James Cook Talks Louisiana Roots, Life on the Road with Luke Bryan, Session Work & Nashville Studio Life
- Louisiana Country Music
- 7 hours ago
- 33 min read
Monroe-raised, Nashville-based musician James Cook joined Louisiana Country Music Live to talk about growing up in North Louisiana, learning bass in a church band, more than a decade touring with Luke Bryan, and the philosophy that has made him a first-call player and producer.
You have almost certainly heard James Cook play, even if you have never heard his name. The Monroe, Louisiana native has spent more than a decade as the bassist for Luke Bryan, helping power one of the biggest live shows in country music, and along the way he has worked with a remarkable range of artists including Tracy Byrd, Steve Wariner, Vince Gill, Rodney Crowell, and Jason Aldean. His playing has landed on the Tonight Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Fallon, Ellen, and the Today Show.
These days he works behind the soundboard as a producer at his own studio just outside of Nashville. On Louisiana Country Music Live, Cook reflected on his North Louisiana upbringing, the moment his dad gave him permission to chase music, the camp that convinced him to leave Monroe, and the simple idea that has guided his entire career: it is not about you, it is about the song.
Watch The Full Interview
What We Talked About
Growing up in Monroe and the North Louisiana outdoors life
Duck hunting with his cousin and where his love of music came from
His family, including wife Hannah and their two sons
The story behind the "Captain Cook" nickname
Learning to play bass in a church band
His music years at NLU and a decade working at a local music store
His first band, Slick Relief, and a future Chris Stapleton drummer
The Victor Wooten camp that pushed him toward Nashville
More than a decade on the road as Luke Bryan's bassist
Session and TV work across country music
His philosophy on what makes a great bass player
Keeping his Louisiana roots alive in a Nashville studio
Throughout the conversation, Cook shared stories from his North Louisiana upbringing, his years on the road with some of country's biggest names, and his life now as a producer, all shaped by one simple belief about serving the song.
Here’s a closer look at some of the biggest moments from our Louisiana Country Music Live interview with James Cook.
From Monroe Duck Blinds To A Life In Music
Cook grew up in Monroe as what he calls a typical North Louisiana kid, riding bikes, fishing, and above all duck hunting. His father was an amateur guitar player who loved to strum along to the Statler Brothers and CCR, and while no one in the family played professionally, the music clearly took hold early. He credits his cousin, Scott Beaman, with taking him duck hunting as a kid and hooking him on the whole culture of it, the early mornings and the camaraderie of the blind. He also remembers riding to the duck blind with the country station on the radio and knowing, even that young, that he wanted to make records.
"As far as where I got it from, I guess God gave it to me, because once I discovered music, I just never looked back," Cook said.
Finding The Bass In A Church Band
Cook was a self-described band nerd. He played saxophone, was a drum major, and later studied music at NLU in Monroe, learning a little of everything from woodwinds to percussion because he originally planned to become a band director. He also spent about ten years working at a local music store, starting as the janitor in high school and eventually learning the craft of band-instrument repair.
But bass became his instrument almost by accident, in a church band at Rolling Road Baptist Church. They already had a guitar player and needed someone on bass, so Cook volunteered. The piano player there, with a honky-tonk left hand, quietly took him under her wing.
"That's where I learned to play bass, was at church," Cook said. "I really took to the bass and I just felt like, yeah man, this is my jam."
Slick Relief, A Telethon, And A Future Stapleton Drummer
Cook's first band, Slick Relief, came together in high school with his buddy Chris French and French's cousin, drummer Derek Mixon. If that name sounds familiar, it should. Mixon went on to become Chris Stapleton's longtime drummer.
Their very first gig was on a local telethon, and Cook swears he still has the VHS tape of it in his archives. Looking back, he loves that nobody watching those kids on TV had any idea where two of them would end up.
"You never know," Cook said, laughing about the idea that two guys from that band would go on to play some of the biggest tours in the world.
The Camp That Sent Him To Nashville
The turning point came in 1999. Cook connected with bass player Adam Nitti at the NAMM show in Anaheim, and Nitti pointed him toward a bass and nature camp being put on by the legendary Victor Wooten at Montgomery Bell State Park outside Nashville. For a lifelong outdoorsman who also loved music, it was the perfect fit, and it changed how he saw everything.
"When you're from a small town, you're in this bubble," Cook said. "When you get out of that bubble, you start to see the world as a lot bigger place."
He went home to Monroe, told his wife Hannah it was time to move, and she was ready before he finished asking. There was one more nudge, and it came from his father. Cook had first enrolled to study nursing, thinking he needed a safe career, until his dad asked why. When Cook explained it was a good living, his dad simply said, "I thought you wanted to play music." Cook said he did. His dad answered, "Well, play music."
