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June 13, 2007 - Timothy Cook recorded Lucy is the Guy with Diamonds in a Buddhist temple, above the Mekong River in Northern Thailand. The homemade CD-R features eleven tracks of philosophical musings and surreal, solo harmonica songs. The largely improvised tunes echo with a lulling serenity.

Scribbled innocently with a Sharpie marker on the back cover of Cook's CD are the words: "… and when the wind blows, the nests fall from the trees." Philosophical musing like this from the retired American expat run throughout Lucy is the Guy with Diamonds.

Cook's inspiration includes American folk, Japanese shakuhachi (a traditional Japanese instrument resembling a flute) and classical clarinet literature. "The idea here is to play with the natural reverberation of the temple," he writes. The recording is an impressive feat, considering Cook lives out of his backpack while traveling around South East Asia.

"Music can keep a person calm and sensitive in a chaotic and tense world," Cook says.