Clay Cook

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Please help improve this article by expanding it.
Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (May 2007)

Clay Cook is a songwriter and musician who co-wrote several songs with Grammy-winner John Mayer. Cook and Mayer's songwriting partnership was predominantly through Mayer's early career, as the songs he wrote with Mayer (with the exception of live releases) only appear on Mayer's first two releases, Inside Wants Out and Room for Squares. Cook and Mayer formed the band Lo-Fi Masters prior to Mayer recording Inside Wants Out.

[edit] Biography

Clay Cook graduated from South Gwinnett High School in Snellville, Georgia in 1996. Following this, Cook enrolled at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts to further his skills in music. While there, Cook met fellow student and singer-songwriter John Mayer. The two of them formed the duo known as LoFi Masters.

After his time at Berklee, Cook made the decision with Mayer to move their duo to Atlanta, Georgia, as he was a Georgia native and was aware of the music industry in the city. They began their career in earnest there, quickly making a name for the two-man band. They frequented the local coffeehouse and club circuit in venues including Atlanta's famous venue Eddie's Attic. On their writing partnership, Cook said, "Even back then, my role was more like that of a producer and John was the writer. I'd give input to clean up the rough edges and help him get his vision of the song more clear. For instance, he might have written six verses to a song, and I'd help him get it down to three."^[1] Due to musical and creative differences, the two eventually parted ways midway through the pre-production of Inside Wants Out. Cook also toured with the Marshall Tucker Band from 2000 to 2003.

Every year, Cook has his birthday party at Eddie's Attic, and chooses a famous album to cover in its entirety. Cook invites all the best artists from around Atlanta to come and play with him. In 2006, the album was Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, while in 2007 he chose The Beatles' White Album.