"My dad gave me permission, and I didn't even realize it," Cook said. "That's when it just clicked. I said, no, this is what I'm doing. And I haven't looked back since."
He and Hannah moved to Nashville in January 2001.
Twelve Years With Luke Bryan And The Art Of Serving The Song
In Nashville, Cook became one of those rare first-call players who can walk into any session and make everything tighter. He spent more than a decade as Luke Bryan's bassist, playing stadiums and helping drive one of the biggest live shows in the business, while stacking up session and television credits along the way.
Ask him what separates a good bass player from a great one, and his answer has nothing to do with flashy licks. Artists like Tracy Byrd, Steve Wariner, and Luke Bryan did not hire him to show off, he says. They hired him to support the song.
"It's not about what you can do. It's about what you can give," Cook said. "You need to get out of the way and make sure you're doing the best thing you can to support that song and the person singing the song. That's number one. That's it."
That same humility runs through the stories he tells, from crossing paths with a then-unknown Chris Stapleton in his early Nashville days, to the night Luke Bryan's young son tripped over a power cable and briefly knocked out the entire PA mid-show. Even in front of tens of thousands of people, Cook says he would scan the crowd, find the one person who did not look like they were having a good time, and quietly make it his job to send them home smiling.
Louisiana Never Left Him
These days Cook works mostly behind the board as a producer at his studio just outside Nashville, and he has carried his home state with him. There is king cake in the kitchen, Tony Chachere's within reach, and gumbo on offer for studio clients. More and more, he is focused on giving back, helping up-and-coming musicians and staying connected to the deep well of talent coming out of Louisiana.
It is a full-circle idea for a guy who once watched North Louisiana players like Mike McKenzie and dreamed of doing what they did. Now he is the veteran that younger players look up to.
"Everything is about meeting people and making connections, because you can't do it by yourself," Cook said. "That's kind of my goal now. I just want to be able to help other people."
What's Next For James Cook?
Cook continues to build his production and studio work outside Nashville while staying active on the road and in sessions, and he is increasingly turning his attention to the next generation of Louisiana artists. With a career that already spans stadium tours, marquee television stages, and a full client list, his next chapter is about paying it forward to the players coming up behind him.
Fans can follow James Cook below for new production work, sessions, and future announcements.
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Full Interview Transcript
Louisiana Country Music Live with James CookLouisiana Country Music Live with James Cook
Ronnie Calhoun: We don't want to keep our guests waiting. Our guest tonight is a multi-instrumentalist, bassist, writer, and producer. This guy is Louisiana-raised and Nashville-based, and his work you've almost certainly heard whether you realize it or not. He grew up in Monroe and studied music at NLU. He became one of those rare first-call players who can walk into any session and make everything tighter. For more than a decade, he's toured as bassist for Luke Bryan, helping power one of the biggest live shows in country music. Along the way, he's worked with an impressive range of artists across all genres, like Tracy Byrd, Steve Wariner, Jason Aldean, Rodney Crowell, Vince Gill, and the list goes on and on. He's appeared on TV stages: the Tonight Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Fallon, Ellen, the Today Show, all the places. And these days he's working behind the soundboard, doing his own thing at his Studio on the Ridge just outside of Nashville. Let's welcome our guest tonight, James "Captain" Cook.
[After some technical difficulties getting the audio working]
Ronnie: This is like being on a big tour, man. You never know when technical difficulties are going to happen.
James Cook: It's funny, actually. We were playing a concert at an amphitheater. I think it was Oak Mountain in Birmingham, Alabama. We were on stage with Luke Bryan and the PA just went out. Turns out Luke had his two boys there, and his son tripped over the power cable that plugged in the whole thing. You have this huge production, and something as silly as tripping over a cable can shut it all down. Anytime something like that happens, I always quote Sling Blade: "ain't got any gas in it." I'm always looking at that one cord at those shows thinking, if that one cord goes, this whole thing is going to shut down.
Ronnie: Well, we appreciate you joining us tonight, and I apologize for the technical difficulties. Before we get started, I want to know where the name "Captain" comes from. I see James "Captain" Cook all over the internet.
James: There's a famous explorer named Captain James Cook. He was a British explorer, and he discovered Hawaii and a lot of Alaska and some of the islands out in the Pacific. If you've ever been to Australia, there's a lot of Captain James Cook stuff out there. There's a James Cook University, and Alaska has a lot of homage to him. As with nicknames, you don't give yourself your own nickname, right? I did not give myself that nickname. I was given it by some close friends. A lot of people just call me Captain, so I respond to whatever.
Ronnie: As far as nicknames go, you got off pretty lucky there. I've got some that are way worse than that.
James: I have other nicknames too, which we won't say, but if you know, you know.
Ronnie: We've got Ryan Brashier here in the comments. What's up, Ryan?
