Mike Cooley appears on Mountain Stage, recorded live in Charleston, W.Va. Best known as a singer and guitarist in the enduring Georgia band Drive-By Truckers, Cooley gives a lot of solo performances, but they're always special.
The Truckers' own bar- and club-tested sound usually runs the gamut from raucous alt-country to rock to punk, but Cooley's solo sets are relaxed and intimate. "Strip it, strip it, strip it down," he says, alluding to the mantra that guides these performances. "What's left is the song and nothing else." Under this hard, unflattering light, Cooley's songs often emerge as the sturdiest and most lyrically shrewd entries in Drive-By Truckers' catalog.
Cooley's set here consists of re-imagined versions of DBT classics, including "Marry Me" and "Birthday Boy." His debut solo album is called The Fool On Every Corner.
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