He was best known for being a founding member of the band Alabama, in which he contributed to occasional lead vocals, guitar, fiddle, piano and other musical instruments.

He obtained a broadcast engineer license three days after his fourteenth birthday, and worked at a local radio station as a disc jockey while still in high school.

[1] Cook co-founded the band Wildcountry, along with his cousins Randy Owen and Teddy Gentry, in 1972 (the name was changed to Alabama in 1977).

[4] Cook endorsed the 2008 presidential candidacy of former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, and made appearances with the candidate in Alabama.

[7] Cook died of complications from Parkinson's disease in Destin, Florida, on November 7, 2022, at the age of 73.