James: Yeah, I love Ryan. He's one of my best friends, and that guy is very talented. He's from Kentucky, so we don't hold that against him. Before we dive into music, I always like to give everybody a chance to tell us a little about yourself and your family.
James: Sure. It's all about my family for sure. I have a lovely wife, Hannah. She and I have been together since high school. I met her my sophomore year, my 10th grade year. She was a junior and she was the new girl in town, and she came from South Louisiana, a true-blue South Louisiana girl. We were both in band, and there she was. I thought, "Oh, who's that?" We've been together since 1989. She stuck with me the whole time, and I guess she knew what she was getting into. She's my best friend and my wife. A lot of what I've done and accomplished is because of her being behind me, holding me up and pushing me, because she definitely has a lot more push than I do. I'll kind of sit back and watch, and she's like, "Get up there, do that, talk to him." And then I have two boys. My son Aiden is a senior in college, and my other son, Sam, like the singer Sam Cooke, is a senior in high school. I've got a great family, good kids and a good wife. I've been in Nashville since we moved up here right at the beginning of 2001, January. It's been an awesome time. I've gotten to see a lot of cool stuff, do a lot of cool stuff, and meet a lot of really interesting people. I'm just blessed to have the career I have. Everything is about meeting people and making connections, because you can't do it by yourself. We all need support. You've got the support from the good Lord above, and then you have to have your support from the people around you. I'm very grateful for that. I've had a lot of good people help me along the way, and that's kind of my goal now: I just want to be able to help other people.
Growing Up In Monroe, Louisiana
Ronnie: Let's talk a little about growing up in the Monroe area. We're going to get to music, but since we're Louisiana, let's reminisce a little and give you a chance to talk about growing up there.
James: I grew up in Monroe, and I was just your typical North Louisiana kid. I loved to ride bikes, hunt, and fish. I was a big outdoorsman, still am. I loved to duck hunt, and my daddy took me fishing. He was a big inspiration for me musically. He was an amateur guitar player who would strum along with the Statler Brothers and CCR. He was a big music lover, as was my mother, but no one in the family was a professional musician. As far as where I got it from, I guess God gave it to me, because once I discovered music, I just never looked back. I was one of those kids who would sit there for hours just learning stuff and listening to music. I had the bug and it wasn't going anywhere.
My cousin, Scott Beaman, a great man, would take me duck hunting when I was a kid, back in middle school or junior high, as we called it. My dad loved duck hunting but was busy with work, so my cousin Scott took me. As soon as he did, I was absolutely hooked. It's a part of me. I love that whole culture, the camaraderie, being out there in a duck blind with other folks. I was a big-time outdoorsman.
Then I went to school and I was a horn guy in band. I played saxophone, and I was a drum major. I was a band nerd, and still am. I remember listening to the radio with my cousin Scott, driving to the duck blind early in the morning with the country station on, and for some reason I knew I wanted to make records. I don't know where it came from, but I loved that whole vibe. I love all kinds of music, not just country. I played in R&B bands and rock bands, all kinds of iterations of different styles, and I loved everything I did. But that one thing resonated with me. At a young age I was telling myself, "I want to be on the radio." I didn't really want to be an artist or the singer. I just wanted to be part of the group. I'm a typical band guy. I love the camaraderie, the support, being the person on stage supporting the singer and the artist. It's just something I've wanted to do since I was 13 or 14 years old. Nashville was in the back of my mind. I didn't know a whole lot about it, I just knew the music came from there.
Ronnie: Tell us about your first band.
James: Going through high school, I got into a band with my buddies. My first band was called Slick Relief, my 10th and 11th grade year. I got in a band with my buddy Chris French, who went to school with me, and his cousin Derek Mixon played drums. Derek is a killer guy, an amazing human being. If you don't know who he is, he's the drummer for Chris Stapleton. He's been with Chris a long time, since the Traveller record came out. Derek and I have quite a history. We've been in so many different bands together, including one with a record deal, a band called The Levies.
Our first gig was a telethon, a fairly small one. We had no business being on TV whatsoever, but we did, and it was pretty awful. The crazy thing is I have the VHS tape of that show in my archives. I haven't watched it in years, but I have the very first gig I ever did documented, which is pretty scary.
Ronnie: People there were probably thinking, "These kids stink," and they didn't know that two of the guys would go on to play two of the world's biggest tours.
James: Right. You never know.
Ronnie: Did you feel like you were pretty good then, or were you still figuring it out?
James: Oh, we were definitely still figuring it out. But we thought we were the better of the bunch, in our minds. We followed people we looked up to who were playing around, like Mike McKenzie. Mike's been playing in North Louisiana for a long time, and he's an awesome musician, singer, and human being. I'll say it now: he was a big inspiration on me growing up. We wanted to do what he was doing. We'd go watch him play and pick his songs to put in our set. It was a lot of emulating our heroes back in the day.
