Jeff Cohen Interview
By Big Al Weekley for Country Music News International Magazine & Radio Show
Jeff Cohen (born January 28, 1966) is an American songwriter, record producer, and publisher. He is also known for his role in founding the band Pancho’s Lament.
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Cohen started working at BMI in licensing in 1989 where he helped upcoming bands protect their music and insure they received the royalties they were due. A year later he moved to the writer-publisher relations department, working with such talent as Jeff Buckley, Ani DiFranco, Lisa Loeb, Joan Osborne, Kara Dioguardi, Spin Doctors, Blues Traveller and many more. By 1994 he was promoted to an executive directing role. After a year spent at Warner Chappell Music in 1995, he would return as senior director of BMI in 1996, where he remained until 1999.
In August 1999, Cohen started pursuing a career as a full-time songwriter, leaving his executive position at BMI after a brief but serious illness. Following the success of Jack and Jill on the WB, Jeff went on to write several songs for other shows including Dawson’s Creek, Party of Five, One Tree Hill, Desperate Housewives, Ed, Roswell, Army Wives, Reba, Smallville, The Simpsons, Saturday Night Live, Who Wants to Marry My Dad, Once and Again and others.
In 2005, Pancho’s Lament wrote and performed the theme for I Married a Princess on the Lifetime Network. That same year, Macy Gray’s version of the Cohen-penned “Boom Boom” was the promotional commercial for the upcoming third season of ABC’s Desperate Housewives. Cohen also wrote the theme song featured on the TVLand show The Exes. Songs by Cohen have been featured in major and independent films such as Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Stuart Little 2, My Super Ex-Girlfriend, Aquamarine, Grandma’s Boy, Unconditional Love, See No Evil and Two Ninas.
Cohen’s songs span multiple genres. He co-wrote “Postcard From Paris” for The Band Perry’s 2010 debut album, a song that reached No. 5 on the Billboard country charts. Cohen also wrote the Top 5 hit “Crazy For This Girl” for Evan and Jaron, and the Top 15 country hit “Holy Water” for Big and Rich, which went to No. 1 on the CMT and GAC video charts. All three songs earned Cohen BMI awards.
Laura Bell Bundy recorded four of Cohen’s songs on her debut album, including the hit single “Giddy On Up,” also a No. 1 video on CMT and GAC. Other artists who have recorded Cohen’s songs include Sugarland, Josh Groban, Macy Gray, Nick Lachey, Marc Broussard, Bethany Joy Lenz, Spin Doctors, Mandy Moore, multi-platinum Dutch artist Ilse DeLange (top 10 hit “Beautiful Distraction”), multi-platinum Canadian artist Doc Walker (top 10 hit “Put it Into Drive”), Richie McDonald of Lonestar (title track of Dove nominated album I Turn To You), multi-platinum South Korean artist Cho Yong Pil, multi-platinum Dutch artist Waylon (top 5 hit “Hey”), Sandi Patty, Ronan Tynan, Teitur, Three Graces, Sasha and Shawna, Amie Miriello, Toby Lightman, Chelsea Lee, Ben’s Brother, the multi-platinum Spanish artist Luz Casal, multi-platinum Australian artist Christine Anu, multi-platinum German artist Harmut Engler, and platinum Norwegian artist Torstein Sodal.
Cohen co-wrote seven songs on Kristian Bush’s solo 2015 solo record Southern Gravity.
Jeff Cohen began working closely with many U.K. artists. He has worked British country duo The Shires, penning two BBC Radio A-List Hits for their 2016 album My Universe (“1000 Hallelujahs” and “Daddy’s Little Girl”) and three songs for their 2018 album Accidentally On Purpose (“Echo,” “Living On A River Of Love,” and “Loving You Too Long”). Other U.K. artists include Jess and The Bandits, The Wandering Hearts, Catherine McGrath, Ward Thomas, and Sarah Darling.