For those unfamiliar with the name Jeff Cohen (the songwriter not Goonies actor) you may find that he is a songwriter/artist that you didn’t know you already loved. One of most cherished songwriters in not just country music but music in general, Jeff Cohen has written songs for many of your favourite artists and has songs featured in many of your favourite films and tv shows.

Let’s take a look at some of the career hits that Cohen has given us. Starting with homegrown country duo The Shires, Cohen co-wrote some of their most loved hits such as Daddy’s Little Girl and A Thousand Hallelujah’s. The Latter has become a tradition at The Shires live shows with audience members putting their hands up in the air chanting “hallelujah” along with Ben and Crissie.

Further back, Cohen has co-written tracks for Sugarland (April Showers, Take Me As I Am), Evan and Jaron (Crazy For This Girl) which featured on various Films and TV shows including The Princess Diaries and Dawson’s Creek, Josh Groban (In Her Eyes), Mandy Moore, (Top of The World), Big & Rich (Holy Water), Macy Gray (Boom Boom), The Spin Doctors (Can’t Kick The Habit), The Band Perry (Postcards From Paris), Mickey Guyton (Forever Love), Jake Bugg (Downtown) and many more. Cohen also had a small role in creating the tune to Paw Patrol.

As an artist, Cohen has released some stunning music such as The Way You Look at Me feat (Pancho’s Lament). The emotive tune is a breathtakingly beautiful piano driven track and Cohen’s vocals are warming and raw with a natural storytelling tone. It isn’t the only song that Cohen has collaborated with Pancho’s Lament on. I See Stars sees another release together and fans of The Shires may recognise the song from their album 10 Year Plan. Jeff Cohen’s version is just as special with stunning production. Cohen has more music of his own as an artist to be released across the coming months and it is well worth keeping an eye and ear open for these tracks. Click here for his music on Spotify and here for Apple.

Jeff Cohen has fast become a favourite for country music fans in the UK. With live songwriting showcases on the rise, fans have constantly filled out seats to see Cohen perform acoustic versions of some of the songs he has written in their original form.

A regular to the UK now, Jeff Cohen will be heading off to Ireland for some May shows. Cohen will be playing a string of songwriters shows with some other celebrated artists where he will be playing his own music as a respected artist but also some of the songs he has written for others.

The first show will see Cohen in Dublin on May 13th at Arthur’s Bar (tickets here). Playing Alongside Cohen will be Alicia Witt. Known best for her acting work in films such as Urban Legends, Mr Holland’s Opus, Fun and tv shows such as Cybill, The Walking Dead and Nashville, Witt has also been releasing her original music for a number of years. Mairead Carlin, Ronan Scolard, Anna Krantz and Jonathan Brown from the band The Rua will also be featured on the billing.

On May 15th Cohen and Witt reunite in Belfast for a show at Crescent Arts Centre with country pop sensation Catherine McGrath tickets here. His final stop will be on May 17th at New Gate Arts and Cultural Centre, L’Derry with special guest Donna Taggart and Catherine McGrath. (Tickets here)

These shows will be fun-filled with wonderful stripped back songs and the fascinating stories behind them. Not only do songwriters shows bring you the joy of music but fans always leave them feeling a part of something very special and intimate. These type of shows are truly an experience like no other.

Jeff will also be back in July for some dates. FortyFive Vinyl in York, July 4th (tickets here) and The Green Note in London on July 14th (tickets here )

We caught up with Jeff Cohen to discuss these shows, his songwriting career, who has impressed him the most in the writers room and more!

How are you today?

I am good. I’m actually getting ready to leave in two days for Ireland.

Yes of course. Tell us about some of these shows, because you’re going to be alongside a great lineup.

So here’s the crazy thing. I was supposed to play Belfast twice. I was supposed to play on March 12 of 2020, and we all know what happened. Then I wasn’t able to go over, and I made the right move, not flying over, because everything got shut down here. And then I was supposed to play this March and headline a C2C set with Janet Devlin and unfortunately, I got sick, and I had to have a medical procedure, so I had to cancel. So I am so excited to get over to Belfast as I have never been and Dublin and then Derry. So I’ve got a great lineup in Dublin. We’ve got Alicia (Witt) with Do you know Alicia? She’s an actress.

90’s film fan here so yes, love her, she’s incredible!

Alicia’s going to come over and hang, so she’s going to hang with me. She’s incredible. And she’s going to play and as is Anna Krantz, Mairead Carlin from Celtic Woman, who’s so good. And then her husband, Ronan Scolard, and then also Jonathan Brown from the band, The Rua is going to come and play. And then I think the girl from The Beautiful South is going to be there, which is going to be great. And then I’ve got Catherine McGrath coming to play in Belfast, along with Alicia, so that’ll be special. And then in Derry, Donna Taggart, who’s a legend up in Ireland, She’s incredible. She did Jen Bostic’s ‘Jealous of the Angels’. It’ll be really good fun. And I’m going to go see Mairead is opening for Ralph McTell on the 16th who wrote Streets of London. Gonna be a great trip. I’m really excited. I am looking forward to getting over there. And it’s my first tour, my first time playing Ireland. So, you know, hopefully people will come out. But if not, you know, we’ll just kind of set a base and start to build.

