We were lucky to catch up with Heather Cook recently and have shared our conversation below.

Heather, appreciate you joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I knew that I was going to do something creative with my life ever since I was a little kid. I was always playing piano, singing, and making up terrible lyrics even before I knew I wanted to be a songwriter. Then, when my Dad taught me how to play guitar when I was fifteen, the creative spark became a flame. But even beyond music, I’ve always been drawn to the creative path. Since my childhood years I’ve gone through phases where I’ll write short stories, paint with watercolors, test stand-up comedy, and experiment with film. My high school had a small television studio where I would write and film little comedy sketches to announce the cafeteria’s menu everyday. So, I’ve always been a creator, but now that I’m an adult, songwriting is the form of expression that most earnestly reveals what I want to tell the world.

Heather, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Growing up in the woods of southern New Jersey shaped the kind of nostalgic and atmospheric music that I write today. There’s a certain contained magic about the state of New Jersey that only it’s most diehard locals can truly understand, and that sentiment probably influences my lyrics the most. The romance, mischief, and friendship that can only be found in the most unexpected parts of the suburbs, highways, and forests of an understated state.

Now, I have two finished albums of original music on streaming, but the thing I’m most proud of is the song I am going to release on November 12th. It’s called The Moment, and it’s the first song I’ve ever recorded and produced entirely on my own. Earlier this year, I tore my ACL and meniscus and had a lot of time during my recovery to learn music production. It gave me something to focus on while I was bedbound and feeling a bit hopeless. Now, releasing this song feels like a triumph of sorts. A victory in creative freedom, but also a victory in having pushed through my ACL recovery to make something I’m proud of.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

When I’m not playing music, I can be found playing soccer, which has effected my music career in surprising ways. Over the course of three years playing soccer in a co-ed adult league in NYC, I have had three separate surgeries due to soccer-related injuries. The latest injury being a torn ACL, torn meniscus, and fracture in my right knee. Not fun. The surgical medical bills are a big part of the reason I can no longer afford studio time, and the injuries themselves prevented me from playing live shows. However, the light at the end of all of this is that the isolation of my injuries inspired me to learn how to produce music at-home, and it’s one of the most creatively freeing things I’ve experienced. I’m not going to be able to afford studio time for a while, but I found a new way to make music on my own and maybe that’s one of the best things that could’ve happened to me.
Now, when people listen to ‘The Moment,’ I hope they can feel the amount of emotion and effort I put into this piece.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

A philosophy that was life changing for me earlier this year was a concept that I read about in Atomic Habits. The author, James Clear, writes about how if you want to be something, ex: a musician, then everyday you should wake up and ask yourself, “what would a great musician do today?” I took that advice incredibly seriously. I wanted to learn how to produce music from home, so everyday I would ask myself, “what would a great music producer do today?” A great music producer would not cut corners, but instead spend at least an hour every day reading about best practices in music production. A great music producer would listen to a podcast about music production during their daily run. A great music producer would sign up for a one week music production online course. These were the kinds of things I did based on that one question that I would ask myself everyday. It’s the reason I was able to finally stop just talking about music production, and actually start doing it. Now, I have my first finished song thanks to that daily mantra.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @heathercook
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heathercookmusic/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@heathercook7280
• Other: tiktok: @heathercookmusic
  Heather Cook on Spotify

Image Credits

Credit for main photo/the other two pictures of me performing: Yan K