Finding The Bass In A Church Band
Ronnie: It's funny you made the band nerd joke, because I was going to. When you went to NLU, it says you had a degree focused on saxophone while also learning bass, guitar, and percussion. That's a pretty wide group of instruments. Do you still play a lot of them?
James: Yeah, I still do. I was conflicted because I loved all those instruments. At one point I was a pretty decent drummer, or at least I thought I was. In college I was in the band fraternity, Kappa Kappa Psi, and part of the gig was that we'd play at a school in the Monroe area called River Oaks, a private school that didn't have a band. They basically paid the fraternity to be their pet band for the football games, and I was the drummer. I brought my drum kit and played while we did everything else. It was fun. I still play all these instruments, saxophone and clarinet. Every now and then somebody calls me to play on a song or make some horn parts. As a producer, if somebody needs horn stuff, I can compose it and put it together. I know my limits. I'm not the big crazy solo guy, but I can arrange things and make parts.
Back in school I was going into education initially, to be a band director. Part of me wanted to learn every instrument, to know everything about them, because that's part of your training. You don't have to be great at all of them, but you need to know how they function. I actually played a baritone horn in college and marched two years. My goal in college was to play different instruments every year, in the marching band, pep band, or jazz ensemble. I thought it would be enriching to me as a player and a person.
Along the way, bass became my thing. The first time I grabbed the bass was in church. I played at Rolling Road Baptist Church. They were making a little band together, and I was a guitar player, but they said, "We have a guitar player, but we need a bass player. Can you play bass?" I said, "Sure." That's where I learned to play bass, at church. I had a really good teacher who was the piano player, and she had a great honky-tonk style, that left hand. She could do the Floyd Cramer thing, the Pig Robbins thing. She took me under her wing. I didn't realize at the time that she was really molding me. She'd show me stuff, "Try this, check this out, do this," and I'd just do it. It connected with me. From that day on, I felt like the bass is my thing. I feel really confident. I own the guitar too, but I really took to the bass. This is my jam.
Choosing Music Over A Safe Career
Ronnie: Was there a certain moment when you knew you wanted to be a musician, not a band director, but to play music?
James: That was definitely in college. I worked at a local music store for 10 years. The band directors would come in all the time. I held several positions there. I started as the janitor in high school, cleaning everything, then worked my way up doing sales, moving pianos, making deliveries. Eventually I got into repair work. I started repairing band instruments when the man doing it retired. That's a craft nobody thinks about, a band instrument repairman. Who's going to fix the saxophone, the clarinet, the tuba after marching band? That's what I learned to do, and I loved it. I was pretty good at it. I got to go in the back, in the shop, and work my own hours.
At that point, the band directors would come in and hang out and drink coffee, and I saw something. I could see frustrated musicians. I saw people who said, "Man, I really wanted to play music, but I'm just going to be a teacher instead." That's kind of what I got out of it, and I thought, "No, man. I'm going to play music. I'm not going to settle." It felt like they had the mentality of settling for teaching since they weren't playing. Not everybody, but I said, "You can always teach, no matter what. I love teaching, but I want to go out there and play." I had a taste of that when I got into local bands playing around town. Once you play on stage and have people dancing to your music, you get hooked. It's almost like a drug, that high of "man, people are digging what I'm doing." That's when I decided I was going to pursue this as a career.
One of the big factors in college was that my initial major was going to be nursing, because they had a really good nursing school at NLU. My dad said, "What? Why are you taking nursing?" I said, "It's a good career, you make a good living." I just thought that's what you're supposed to do. And my dad said, "I thought you wanted to play music." I said, "I do." He said, "Well, play music." My dad gave me permission, and I didn't even realize it. He expected me to do it, and I'd taken it upon myself to think I needed to do the safe thing. That's when it clicked. I said, "No, this is what I'm doing. I'm doing music." And I haven't looked back since. I never went to school to have something to fall back on. I never once said I'm going to fail at this. I think the good Lord gave me the talent, so I might as well do it. I think I made the right decision.
Ronnie: I think it's safe to say you made a good decision. We can say that now.
James: Maybe so. We all have our times where we go, "Man, what am I doing?" But I have no regrets at all about making that decision.
What Makes A Great Bass Player
Ronnie: Before we get into the Nashville stuff, I wanted to ask: what makes a good bass player great? We've got a lot of musicians who'll watch this, and I like to ask questions from the pros.
