CD that comes packaged in a cloth-bound, 240-page hardcover book of “road stories and ruminations.”

He expects to perform several songs from the album at the Saturday concert, for which doors open at 7 p.m. Suggested donations for tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for seniors and students. The address of the Unitarian Universalist Church is 20 Church Road, Wyoming. The church is “next to Frances Slocum State Park,” and more specific directions can be found at wyomingvalleyuu.org/.

Masks are recommended but not required at the concert.