Ashley Cooke shows she is a talent to be reckoned with on her debut album – shot in the dark.
On ‘Shot in the Dark,’ Cooke proves that she has the writing and vocal chops to go toe to toe with the biggest stars in country music. Across a lengthy record that covers 24 tracks, Cooke lays her heart on the line in both immensely vulnerable tracks and bigger grooving honky tonk. She is immensely endearing from her heartbreak tracks to her tracks vilifying an ex lover and this feels like a more mature album artist than this being her debut record.
What is immensely clear from the album that you don’t get from her singles is that Cooke has a lot more range in her sound than previously hinted at. There’s a good deal of heavy rock-laced tracks on the album that elevate the entirety of the project. ‘Moving on with grace’ is one of those – a rip-roaring track about an ex moving on quicker than seems reasonable. ‘He’s moving on with Grace / I’m moving on with Jack.’ It’s a deliciously heated, rock-fuelled track that kicks the album into full gear, a pace set by the opener ‘tastes like’ – a honky tonk grooving track about wanting to drink away the pain of a heartbreak, but the pain being inescapable when ‘that whiskey starts tasting like missing you.’ Elsewhere, she delivers this energy with a more light-hearted underbelly on ‘good to be back’ – a rocking track about fresh starts. ‘Good to be back in the back of a bar / Same old me but a brand new start / Dragged my heart through a little bit of trouble / But that ain’t why I’m sipping this double.’ It’s an empowering track brimming with joy and hope that delivers the same kind of joy as ‘good thing going.’ ‘Dirt on ‘em,’ written with Jessi Alexander and Alysa Vanderheim, has a similar feel with Cooke admitting to liking guys with a little bit of an edge. ‘501s look better with some mud on ‘em / And those hands feel better with work on ‘em / And I ain’t afraid of a little whiskey stain / On your name going round this small town / I don’t mind a little static on the station // A little nitty gritty with a messy reputation… something ’bout a guy / with some dirt on ‘em.’ It’s a catchy summer singalong built for a roadtrip and is as charming a country song as they come.
A degree of these changes in pace that make the album so intoxicating are delivered in the numerous collaborations on the album. Cooke has been shrewd in her choices of duetting partners that do more than just tick a box but deliver real energy and interest to the record. On ‘see you around’ she is joined by Nate Smith in a mesmerising track about not being able to shake the memory of a lover. ‘Cause you said goodbye, and tore out the drive / That was 3 months ago / And I said I guess I’ll see you around / But baby I didn’t know / I’d still see you around.’ The duo’s vocals are a sublime conversation, matching the purity of Cooke’s vocal with the grit of Smith’s, bringing out the best qualities in each, as she does elsewhere with Jackson Dean on ‘what are you on fire about.’ This track sees Jackson Dean’s smoky vocals meet seamlessly with Cooke’s in this fiery collaboration, where they both question the other about where their heart lies. It’s a glorious display in itself of the future of country music and raw talent. Doubtless, ‘mean girl’ is one of the easy standouts from the record – a delightful collaboration with Colbie Caillat, whose signature vocal blends easily with Cooke’s. It’s a track about sisterhood and looking out for each other, with Cooke reaching out to the girlfriend of an ex – played by Caillat – to pay attention to the red flags in the relationship. There’s tenderness, acceptance and a lot of love in every line. ‘Where there’s some, there’s always a fire / and he’s got the lighter / this ain’t me being mean girl / I just hate to see a good heart hanging on as string, girl / It sure looks a lot like love, but what you don’t see, girl / is all those cards slid so far up his sleeve, girl / when he says you’re the only one take it from me / it’s just another thing / that he doesn’t mean, girl.’ Although the track does not pack the same level of fire as that with Dean, still the charm of the sisterhood developed vocally between Caillat and Cooke is immensely endearing. ‘Never Til’ Now’ – Cooke’s biggest track and collaboration to date – almost pales in comparison to the weight of these three tracks. Eliciting Brett Young for this gorgeous love song about meeting the one who can change everything, the track is as earnest and charming as they come. ‘I never wanted to tie my brakes, I never wanted to settle down… Never saw myself with a white picket fence, dug into the ground / Never til’ now.’