James: Everyone growing up wants to be the best they can be. They want to shine, to play all these licks. Everybody wants to be like Eddie Van Halen. But what I learned, and this is the gospel basically, is that it's not about what you can do. It's about what you can give. When you're in a band backing an artist like Tracy Byrd, Steve Wariner, or Luke Bryan, which I've had the honor and pleasure to do, they didn't hire me because I could play all these licks. They don't care. They're there to sing their songs and entertain. What they want is for you to be back there and support them. It's all about the song. It's all about being there for somebody. It's not about you. No matter what capacity you're in, studio or stage, it's all about the song and who's presenting it. You need to get out of the way and do the best thing you can to support that song and the person singing it. That's number one. That's it.
Ronnie: I love it. These shows are a great opportunity because there are so many up-and-comers in Louisiana who need to hear from you guys who have been out and done it. Speaking of, our buddy Jim McCormick is in the comments.
James: Oh man, I love Jim. He's a songwriting fool right there.
Ronnie: We had him on the show a few weeks ago. There's so much talent from Louisiana, and that's why we love this project, sharing it so people start understanding just how much talent there is.
The Move To Nashville
Ronnie: Let's talk about your journey to Nashville, your leap of faith. How did you get from Monroe to Music City?
James: It's a pretty interesting story. Like I said, when I was duck hunting with my cousin way back, before I knew anything, I said I'd love to go to Nashville. Fast forward through high school and college, my goal was to come to Nashville. I wasn't 100% sure where it would lead, but I knew Monroe was not my final destination. Back in 1999, I went to a bass camp put on by an incredible person and one of the best bass players everyone knows, Victor Wooten. He's regarded as one of the top bass players in the world. He put on this bass and nature camp. It was about bass and music in general, but it also had a nature element, and I'm a big outdoors guy, so that was a big draw.
I'd gone to a NAMM show, the National Association of Music Merchants trade show, held in Anaheim, California. I was working at that music store at the time, so I was privy to what NAMM was. It's basically anybody who makes anything to do with music, instruments, recording equipment, microphones, all of it, and it is huge. The whole civic center is full of music. I went out there in January of 1999 and I was watching people play, getting wowed by everybody's talent. I was in a booth for a bass amp company and there was a guy there named Adam Nitti. He's a fantastic bass player who lives in Nashville now, originally from Atlanta. He's played with Michael W. Smith and a bunch of people. I met him at that NAMM show, just a curious kid walking around gawking, and we got to talking. He mentioned this camp Victor was putting on and said, "You should go to this camp. I can send a message and see if you can get in."
So I went to the camp in October of 1999. It was at Montgomery Bell State Park in Burns, Tennessee, outside of Nashville. You'd camp out in the woods, go eat, have classes, and do nature walks. When I went to that camp, it was a really spiritual experience for me. Not necessarily religious, but very spiritual, because I got to connect with people and I learned to look at music in a different way. When you're from a small town, you're in this bubble. When you get out of that bubble, you start to see the world as a lot bigger place. Unfortunately, a lot of people never get outside their bubble. I wasn't that kind of person. I wanted to experience life and what's out there. By going to that camp, it just made me go, "Wow, I want to do this." From then on I was ready to move, ready to get out of Monroe and head to Nashville. I went home and talked to Hannah and said, "We need to move to Nashville. It's time." She said, "All right, let's go." I didn't have to convince her. She said, "I'm ready to go. Get me out of this town."
We moved here January of 2001, and I hit it running. I went downtown to see what people were playing, wrote down the songs, and learned all this stuff I didn't know. I knew country music, I grew up on it, but there were certain songs and setlists I had to learn along the way. Back then there wasn't the online resources we have now, so the Nashville Scene was the thing. I'd grab it, look in the back to see where the jams were and who was playing where, and I'd go to those places to meet people. There weren't that many bars back then, just a handful. You had Robert's Alley, Legends, The Stage, Second Fiddle, and Tootsie's, of course. Nothing like it is now.
I did the whole thing like most people do when they move to town. I met as many people as I could and played as many gigs as I could, a lot of terrible ones and some great ones. I played free, did whatever I needed to do to get out there. My first audition, I answered an ad in the Scene, went and played two or three songs, and the guy said, "You got the gig." I thought, "Cool." Then he said, "We're going to be in North Dakota for two weeks at this casino." And I thought, let me think about that. I didn't move to town to leave Nashville and go to North Dakota for two weeks, so I passed and kept plotting along.
The Sony Deal, The Levies, And Chris Stapleton
Ronnie: It looks like in 2005 you had a little thing with Sony Nashville, as you were talking about with The Levies. That was you and Derek?
James: Yeah. We got a record deal on Sony, but it wasn't The Levies. The Levies came from that band. There's a songwriter in town named John Stone, a great songwriter and a great dude. He's in a band called American Young and has written for Rascal Flatts, with several cuts. Somebody said, "This guy John Stone is putting together a band and has interest from a label." So I went and met him and basically brought my guys to John: me, Derek Mixon on drums, and Dan Cohen on guitar. We'd been playing together in a group called Swamp Rat, just a fun thing we put together with some instrumental stuff. Dan Cohen is one of the best guitar players in this town. He can do all this wacky chicken-picking, tapping, behind-the-neck stuff, and then sit on an acoustic guitar and make you cry, it's so beautiful.
