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\n\tBefore Elizabeth Cook<\/a> can discuss her new album Great Television<\/em>, she wants to make sure you know how to pronounce \u201cSunset Promenade,\u201d the leadoff track.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIt\u2019s \u2018Sunset Promen-ADE<\/em>,\u2019\u201d Cook says. \u201cIt rhymes with lemonade. You don\u2019t take your partner and promen-odd, when you\u2019re square dancing. You take them and you promen-ade<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tNow that that\u2019s off her chest, the singer-songwriter, SiriusXM Outlaw Country host, and close friend to the late Todd Snider<\/a> is willing to talk about Great Television<\/em>, her eighth studio album and first since 2020\u2019s Aftermath<\/a><\/em>. \u201cMy happy place is just being in a spot where I can create,\u201d Cook tells Rolling Stone<\/em>. She\u2019s sitting on a rooftop patio on Manhattan\u2019s Upper West Side in early June, during downtime from the IFC premiere run for The Easy Kind<\/em>, a docudrama based on Cook\u2019s life, in which she appears as herself.<\/p>\n \n\tGreat Television<\/em> is a companion to the film, she says. The 11-track LP was produced by Shooter Jennings<\/a> and features collaborations with Wynonna Judd and Turnpike Troubadours frontman Evan Felker. It\u2019s an album heavy on advocacy, particularly for aspiring female artists \u2014 a non-negotiable conviction that Cook has worn on her sleeve for the better part of her 27-year career.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIt\u2019s the only reason to put anything out,\u201d she says. \u201cThere\u2019s a part of me that wants to be sort of selfish with art, because I am not the type that is validated or enjoys the attention, the stage or any of that. Some artists really thrive on that. They love it, and I don\u2019t have that. It\u2019s, hopefully, a service and part of the calling \u2014\u00a0what you give back when you receive a gift.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tGreat Television<\/em> rarely strays too far from these principles. Once you commit the last syllable of \u201cSunset Promenade\u201d to memory, it reveals itself to be an ode of sorts to a series of women in Cook\u2019s life. Two are fellow artists \u2014\u00a0Ashley Monroe<\/a> and Chelle Rose \u2014\u00a0and the third is a niece who grew up similar to Cook, \u201cborn into white trash central Florida,\u201d she says. The song leads off with voicemails Cook saved from the women and plays out in three parts \u2014 one verse for each. When Cook sings, \u201cTurns out all the things in my head are a prison\/I just want a friend I can stand to do my time with,\u201d her voice nearly cracks.<\/p>\n