Elizabeth Cook, Rocked by the Death of Todd Snider, Finds Strength on a New Album

Before Elizabeth Cook can discuss her new album Great Television , she wants to make sure you know how to pronounce “Sunset Promenade,” the leadoff track.

“It’s ‘Sunset Promen- ADE ,’” Cook says. “It rhymes with lemonade. You don’t take your partner and promen-odd, when you’re square dancing. You take them and you promen- ade .”

Now that that’s off her chest, the singer-songwriter, SiriusXM Outlaw Country host, and close friend to the late Todd Snider is willing to talk about Great Television , her eighth studio album and first since 2020’s Aftermath . “My happy place is just being in a spot where I can create,” Cook tells Rolling Stone . She’s sitting on a rooftop patio on Manhattan’s Upper West Side in early June, during downtime from the IFC premiere run for The Easy Kind , a docudrama based on Cook’s life, in which she appears as herself.

Great Television is a companion to the film, she says. The 11-track LP was produced by Shooter Jennings and features collaborations with Wynonna Judd and Turnpike Troubadours frontman Evan Felker. It’s an album heavy on advocacy, particularly for aspiring female artists — a non-negotiable conviction that Cook has worn on her sleeve for the better part of her 27-year career.

“It’s the only reason to put anything out,” she says. “There’s a part of me that wants to be sort of selfish with art, because I am not the type that is validated or enjoys the attention, the stage or any of that. Some artists really thrive on that. They love it, and I don’t have that. It’s, hopefully, a service and part of the calling — what you give back when you receive a gift.”

Great Television rarely strays too far from these principles. Once you commit the last syllable of “Sunset Promenade” to memory, it reveals itself to be an ode of sorts to a series of women in Cook’s life. Two are fellow artists — Ashley Monroe and Chelle Rose — and the third is a niece who grew up similar to Cook, “born into white trash central Florida,” she says. The song leads off with voicemails Cook saved from the women and plays out in three parts — one verse for each. When Cook sings, “Turns out all the things in my head are a prison/I just want a friend I can stand to do my time with,” her voice nearly cracks. Editor’s picks The 250 Greatest Albums of the 21st Century So Far The 100 Best TV Episodes of All Time The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century

“I’d been coming out of a breakup,” she says of writing the song. “These last 15, 20 years of my life, I’ve really become familiar with loss and isolation and those types of things. But I have a core group of people who are really close, and I wanted to write a love song to them.”

Cook recorded the album at Sunset Sound Studio 3 in Los Angeles, where Jennings holds an exclusive lease and does the bulk of his production work. Jennings, like Cook, hosts a show on SiriusXM, and the two have a decades-long rapport. When they had the idea to turn “Razorwire Wall” into a duet, Jennings immediately thought of Felker and, with Turnpike already recording in Sunset Sound, had him cut vocals for Cook’s song.

“I’m a huge fan of Evan’s work,” Cook says.