We formed this band with John and rehearsed for about a year and a half. We'd go to his place in Green Hills and rehearse four or five days a week, writing songs and getting tight. We did a showcase at Exit/In, got signed to Sony, and started making a record. We had a couple of producers. Greg Archilla produced some stuff, a killer guy who does a lot of rock stuff out of Atlanta. Then we did some stuff with Don Gehman, who was basically going to do the record. Don has worked with Hootie and the Blowfish and Darius Rucker, Pat Green's "Wave on Wave," Tracy Chapman, and John Mellencamp. For me at that time, working with this huge producer was awesome. We did almost a whole record.
During that time I was doing a lot of session work and publishing demos, playing on people's stuff, which honestly was my whole goal in moving to Nashville, to play on records. This was when the industry was changing so much because of streaming, the time of Napster and all that. What happened with the band is Sony went in and cleaned house. They fired everybody and let go of a bunch of artists. We were low on the totem pole, so we got let go without even getting a single out. After that, John went to do his own songwriting thing, and Dan, Derek, and I created a band called The Levies with another buddy from Monroe. The music was more what I wanted to do. It was country, but with a lot more swampy soul to it, a roots-rock, swamp, soul, country thing. Everyone who listens to it hears a little bit of Louisiana, and that was our goal. We took the name from what's very common in Louisiana, the levees. We made that record in my basement, and that started my whole other career path as a producer and engineer.
It was during that whole process that I got hooked up with Luke and Derek got hooked up with Chris. Let me back up: while we were rehearsing at John Stone's house, John Stone's roommate was Chris Stapleton. We'd see Chris all the time. He'd come in and out, get his mail. Chris is quiet. This was before Chris became "Chris," but he was still the same guy, still amazing, just writing songs all the time, constantly. It was a cool few years, because Jared Neman, Jamie Johnson, all these guys were in the same vibe together. We'd do demos, and they'd sing on this and that. Nobody had really landed on anything yet. Those guys had publishing deals but weren't who they are now. And then everything kind of blossomed. Like I said, I wasn't trying to be an artist. I just wanted to be a band guy. After that, I played with Steve Wariner and different people along the way, but I eventually landed with Luke, which kept me for 12 years.
Ronnie: So the progression: you went on the road with Steve Wariner first, and there were a couple of stops before Luke?
James: Yeah. After The Levies, I played with Jed Hughes. Jed's amazing, a cat from Australia who can really play guitar and sing. He was on Keith Urban's label. We played with him, and during that time we created another band that was basically Jed Hughes's band, me and Derek Mixon on drums and Ryan Wariner, Steve Wariner's son. Ryan is an unbelievable guitar player and human being. He can play anything. Say "play some Billy Gibbons" and it sounds just like Billy Gibbons, or Pete Townshend, and you close your eyes and think you're hearing whoever it is. He's a student of the guitar. We had a side project with Jed called Sweet Eastern Saint, like a mixture of the Black Crowes and Led Zeppelin. It wasn't country, but it was awesome, just another iteration of the same guys doing different things.
To backtrack a little, me and Derek Mixon also played with Tracy Byrd together, along with Dan Cohen. We toured with Tracy and learned how to do some really cool western swing. That guy was legit. That was a big learning experience for me. It's crazy how things intertwine. You play with this person, then do a side project, and that leads to another band. It's pretty fun how it all happens.
Advice For Up-And-Coming Musicians
Ronnie: Going back to advice for the up-and-comers: there are only a handful of those major touring gigs, so they're pretty competitive. What advice would you give guys trying to land a gig like that?
James: First of all, you have to know your craft. You've got to be able to do the gig, that's a given. But the main thing, like anything in life, is to just be a good person. That goes so far. Be a person somebody wants to be around. If you want a road gig, you're going to be on a bus or in a van and trailer, in pretty close quarters, so you have to have a brotherhood mentality and just put your ego down. Your ego means nothing. Be a good person, go out and have a good time, play music, help each other out, and try to be a giving person. Everybody wants to be "look at me, look at me," and social media has made that worse. Everybody wants to be a YouTube sensation or a TikTok star, and I get it. But at the end of the day, just make sure you're a good person doing things for the right reasons.
As far as getting a gig, it's all about meeting people. You have to be out there and available, willing to hang around and genuinely get to know people. Don't go out there with a "what can you do for me" mentality, because people see right through that. Let's see what we can do together. I love collaborating, whether it's songwriting or playing music. And be a listener, too. Don't try to be a dominating force. You don't always have to be right or get the last word. It all goes back to serving the song. Everything is about the song. What are you trying to say? You can play a bunch of notes and licks, but does it make people feel good? Does it make them want more? It's like reading a good book: you know it's good when you have a hard time putting it down. You think, "I know I need to go to bed, but this is so good." That's what a song needs to do.
