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Jesse Cook set his sights on a career as a composer.
That was until an Ontario cable TV company
aired his music on the listings channel.
“Their switchboard got flooded with calls,” he recalls. “People even got my number somehow and started phoning me at home and asking for a CD. And I was saying, ‘I don’t have a CD, I’m a background composer guy. I don’t make records.’ “
This proved to be a critical turning point leading Cook to self-produce Tempest at home using an eight-track recorder and one microphone. Then he delivered the initial run of 1,000 CDs from the plant to the distributor in his car. Those humble beginnings quickly sparked a mighty international career.
A career spanning twenty-five years has brought this Canadian guitarist multiple accolades including a coveted Acoustic Guitar Magazine ‘Player’s Choice Silver Award’, eleven Juno Award nominations (he won for 2001’s ‘Free Fall’), a Gemini Award and, most impressively, ten platinum and gold studio albums
Tempest 25’ the reissue of his debut album (released 25 years prior) had been amongst those pre-Covid plans. So too had been another world tour in support of its release. Cook, like most of us, found himself house bound due to travel restrictions, so he got to work producing 23 (and counting) extraordinary solo YouTube videos of his favorite songs. In each video, Jesse played all the instruments, recorded, and filmed himself, naming the collection, “Love in the Time of Covid.”
Not only has this YouTube collection pleased his existing fan base, but it also expanded his worldwide audience who are now craving that soon to be announced world tour. Jesse Cook, clearly, has many more years of memorable performances ahead of him.
