Phil Cook comes to the Carolina Theatre on November 13

Tickets On Sale Now 

DURHAM, NC — August 25, 2025 — Phil Cook returns to his first musical love, solo piano, at the Carolina Theatre of Durham on November 13. Tickets are now on sale at the venue’s box office and online at www.carolinatheatre.org.

You already know Phil Cook, at least if you’ve listened to any of the most essential folk-rock, indie rock, or even gospel records of the last decade. The spirited piano solo on Hiss Golden Messenger’s “Day O Day,” the incisive melody of Bon Iver’s “AUTAC,” the mesmerizing elegance of the keys on Hurray for the Riff Raff’s “Life on Earth”—yes, those are all Phil Cook. In just the last dozen years, Cook’s partnerships could stand as their own best-of, including The War on Drugs, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Ani DiFranco, Nathaniel Rateliff, Frazey Ford, and the Indigo Girls.

Phil Cook has returned to solo piano, the instrument of his upbringing and the most direct line between his fathoms-deep sensitivity and the ears of his audience. On his new release, “All These Years ,” Cook’s playing—a chronicle of gorgeous and emotionally expansive meditations—reorients expectations of solo piano composition and improvisation. Indeed, that exquisite album is just the start for a player approaching the grand old instrument from the perhaps unlikely foundation of American folk music.

Two decades ago, Cook left his native Wisconsin for North Carolina, largely to be closer to American roots music. The blues, bluegrass, old-time, country: they formed a composite lingua franca for Cook, who began to deliver his keen understanding of these sounds with a guitar or a banjo. He funneled that information into his avant-folk band Megafaun and subsequent duties as an in-demand sideman. But in early 2020, Cook paused his relentless touring duties with others to focus on how all his experiences and erudition could fit into his own songs. He found a cabin in the North Carolina mountains, woke early and wrote late, and penned aubades, nocturnes, and endearing reflections on his own life. The results feel like a mirror held to a heart and mind squinting to find light in our age of darkness, hope in a moment where it’s easier to believe in its absence.

Traditional folk music, we are rightly told, was often the sound of people getting by, of chronicling despair and worry so that they might get through it, if only for the next five minutes. This is the absolute essence Phil Cook summons at the piano, whether supporting some famous singer or offering the warm flicker of his solo work. It is music that makes you glad to have heard it, glad that it exists, glad that you’re here with the chance to be glad at all.

For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.carolinatheatre.org.

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About The Carolina Theatre of Durham: 

Carolina Theatre of Durham is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that manages the city-owned Carolina Theatre at 309 W. Morgan Street, Durham, NC 27701. The Carolina Theatre of Durham is dedicated to presenting vibrant, thought-provoking film and live performances that contribute to the cultural and economic vitality of downtown Durham and the Triangle Region. Visit carolinatheatre.org for more information. 

Contact: Hanna Mercer
Senior Director of Marketing, Carolina Theatre of Durham
(919) 560-3040 | hanna@carolinatheatre.org