That’s amazing, it sounds amazing. And firstly, I want to say, Sorry you’re ill, and I hope you’re okay now?

Yeah, I’m, I’m getting there. I will be. I’ve got to just thank God for strong meds and a healthier diet.

I’ve never been to Ireland and haven’t seen Catherine McGrath for years now, and I’d love to see you and Alicia.

Well hopefully we’ll do some stuff in England together.

That would be amazing! What’s the one song, when you do songwriting shows, that you have to play, or the audience will be a bit gutted?

Oh, wow! Most people here (in the US) love to hear the Josh Groban song ‘In her eyes’, that one seems to be requested all the time. When I’m in the UK, people like to hear ‘A Thousand Hallelujah’s’ by The Shires, or ‘Daddy’s Little Girl’. A lot of people like to hear ‘Crazy For This Girl’ (Evan and Jaron), or Paw Patrol. Also like ‘One and Only’ (Teitur) from the Aquamarine movie.

I actually love that film! Who has impressed you most in the writers room as a co-writer?

Jamie Hartman. Jamie’s blown up. He’s great. He’s been one of my favorite people to work with for 25 years, even before the world knew how great he was. You know, he’s had such great success with Rag ‘n’ Bone Man (Human) and Celeste and James Bay and Calvin Harris and the list goes on and on. But he’s just, he’s just that good. I mean, like he’s, he’s a legend, writing wise, when you’re in the room, his instincts are great. I love the Ben Brother’s. Ben’s Brother, his band. I was lucky to co-write a song on that years ago with him (Sanctuary), but I play his records forgetting he’s my friend. You know, I just jam those records. He’s great. Sacha Skarbek is another great writer I work with in the UK. He wrote ‘Wrecking Ball’ and did the James Blunt record ‘You’re Beautiful’. He also had cuts with Adele, Lana Del Rey. He’s great. I mean, Ben Earl from The Shires. Ben Earl is just, you know, awesome to write with. You know, we’ve had some great success -We’ve had many cuts together with The Shires and he’s just, you know, he’s a special talent.

As I am sure you noticed, my website is named after a Shires lyric.

Of course, “we can build our own Nashville”

I’d say for writers, there’s an artist called Teitur, who’s from the Faroe Islands. We’ve written some great songs. Chris Barron from the Spin Doctors. We’ve written hundreds of songs together. Kristian Bush from Sugarland, we’ve written hundreds of songs together. Just all incredible writers. Jeff Trott, who did all the Sheryl Crow he’s written Sheryl Crow hits. I love working with Kara DioGuardi, another great writer that I get to write with. Yeah, I’ve been very lucky, some wonderful, wonderful writers, and I’m missing a few too.

Have you had a song cut by an artists that sounds completely different from the writer’s room to the full production where you were like, “wow, I didn’t know it could sound like that?”

Oh, wow. That’s a great question. There’s a song I wrote for Macy Gray called ‘Boom, Boom’. It was on the show called ‘Desperate Housewives’, and it was on the commercial for ‘Desperate Housewives’ and it was also on the soundtrack. When I heard the version she did, it was a little bit different. And I was like, “Oh, this is a little different than our demo”. And then I listened the second time, and I’m like, “Macy Gray, you are a genius”. This is awesome.

I love that. That is so cool.

the Spin Doctors did a version of the song I did called ‘Can’t Kick The Habit’ that it’s very different than the one on my album. They made it more of a jam kind of thing, and that was kind of cool.

I used to be a big fan of Spin Doctors, so that’s very exciting.

They were one of the first bands I worked with.

Really? Oh my goodness. Okay, that’s really cool.

Have you ever written songs with an artist in mind rather than writing with them because you were a huge fan and then offered it to them and they cut it? If so, who?

Oh yeah. I mean the Josh Groban song. I wrote that for Josh Groban, hoping he would do it, basically to impress my Dad and he did. I wrote that hoping it was either Groban or Bocelli. Those were my two goals, and we got it. I mean, like when I bring songs in, you know, like when I brought songs into The Shires, or brought songs into Sugarland and brought ideas to them, I was hoping they would record them, and they did.

That is amazing.

I wanted to talk about Evan and Jaron who you co-wrote ‘Crazy For This Girl’ with and it’s featured in many films and TV shows. I loved Evan and the Long Road To Love too, and I’m really sad that they are hardly around anymore.

I mean, they’re both managers right now, and they’re killing it. They’re doing great. They’re making loads of money, and they’re managing other people, and I’d love them to come back and do it, do some more stuff. I love those guys.

What song of yours is a family favourite? Whether you’ve cut it yourself or written for it someone else?

