‘American Idol’ David Cook Covers Counting Crows at Tampa Bay Summerfest (Video)

American Idol Season Seven winner David Cook closed out the day-long Tampa Bay Summerfest celebration on Saturday with the Counting Crows‘ ode to a winter month — “A Long December.” Cook’s concert also included the premiere of a new song, “From Here To Zero.”

“We like to throw covers in the shows,” Cook told the audience before launching into a poignant, stripped down version of the 1996 song from Counting Crow’s album, “Recovering the Satellites.”

Cook’s show closed out an afternoon that included appearances by singer-songwriter Edwin McCain and Juliet Simms of The Voice. Sponsored by Irish 31 Pub and Eatery, the show will donate portions of the proceeds to the ALS Association, a nonprofit group that supports research to fight Lou Gehrig’s disease.

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Dressed plainly in a brown plaid shirt, Cook delivered a solid acoustic set with re-worked versions of his own material, including “The Last Song I’ll Write For You,” “Mr. Sensitive,” “Heroes,”  “Lie” and “Life on the Moon.”

Cook was especially chatty with the crowd, weaving jokes and personal stories into the evening. He told a humorous story about his time performing as a struggling musician in Kansas City, when some “slick-looking business man” asked him if he knew how to play the Lynyrd Skynyrd athem, “Freebird.” When Cook responded he didn’t know how to sing that song, he got a surprise.

“[The guy] said, ‘good, don’t ever learn it’ and he threw $20 in my case,” he said. “Of all the weird lessons that could have stuck with me in the last, 15 or 16 years, that’s the one that stuck. So I didn’t learn ‘Freebird.” So it you yell for it, you ‘aint getting it.”

Cook, who parted ways with RCA Records last year, is currently living in Nashville writing songs for a future record.

Watch some highlights from last night’s show, including Cook’s cover of “A Long December” and his new song, “From Here to Zero”: