Quirky Cool Country

Welder--Elizabeth Cook--She's got a voice like Dolly Parton's and she's played the Grand Ole Opry. She's country as heck, and funny too. And she's got the looks of a supermodel. So how come you (and formerly me) don't know her? Maybe it's because she's quirky, and sometimes, you know, people don't appreciate that kind of thing. Quirky people's brains are, ahem, different.

Some of her lyrics as evidence of her sublime quirkiness:

"If I wake up married, I'll have to annul it/ Right now my hands are in his mullet." (From "El Camino." Also from that song "I told him your car is creepy man/And not in a gangsta kind of way/But in a perv kind of way.")

"She stripped for awhile in Connecticut/Got married at least 5 times/Everyone of them men was crazy about her/So she married a couple of 'em twice." (From "Heroin Addict Sister," in which she also writes "She's a certified underwater welder/She can cook, clean and crochet/She can flash a smile from her sweet weary soul/That'll melt all your doubts away.")

"When you say yes to beer, you say no to booty." (From "Yes to Booty"--you get the picture.)

"Likes to talk about Elvis, but only in the Sun years." (From "Rock N Roll Man," in which she also writes "He's got sheets over the windows and records on the floor/A poster of Jimi Hendrix on his bedroom door." I don't know about you, but I've known people like that.)

Welder was produced by Don Was (who's produced The Rolling Stones, among many others). Buddy Miller, Dwight Yoakam and soon-to-be-Narrows alum Rodney Crowell contribute assorted background vocals.

Unless you've got something against quirky cool country, you'll love Ms. Cook, as did the Narrows audience when she made her debut earlier this month (that's her in the photo signing).

Say no to beer, but yes to quirky.