I have a confession to make. I’ve been cheating on Taylor Hicks for the last several weeks. No, scratch that, cheating is the wrong word. Let’s call it expanding my horizons. Because it was, after all, Taylor and his love of all things musical who reminded me of the great stuff I’d once listened to that I set aside during my dark days a few years back. I think Taylor, of all people, would appreciate that I’ve found another artist who’s touched my soul in ways very few musicians have been able to.

I think a great deal of my draw to this new artist are the uncanny similarities between he and Taylor. Indulge me while I list a few of them here.

- They’re smart, both book and street-wise.

- Both are a little dorky, and don’t seem to mind letting that side of themselves show.

- They both gave up career paths that would allow them to live more comfortably in order to pursue their dream of making music their way.

- Both put in long years on stages in bars, often playing for crowds numbering in the single digits.

- Both gave themselves deadlines to “make it” in the business, and both kept pushing those deadlines forward.

- They both released self-produced, independent albums.

- Both are not only accomplished singers, but gifted songwriters and musicians.

- They both have had more than their fair share of family tragedies.

- Both are genuinely nice guys who care about making the world a better place.

- Both are extremely talented at taking songs we know and knocking them on their ear by changing up the arrangements and turning them into brand new songs.

- They are both comfortable stepping outside their chosen genres and trying something new.

- Both found themselves taking a path to success that neither ever expected. 

- Both won by landslide victories.

And lastly, both are gifted with a rich, warm, and gravelly timbre to their voice that manages to snake past my defenses and curl up comfortably in a corner of my heart I reserve for a select few.

Just in case you’ve been living under a rock these past months and haven’t figured out who the other half of this equation is, allow me to introduce you to David Cook, winner of American Idol Season 7.

Right now, for me,  David is like a new pair of jeans. The kind that fit you like a glove and make your ass look magnificent. You yearn to pull them on and strut your stuff because you love how electric it makes you feel. But at the end of the day, when all is said and done, there’s nothing you crave more than slipping into your favorite pair of well-worn blue jeans, the ones that are slightly frayed and soft and warm as skin. Taylor is that pair of jeans.

Listening to David Cook sing makes me sit up straight and hold my breath, tremulous and taut.

Listening to Taylor Hicks sing turns my bones to jelly and makes me sigh with relief.

They’re not like oil and water, separate and incongruous, not at all. They are like earth and sky – allowing me solid ground to stand upon and the all the room I need to stretch.

A few nuggets of Cookie to nibble on.

Little Sparrow

 

All I Really Need Is You

 

The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

 

The World I Know