There’s a degree of maturity on the record and empowerment that has only been hinted at in Cooke’s previous tracks. ‘Enough to leave’ is one of the easy lyrical standouts on the record, a gorgeous, yearning track about letting go of a lover, knowing that the love is there but that the relationship is not the right one for either party. ‘I loved you enough / To know I ain’t what / You need in the end….Someday and somehow you’re going to see / That I loved you enough to leave.’ It’s a heart-wrenching, vulnerable track that shows Cooke both at her lyrical and vocal best. Of course, this kind of nostalgic musings are where Cooke hits her sweet spot, looking back on love lost (‘running back’), but she has a degree of empowerment about her that is endearing. So, on ‘say no more,’ Cooke tells a lover that once they walk out the door there’s no return, questioning if they’re sure. ‘Before you say goodbye, make sure you’re sure that you’ll be just fine / When it’s 2am and you’re all alone / You won’t get me on the phone saying come over, come over / Cos if it’s over, it’s over.’ It’s an empowering track, even in the midst of heartbreak, seeing Cooke standing strong in her conviction.
This is not to say that Cooke does not deliver a good degree of sass on the record. ‘Build a bridge’ is a meandering, pensive track about a guy playing the victim, ‘can you hear the world’s smallest violin playing for you? / That’s the sound of nobody out there feeling sorry for you / Build a bridge and get over it.’ It may be the most beautiful middle finger of a song – Cooke garners more venom on this quieter song than any more bombastic track would do. Similarly, ‘your place’ is a straight up country song twisting lyrics, reprimanding an ex to know where his place is now that they are no longer together. ‘It ain’t your place to ask my friends when you see them out / If I’m seeing somebody / You don’t get to call me up cos you’re drunk at 2am say ‘I miss us.’ It’s a pleading but graceful track.
Of course, there are enough love songs on the album to satisfy, but these are charming without being cliche – the power of a true lyricist. So, ‘shot in the dark’ describes the state of being on the precipice of falling in love and ‘next to you’ is a tender track that seeks joy in the little things. ‘I’ve been living dreams lately / But they don’t hold a candle to, waking up next to you.’ It’s a plucky, stripped back acoustic-led love song that feels incredibly heartfelt.
Cooke is no doubt at her best when she is at her most vulnerable – and there’s a lot of that on Shot in the Dark, where she processes balancing living her dreams amongst missing out on time with her loved ones. So ‘it’s been a year – is an emotive, lingering and wistful track about all the things Cooke has missed while she’s out on the road, living her dreams. ‘And I ain’t sayin’ it ain’t been a good one / It’s been a did a lot more than I thought I could one / It’s been three hundred sixty five of record lows and record highs / Loving and losing, fun and confusing, praying and shifting gears / For the minute you got, it’s probably a lot, more than you wanna hear / So all I’ll say is, it’s been a year.’ Cooke infuses so much emotion into her vocal, painting a vivid picture of her current emotional landscape that is brought to its conclusion on the final track ‘state i’m in’ – a beautiful, musing track about life on the road and being a free spirit. It’s a sweeping piano ballad about being caught between love and love for the pursuit of a dream. ‘I’m been living my life / Counting highway white lines / I wake up and do it all again / I know it ain’t the time to get off of this ride / These wheels still got miles left to spin / There’s some green eyes that would do anything to love me back to Tennessee / But that ain’t the state I’m in.’
Shot in the Dark shows an artist on the precipice of something huge, but what is most intoxicating on the album is Cooke’s ability to pivot sonically and lyrically – a trait she has not shown in this kind of full force until this point. It’s an album that has the ability to send a career into the big leagues and if there’s any justice, it will do just that.
