Elizabeth Cook Pens Love Letter to Her Friends on New Track “Sunset Promenade” (Exclusive)

Elizabeth Cook is expressing her gratitude to her friends.

The country-rock singer is back with a new single, “Sunset Promenade,” which she wrote for her three best gal pals who “stand particularly steady for me, and are so wonderful, and supportive, and loving, and engaged with my life,” she told American Songwriter.

The inspiration is clear from the moment the song begins, as the track opens with overlapping voice messages from the women. When the song kicks off in earnest, Cook got personal, penning a verse with each lady in mind.

“The first verse is about Ashley Monroe, the second verse is about Shelly Rose, and the third verse is about my niece, who [I grew up with],” she said. “It’s just a love a love song for them with the overriding idea that we’re also isolated in our media bubbles. I feel like It connects us, but it also divides us and it can be pretty manipulative.”

The theme is particularly visible in the chorus, where Cook sings, “Turns out hurricanes are great television / Turns out all the things in my head are a prison / And I just want a friend I can stand and do my time with / If I’m there for you / Would you be there for me too / We can do the sunset promenade.“

“It speaks to dancing through the rest of our lives together,” she explained.

“Sunset Promenade” is just one piece of Great Television, Cook’s forthcoming LP, which is due out Aug. 14.

Elizabeth Cook Teases Her Forthcoming Album

While some songs on the album fit into the same class of the likes of Ella Langley and Miranda Lambert, others have a more unexpected sound.

That’s due in large part to Cook’s varied inspirations. When she was a kid, Cook split her time between her parents’ bar band and the local Pentecostal church.

As she grew older, Cook studied artists including Lucinda Williams and John Prine. Later, she drew inspiration from ’90s greats like Alanis Morissette and Sheryl Crow.

All of that variety is clear on Great Television, which was produced by Cook’s “dear friend,” Shooter Jennings. Thematically, the songs run the gamut. However, in the end, all of them speak to “how we reconcile what we believe with reality and with our history.”

“There’s songs about the women who built the atomic bomb on the album. There’s a song about the explosion of a chemical plant that killed 29 mostly Black women in south Georgia. There’s a song that’s my send off to my ex-boyfriend,” Cook said. “It’s just kind of everything that’s on on my mind. I really tried to make all that in a super accessible piece of music.”

Standouts on the LP include “19th Nervous Breakdown,” a Rolling Stones song Cook re-wrote from the woman’s point of view, and “The Easy Kind,” a track borne out of trauma that features Wynonna Judd.

“Wynonna is a long time girlfriend, gal pal, supporter. I reached out and asked her if she would be willing to lend her astonishing soul and voice,” Cook said. “To hear her voice sing words that I wrote is just really astounding.”

As a whole, the album fits squarely into Cook’s wheelhouse, one that’s singular in nature and uniquely her own.

“I like to try and write really, really, truly original music. I don’t chase trends or care about genre. None of that,” she said.” I’m trying to just tell stories and express emotions in interesting ways.”

Photo by Stephen Dillon

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