Playing The Biggest Stages With Luke Bryan
Ronnie: Being on a stage like that is something very few people ever get to experience. Are there a couple of artists or shows where you thought, "This is pretty dang cool"?
James: I'll say, Ronnie, there were a couple of those times. With Luke, when he started doing the headlining tours. Before that, we were out with Jason Aldean. Things were starting to get big, and we were Jason's support for a couple of tours, and the crowds kept getting bigger and bigger. When Luke started headlining, it was like, wow, now we're going on at 9:30 doing the whole 90-minute show. I remember one stadium tour. To go play Gillette Stadium, and the stadium in Dallas. There would be a time in the show where he'd have everybody light up their phones, and back in the day everyone had lighters, but now it's cell phones. I've got some really cool photos, a couple in my studio here, of the whole stadium lit up with cell phones, and I'm on stage looking so minuscule and small. It brought tears to my eyes. It was overwhelming joy and gratitude. I thought, "Man, I can't believe I'm sitting here doing this."
That's when I realized how much power you have being on stage. People want to be entertained, they want to feel good. That's the bottom line, people want to leave feeling good. If you make someone feel good, you've accomplished a goal. So I got to where, when I was on stage, I'd look down in the audience and try to pick out somebody who maybe looked like they weren't having a good time, or didn't feel well. I'd hone in on them and make it a point to give them attention, smile, or throw them a pick. Then you could see their mood change, their eyes go, "Oh, wow." I wasn't doing that for me. I wanted that person to have a great time and leave feeling special. After thousands of gigs over the years, it became a thing where I just wanted people to feel good and leave feeling like a different person.
Ronnie: I like that, because there are too many hurting people in the world. If you can get them away from what's going on in their life for 90 minutes, that's a nice escape. You never know what people are going through.
James: That's right. People go through things, ups and downs, losing loved ones and family. I dealt with losing family while I was on the road. I lost my father while I was touring and had to navigate that, leaving to go see him. Everybody in this life goes through that. I'm no different, I'm not special in that. The world doesn't revolve around you. Everybody's in this world together. This is your one life, but what can you do to make somebody feel better? That's the way I tried to go about it, and it keeps you grounded and humble. No matter what, there's always going to be another bass player who can do what I do, and that's fine. But there's only one me, and there's only one you. That's what you've got to remember. So what can you do to make people feel better? Whether they remember you or not, that's not why I do it. You just have to enjoy it while you can, and try to make everyone else enjoy it along with you.
Ronnie: It's an opportunity to make somebody's day a little better. Especially in your position as a musician, you have a unique opportunity to make somebody's day something they might remember for years.
James: For sure. I still get texts and emails, or a little something on a page, like, "Remember that show? You threw me a pick." I don't remember it, but they do. And then there was some cool stuff, getting to play with Lionel Richie, the TV stuff, the award shows, getting to meet all these artists I looked up to growing up. I was in a room with Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley while they were in their makeup, and I got my picture with them, thinking, "Dang, this is cool. I'd never have gotten to do that." I'm very grateful for it.
Louisiana Never Left Him
Ronnie: I'm going to let you out of here in a minute because I don't want your wife to kill me. But I do want to talk about your production work. I see Studio on the Ridge is your place. What made you love production?
James: I always loved the actual production part of it. They say we're right-brain, left-brain, the creative side and the technical side, and people are usually one or the other, but I'm pretty much both, so I love doing both. I do a lot of mixing and a lot of the grunt work, like editing vocals and making things better. I'm a little weird, I'm that kind of person. I'll hear something and think, "I can make that better." Not taking the life out of it or making it unnatural, it's all about the performance. I started doing that in college. I got a mixing console I borrowed from a local guy and a pair of ADATs, which at the time was the thing you could record on before Pro Tools, the digital tape machines. I started recording people, and I had a knack for it, an ear for it. My whole goal throughout this process was that eventually, when I got off the road like I am now, I'd start doing production work and recording. All the gear I have now is from years of accumulating it.
Now, if I'm not doing a session where I'm playing bass, here or anywhere in town, I've got a full tracking studio: a drum room, 24 tracks, all the guitars you want, a drum kit, everything. You just show up and we record. I do about four sessions a month here, and I'll go out and do things during the week at other studios. I've got a good handful of artists who come to me for songwriting demos, and nowadays people do a lot of singles. I don't do a whole lot of demos anymore because you can do your demo on your own now. Most people are recording stuff to put out, so when I record, I treat it as a master. It keeps me busy, and hey, if anybody wants to record, I'm not too busy.