Well, my dad did love the Josh Groban song ‘In Her Eyes’, I know my dad loved the song. He passed away, but he loved a song called ‘The Human Spirit’, which I had written for Ronan Tynan, one of the Irish Tenors, and I was pitching to Bocelli and Groban, it never got cut, but that was probably my dad’s favorite song. He loved that song ‘The Human Spirit’. I would love to get that cut one day.

That answered one of my other questions. I was going to say, is there a song out there that no one’s cut yet, and you’re just waiting for it to be cut? I guess that one?

I’ve got a lot of those. There’s a song called ‘The Way You Look at Me’ that I released as a single this year. That I think is just a personal favourite. There’s a song coming out this summer called ‘Playing God’ that I really think Liam Gallagher should cut that song. I think that would be awesome.

Apparently he lives near me, so maybe I’ll tell him haha!

Please tell us about ‘The Way You Look At Me’ and the project Pancho’s Lament. Who did you work with on the song and was it a quick song to write?

“The Way You Look At Me” was a song I wrote myself and believe it or not took a few years and a few re-writes ! It’s always been one of my favorites. I would return to it often, but never thought the chorus was strong enough. One day while writing I sang “ I wish YOU could see the way you look at me” and that line changed the whole song for me.

You also released your own stunning version of The Shires’ I See Stars. What is it about that song in particular that made you want to release it?

I have always loved The Shires version of the song and also enjoyed playing it live. Thought it would be a nice addition to any collection of new pancho’s lament songs.

Will there be future projects with Pancho’s Lament?

I do plan on releasing two more singles this summer and then an EP in fall of 2025 !

The Shires often talk about the writing session of Daddy’s Little Girl, but what is your memory of that day in the writers room?

The day we wrote, Daddy‘s Little Girl was a very emotional day, but was also a fun day because there was so much honesty and magic. It was one of those days where it reminded you why we are songwriters.

What are you working on? You have said you’ve got a new song coming out. What else are you working on? Who are you working with?

I’ve got a few singles that are just actually being mixed today. A song I wrote myself called ‘Boat on a River’, which I love. I’ve got some of The Wandering Hearts doing backing vocals. I have also got Bethany Joy Lenz (One Tree Hill). She’s doing backing vocals on it. So that’s going to be great, it’s being mixed by John Alagia, who produced John Mayer and Dave Matthews. So that’s being done this week, and ‘Playing God’ is going to be done next week. So I’ll probably put them out in July and in September, and then I’ll release an EP in the fall.

Nice. I’m very, very excited about that. I hope you come back and tour it as well?

I am. I’m going to come back. I’m playing the FortyFive Vinyl in York on July 4, and I’m playing The Green Note in London on July 14. I’m waiting to hear back from some festivals in late August, early September, that hopefully I’m going to get to play. If not, I’ll just come back and do some shows. I was asked to be at a TV film conference in Ireland at the end of September. So hopefully I will do some time in Ireland late September, and England again in October.

That would be really good try and put Gloucestershire on the list please!

I would love to. I’d love to, and then hopefully, maybe, you know I’ve been able to work with some amazing bands, like The Wandering Hearts, the First Time Flyers, The Shires again. Maybe I could even, you know, do a few support shows.

I’ve been working with Peter Conway on ‘Nashville Meets London’. I’ve been hosting ‘In The Rounds’ so maybe we’ll do another in the round. Maybe I’ll bring over Chris from the Spin Doctors.

If you get Chris from the Spin Doctors, I may cry haha!

Is there a song out there that you’d wish you’d written?

Besides Baby shark?

We all wish we’d written that. That would probably be quite good money.

Yes, we all wish we’d written ‘Baby shark’. We’d never have to do anything in our lives again. We would just do it for fun. God, there’s so many songs that I wish I wrote. I should really have this down. I get asked this question all the time, and it always, it depends on where my head’s at that week, you know, like, what am I in the mood this this month?

There’s a song called ‘I Can’t Make You Love Me’. By Bonnie Raitt. That song is just perfection.

I love that!

Having had many artists cut your songs and having had songs on film soundtracks back when everyone would buy the entire CD or cassette as streaming didn’t exist then. Is it really as brutal, financially speaking for songwriters now on streaming platforms?

Oh it’s terrible, it’s as bad, if not worse than people say!

I think we as listeners don’t really consider that. The TV show Nashville definitely made it look more glamorous than it is.

Yeah that’s the way it used to be. Right now you have to diversify which is why you have to do some live shows, do corporate shows. TV and sync still pay but streaming pays nothing to the songwriter. You’ll have to see hundreds of millions of streams to see any real money from that. You have to own the recording and if you’re not the artist and you don’t own the recording, then you’re not making any money.

That’s so sad to hear.

Who is your dream artist to cut a song of yours?

My favourite artist of all time is Jackson Browne. That would have been super special, I would have loved that. He is my all time hero when it comes to songwriting. It would have been cool to work with Peter Gabriel, he is incredible too. Current artists, pretty damn cool if Adele did a song right? Alison Krauss, so many different artists. It would be great to work with U2.

Give them a shout when you’re in Ireland.

I know, I may be like “Hey Bono, I’m in Ireland, let’s get a Guinness”