Emma Cook couldn't even consider a trip back across continental Canada to perform in Prince George again. She could barely consider playing music again. There were times even blinking and breathing were endurance tests.
The Toronto singer-songwriter was out on a walk, minding her own business, when a broken tree branch finally lost its grip and plummeted to the ground. It struck Cook and changed her life in the flash of stars she saw in her mind's eye.
With a machine gun burst of laughter she said "I wish it were a more exciting story" but it was just a bonk on the noggin from out of the blue. It set her music career back four years.
It set back everything about her.
She had just completed an album. All that remained to do was the final mixing of the tracks.
She had just gotten married and their first baby was brand new to the world.
All of it took as much impact as the blow to her head. The effects of the concussion wouldn't let go of her brain.
"I couldn't look at a screen, I couldn't be anywhere busy or with lights, I was getting dizzy, basically anything that required going out into the world, or even having multiple people around at the same time," she said, listing the highlights of her brain injury. "I really dialed it back and did the bare minimum. It was pretty hard."
She had been an effervescent mom, so her baby noticed a parenting change. She had been an outgoing wife, so her husband noticed a domestic change. She had been an active and busy professional musician, but that came to a shuddering halt.
She gradually got better. Baby is now six, she and her husband have another child now as well, and she eased back into music by cautiously putting the finishing touches on that previous album.
"I guess I wasn't really ready, because that album (entitled Same Old Song) came out last year and I didn't do much with it," she said. "I think also the music I was doing before was more folk, and because of that break I wasn't quite there anymore in that style."
She tiptoed into a new album almost right away. It has more pop elements, lush instrument arrangements, synthesizers and strings, vocal harmony layers, more ambition. It's called Living Proof and the first single, I Will Stay is getting brisk download stats.
"It was like a pent up emotion that came out," she said of the new material. "A lot of stuff needed to come out."
She also gave over the production duties entirely to Dean Drouillard at his Lincoln County Social Club studio where so many stars have made quality art.
It was the first time in her career that she didn't co-produce. She felt she needed to step back from that stress, and she felt full trust in Drouillard. It allowed her to focus completely on the writing and performing.
"I feel the most proud of this album," she said, but admitted she still feels pangs of self deprecation in some of the musical moments. She also admitted it was not lost on her how great it was just to be making music at all, and how grateful she was for a brand new album.
She laughed that maybe her husband wasn't liking this so much, because he now has to work with the childcare givers to do his own job and handle the needs of the kids.
"I feel good," Cook confirmed.
"I've been touring in Ontario, and done some big shows in Ottawa and Toronto and the reception's been good. But this western tour will be my first time away from home for a length of time since, well, since the concussion. I'm a little bit apprehensive about leaving (children, husband and nest) for three weeks, but it's exciting."
Cook got her musical start by singing in choirs, then branched into solo singing lessons. She taught herself how to play guitar along the way, and put out her first album at age 19. This one is her fourth, and she's tentatively added piano to her repertoire.
It'll be a full array of keyboards, guitars and backup musicians when she performs on April 19 at Nancy O's then in Quesnel the next night at Pen-Y-Bryn Farm.
