The restaurant was filled with bodies. The employees were dragging tables and chairs out from the front of the bar, attempting to make a little more standing room for the people who were packed in along the bar stools. Feet were tapping, many seated hips were wiggling, and even a few brave souls took to the dance floor and forced the crowd to make room.
Every musician -who wasn’t working their minimum wage, food industry job- could be found sporting a PBR and an instrument case.
From the stage at the front of the bar a group of six musicians dominated the room. An acoustic guitar, tenor saxophone, harmonica, washboard, drum kit, two vocalists, an upright bass and a kazoo could all be found. A combination of soul, jazz and bluegrass kept the audience dancing.
It was all hands on deck for the owners of Moog’s Place in the center of Morrisville, Vermont.
On stage, a woman with long red hair and black leather boots danced with her bass, a kazoo on a string hanging from her neck in preparation for a solo.
It was the evening of March 9 and eight bands had gathered in Moog’s Place, each sharing one undeniable similarity, their upright bassist, Carrie Cook.
The March 9 event was a benefit.
Driving home in the early morning hours of December 30, returning from the second of two gigs she played that night in Stowe, Carrie lost control of her Suzuki Samurai and went over the edge of Stagecoach Road.
After flipping two and a half times she was relatively unharmed.
However, the same could not be said for her Suzuki and her beloved bass Grizelda which was in the back seat.
Cook plays in eight bands. One might even go as far as to suggest that half the bands in Lamoille County might not exist without her. That is why Tom Moog, co-owner of Moog’s Place, created the event he titled Waltzing Grizelda to benefit Cook, raising $650 dollars in six hours.
If audience participants were not there to support Carrie they were undoubtedly there to hear one of the eight incredible bands she plays in. It was an exciting line-up including TallGrass GetDown, Spider Roulette, Girls’ Night Out, George Woodard, Lesley Grant and Stepstone, Sweet & Lowdown, Slick Martha’s Hot Club and the Old Dirty String Band.
Genres ranged from acoustic, three part harmonies with Girls’ Night Out to country with Leslie Grant and Stepstone to an eclectic soul and bluegrass sound from Spider Roulette.
Adam Witkowski, a Johnson State graduate and skilled guitar player, had travelled six hours from Brooklyn to reassemble the Old Dirty String Band just for the evening’s event.
“What better way to show a person you love ‘em, than to work ‘em to the bone for six hours straight!” Adam called out to the audience at the end of the set.
The crowd answered in a camraderous series of hoots and hollers and an occasional, “Carrie, we love you!”
Jason Jack, co-owner of Moog’s Place, attributed the capacity crowd to the affection Cook inspires. “It’s obvious by the way the musical community responds to her that she’s… well she’s got this energy that makes me feel lucky to know her, lucky that we get to have her in our lives.”
When asked what makes eight bands want to play with Carrie Cook, John Freeburn, guitarist and lead singer of Tallgrass Getdown, speculated that “She’s the musician’s dream bassist… she knows how to be a bassist… She can know the material without ever having heard it before because she’s played so much music before… She has found the perfect middle ground between professionalism and ‘hobbyism’… she’s always having fun.”
In one sense, Cook’s musical celebrity is new to her, as is being the beneficiary of a benefit.
“That’s never happened to me, you know?” She said while sipping tea in her living room a few days after the benefit. “It’s like, I’ve never had a benefit. For anything. Nothing.” While the celebrity is new to her, her love affair with music has been a constant throughout much of her life.
Carrie grew up on a farm in Indiana. Her family, originally from Sweden, was comprised of many musical talents, including three uncles who played nothing but bluegrass. Carrie recalled that one played banjo, one played mandolin and one would play guitar. “I would sit on my grandma’s porch and they would play music, and I was a baby and I was hooked… I was hooked.”
Her family eventually moved to a town on the Hudson River, where her father, who was a skilled musician, would make a regular commute into New York City for work. Carrie recalls that, “he would meet them [other musicians] on the train when he would commute into work and he would bring them home. Like, complete strangers, but it didn’t matter ‘cause they were musicians… jazz musicians.” Carrie noted Sonny Sharrock being one musician who came over all the time.
Her father used to beg her (at the age of 10) to play her bass into the wee hours of the night, because the group of musicians he had gathered in their living room didn’t have a bass player. She would often argue with him because it was a school night. “Come on, Carrie. You gotta play one more song,” said Carrie, mimicking her father.
Prior to moving to Cambridge seven years ago with her husband Peter Cook, Carrie had not played bass for 35 years due to a “hellacious work situation.” Grizelda was the first bass that she owned after her hiatus.
“She represents my joy at finally being able to play again… and play here in Vermont,” she said.
Now Cook is a self-employed graphic designer working out of her home.
When Carrie really started getting into the local music scene about six years ago she was often referred to as “Washtub Mama” because at the time she did not own a stand up bass and instead made her own washtub bass from scratch.
“Well, if you go to your local hardware store it’ll cost ya about 18 dollars to make. So cheap and so cool.”
The components consist of a galvanized steel washtub, a broom handle and white cotton clothesline. Carrie played her hand made wash tub base for several years until she saved up enough money to purchase Grizelda.
Currently, Grizelda is being repaired by Pete Langdell of Jeffersonville. Cook looks forward to her return and in the meantime has invested in a new bass, “Jezebel.”
She says, “Grizelda will end up being an outdoor bass, y’know the campfire bass.”
