David Cook premieres new single 'Criminals'

Inspiration for David Cook's new single came from equal parts Muse and The Wallflowers. "The gallop guitar riff on it is definitely a One Headlight kind of vibe," Cook says of Criminals, which is premiering at USA TODAY. "Lyrically, it's a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde, young love against the world."

Criminals is the lead single from Digital Vein, the former American Idol champ's first album in four years, and a track that comes as an instant download with pre-orders of the album. Digital Vein comes out Sept. 18 from INgrooves Music Group.

"It's a good synopsis of the record," Cook says. "I really tried to get out of my own way and let the creative process go where it was going to go. That song was my first real foray into that."

It was also one of the first songs he wrote after moving to the Nashville area three years ago.

"Nashville's creative community is pretty open," he says. "I was able to come here and hit the ground running." He even wrote a top-20 country hit for singer David Nail, called Kiss You Tonight.

Even so, Cook needed a while to get the new record going. After selling nearly 2 million copies of his two post-Idol albums for RCA, he briefly considered giving up being a recording artist for the life of a songwriter. "I started making a record not knowing if I was making a record or knowing if I was going to finish said record. Now, I can honestly say I've never had more fun making a record."

Cook recorded most of Digital Vein in his home studio with his backing band, going into a nearby studio owned by the drummer who played on Cook's two RCA albums to have his drummer cut his parts. "It has always been important to me to have that connection between the record and the live show," Cook says. "As a fan of music, I always get bummed out when I go see an artist live and it doesn’t feel like the record."

Speaking of the live show, Cook will launch his fall U.S. tour, dubbed The Digital Vein Tour, Sept. 30 at the MIM Music Theatre in Phoenix.

Changing the pace of his career has allowed Cook to regain not only some work/life balance but control over the direction of his music, having self-produced an album for the first time since Idol. "We did it ourselves; it was a small group of people, and we were all invested," he says. "At the end of the day, I get to live or die by my own sword. Which is scary as hell but really exciting."