Over the last few years, David Cook’s life has been punctuated by extraordinary highs and devastating lows. In short order, the 28-year-old singer, songwriter, and musician won the seventh season of America’s most popular television show, American Idol, rewrote chart history with a record-breaking 14 debuts on Billboard’s Digital Songs chart, released his self-titled major-label debut album in November 2008, watched it debut at No. 3 on the Billboard album chart, spawn two Top 20 singles (the platinum “Light On” and “Come Back To Me”), and sell more than a million copies, reaching platinum status. He immediately hit the road for his year-long “Declaration Tour” to support it. In May of that year, Cook’s older brother, Adam, who had been fighting a battle with brain cancer, died of the disease. In December 2009, one day after the tour ended, Cook traveled to New York City to begin writing the songs that would become his second album, This Loud Morning.

A showcase for Cook’s rich, unfettered rock belt and passionately intense performances, This Loud Morning was produced by Matt Serletic, who has worked with Aerosmith, Rob Thomas, and Willie Nelson, among others. “Matt pulled things out of me that I certainly wouldn’t have gone for on my own,” Cook says. “He is all about the right sounds at the right time for the right reasons, and I think what I learned from him is that it’s not always an easy road to get the right thing. His ability to expand upon the ideas that I brought to the table really made this record what it is.”

Cook’s growth as a singer, songwriter, and musician can be heard in every facet of This Loud Morning. “I feel that we were able to find the perfect landscape for these songs,” Cook says. “Each one is its own living, breathing thing. I’ve always approached making records the same way I’ve approached putting a band together: I’m not concerned with the best songs or the best musicians. I’m concerned with the right songs and the right musicians. My focus is to make great records and having something real and truthful to write about really helped. I feel like the growth in this record is musical, it’s lyrical, it’s emotional, and that what I’ve hit on is something that a lot of people can relate to.”