Ronnie: Are you working with some up-and-coming Louisiana artists who might watch this?
James: I love it. I've got some young people from back home who've hit me up that I've been working with. It's funny, some people call or text and say, "Hey man, I don't want to bother you, I know you're probably too busy." I say, "No, man, this is what I do." Unless you're Mick Jagger, people like to work. I'm not too busy to work with anybody. I'd love to hear from anybody who wants to do any kind of recording or needs help on their music. Come see me. I'm all into it. It's a full-circle idea for a guy who once watched North Louisiana players like Mike McKenzie and dreamed of doing what they did.
Session Player Versus Live Player
Ronnie: Before we get out of here, a lot of casual fans don't think about this, but there's a difference between being a session player and a live player, and you do both at a high level. What are some of those differences?
James: You kind of start out being able to play live and learning to play like that, but there's a different skill set when it comes to recording. Nowadays a lot of session players are playing more live stuff because of the way the industry is going, just to stay busy. But there's a skill set you have to have to be a studio player. When you play live, you can get away with a lot of overplaying, jamming on a solo, because you're performing, you're up there to entertain, it's the whole entertainment spectrum. But in the studio, no one's looking at you. It's all about what you produce musically. It's about the song. You have to serve the song, ask what's best for it.
A good example: if you're a singer-songwriter used to playing acoustic guitar and accompanying yourself, a lot of those folks come in to record and say, "I'll just play acoustic." You and I both know you can't just do the whole singer-songwriter thing and record acoustic, because you're going to be playing a lot more. When you play by yourself and sing, you're trying to be the acoustic player, the percussion, and the drummer all at once. But when you're recording acoustic guitar, you just need to be an acoustic guitar player. It's a big learning experience, realizing "I'm overplaying," and there are all these little nuances. Tuning is a big thing, note duration. If you're lucky, you'll have people who help you out and say, "Hey, try not to do this," as opposed to going in thinking you can do it and having somebody say afterward, "Yeah, it's not good." And in the studio, time is money. There's a budget and a certain amount of time, and if you're not capable of getting it done, you're costing money and time. You have to learn.
Louisiana Lightning Round
Ronnie: I've got four quick-hit questions to get us out of here. Since we're talking Louisiana, just say whichever one comes to mind. Shrimp or crawfish?
James: Crawfish.
Ronnie: I'm with you. Gumbo or jambalaya?
James: Oh, gumbo.
Ronnie: Seafood or chicken?
James: I do chicken and sausage all the time. I make it all the time. If you do a session here, you're likely to get some gumbo.
Ronnie: King cake or beignet?
James: Let's do king cake. You can have a beignet all the time, but a king cake, we've got one in the kitchen right now.
Ronnie: And lastly, is there one Louisiana product you've got to have at all times?
James: You can't go without Tony's, man. You've got to have that Creole seasoning. If you don't have anything else, you've got to have that.
Wrapping Up
Ronnie: How can an artist out there watching get in touch with you? Is your website the best thing?
James: I'm this older lazy guy with my website. Most of my stuff is word of mouth. But you can go to jamescookbass.com and shoot me a message, or go to my socials. My Instagram is jamescookbass, and I'm on Facebook as well. Or my email is jamescookbass@gmail.com. I did that years ago because I thought it was pretty easy. Everywhere I go, when I tell people my email, if they're not a musician they say, "James Cook bass?" Close enough.
Ronnie: I appreciate you. I hope your wife doesn't kill me for keeping you too late on a Tuesday night, but I enjoyed it. I could have gone another hour just listening to stories. Hope to see you here in Nashville. We're doing our Mardi Gras takeover, a Monday night at Whiskey Jam and Fat Tuesday at The Local. If you're in town, we'd love for you to come hang.
James: Yeah, let's do that. I think I'm going to be in town. My wife's listening, so she's going to put it in the calendar right now.
Ronnie: Karen says, "Enjoyed it, guys." Thank you, Karen. She's a regular, she tunes in every week. Thank you for supporting Louisiana country musicians and artists. Well, brother, I appreciate it, and I'll see you soon.
James: All right, Ronnie. Thank you, man. Do it again. Keep it up.
Ronnie: Thank you, brother. All right, guys, I hope you enjoyed tonight. We get some awesome guests, and we're so blessed to get to hang out and talk to these guys, hear these stories, and talk about Louisiana. What a fun thing to do on a Tuesday night. Thank you for tuning in. If you enjoyed it, tune in every Tuesday night at 7. Follow, like, share, and comment to help us show the world what Louisiana Country Music and our musicians, artists, and writers are all about. God bless all our Louisiana folks out there. Enjoy the rest of your week, and we'll see you next Tuesday night right here on Louisiana Country Music Live.
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