H.R. Cook Biography

H.R. was raised in southwest Virginia, which is an area rich in music heritage. He grew up listening to local country, bluegrass and gospel acts, which heavily influenced the music he performs and writes.

Although he was brought up in a family with two music Hall of Famers, (Hazel Dickens and Little Jimmy Dickens), H.R. did not start playing music and writing until he was in college. One afternoon, he was invited to a friend’s home where a music jam was taking place. The friend’s father was Mel Clark Sr., a cousin to Roy Clark. Mel Sr. asked H.R. if he wanted to join in, but H.R declined since he never had the opportunity to learn to play a musical instrument; Mel Sr. then asked him to stop by the next day. To H.R.’s surprise, when he arrived Mr. Clark handed him an acoustic guitar and taught him to play his first chords. This was the beginning of a passion that has lasted to this day.

H.R. has written and recorded several country singles in the early ‘80s and a record deal in England, which received limited success. At this point he began to focus on the song writing and publishing end of the business. He soon added other writers and his publishing company has steadily grown throughout the years. Because of his unique song crafting abilities, H.R. was nicknamed “The Weaver of Words” by several studio musicians. He liked the sound of the new nickname and it became the name of his publishing company.

Recently, H.R. co-wrote the song “Zero to Love” on the Grammy nominated 2004 IBMA Bluegrass Album of the Year, It’s Just the Night, by The Del McCoury Band. He also wrote one of the featured songs on the Josh Williams’ album Lonesome Highway. It was a tune titled “Ol’ Brown Suitcase” and was played heavily on bluegrass radio.

The 2008 release of Neongrass is the first time in over twenty years that H.R. Cook is featured as an artist. When asked about this H.R. replied, “For thirty-one years I was an underground coal miner and music publisher, but my first love was singing and I knew I’d get back to that eventually when I had time. I just didn’t know it would be this long.”