Speaker 1: Hello, what's the crack? Summer is back? TYG Talks is back.
Speaker 1: We're deep into the GA season. We won't talk about
Speaker 1: the Premier League, but it's all goodbye here lets. It's
Speaker 1: been a busy few months and I just got back
Speaker 1: from San Diego where I was competing with the Calgary
Speaker 1: chieftains in the San Diego Sevens GA Tournament. So apologies
Speaker 1: for the delay in getting episodes out, but here we are.
Speaker 1: In this run of episodes, I have a country singer,
Speaker 1: Ice Skaters representing Ireland, a native from South Carolina, and
Speaker 1: much more. You'll never know who will end up in
Speaker 1: the Tight Talks podcast next to be honest halftime, I
Speaker 1: don't know myself, but anyway, let's get into this week's episode.
Speaker 1: Here is my chat with Devin Cooper.
Speaker 2: Dying Dying j Wes.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Tight Talks. So today's episode is a
Speaker 1: little different as I dive into the world of country
Speaker 1: music and so I am joined by singer songwriter Devin Cooper.
Speaker 1: Devin is known for his signature gritty yet smooth vocals
Speaker 1: and having best here in the business. Devin has been
Speaker 1: working relentlessly. I has been making waves in the Canadian
Speaker 1: country music scene, which saw him win the Horizon Male
Speaker 1: Artist of the Year at twenty twenty three Country Music
Speaker 1: Alberta Awards, which while also being the most nominated solo
Speaker 1: artist at the awards that year. So without further ado,
Speaker 1: I am trusted to introduced the brilliant Devin Cooper. Devin,
Speaker 1: thank you very much for coming on to talk to
Speaker 1: me on Tight Talks.
Speaker 2: Oh thanks so much for having me tag. I apreci Yeah,
Speaker 2: no problem.
Speaker 1: Most recently I've had guests on from Ireland and thought
Speaker 1: it was about time to bring it all back to
Speaker 1: Burda a bit more closer to the category through.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, it's it's great to be here.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, no, I've been following you for a few years. Actually,
Speaker 1: I remember for seeing you at the Blue Jay Cafe
Speaker 1: event that used to happen and it was it was
Speaker 1: in the Oak Tree Tavern in Kensington, that's right, And
Speaker 1: for the listeners who don't know what that is, it's
Speaker 1: basically where a group of country singers sit in a
Speaker 1: circle and take turns singing their songs acoustic and it
Speaker 1: was brilliant and I was a fan ever since. So
Speaker 1: I'm delighted to have you on.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, thanks so much. Yeah, those Blue Jay sessions
Speaker 2: are always an absolute blast. It's great to get to
Speaker 2: you know, sit down and you know, share some stories
Speaker 2: and get to sing the songs. And it's such a
Speaker 2: stripped down intimate format.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love that too. And it's there's another one
Speaker 1: called Past the Guitar as well, which I love as well.
Speaker 1: I saw that in Rangements last year. Yeah, and just
Speaker 1: from singers, Like I didn't even know any of the singers,
Speaker 1: but by the time I left, I was a fan
Speaker 1: of all of them because it's just it's just something
Speaker 1: about acoustic, isn't there, And.
Speaker 2: And totally and the way that you can kind of
Speaker 2: share the stories and tell the it's a different way
Speaker 2: to connect with the audience versus like a big production.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because I'd imagine you can, like at a big show,
Speaker 1: in a big event, you kind of get lost in us.
Speaker 1: You kind of just you're you're singing your songs and
Speaker 1: you're doing your thing and soaking up the atmosphere. But
Speaker 1: when it's an intimate setting, you're kind of you can
Speaker 1: see everyone's face and you can kind of connect a
Speaker 1: bit more.
Speaker 2: And that totally, and it's more of a conversation with
Speaker 2: the audience versus I feel like the big live productions
Speaker 2: are more of like an energy exchange where you're like
Speaker 2: feeding off the energy of the audience and you're trying
Speaker 2: to top it and match it there as in the
Speaker 2: songwriter rounds, it's like you're able to have a conversation
Speaker 2: with them and kind of share that space all together.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so Devin, give us brief history about yourself, where
Speaker 1: you're from and how you got into music.
Speaker 2: Originally from a little town but an hour north of
Speaker 2: Calgary called in a Spale. And you know, music was
Speaker 2: always on in my house when I was growing up.
Speaker 2: My parents both kind of play piano, but not they're
Speaker 2: not huge musicians kind of thing, but they love music
Speaker 2: and music was always being played. And when I was about,
Speaker 2: I guess five years old, I started begging for a
Speaker 2: guitar and they were like, you're five. In two weeks
Speaker 2: you're gonna want to do something different. And it went
Speaker 2: on for about a year. I was just begging and
Speaker 2: beg and I really wanted to play, and so finally
Speaker 2: they said, Okay, start saving up your allowance, save up
Speaker 2: your report card money, all that kind of stuff, and
Speaker 2: eventually you'll have enough to buy your own guitar. And
Speaker 2: the next year, at Christmas time, I walked out and
Speaker 2: there was a shiny black electric guitar sitting there for me,
Speaker 2: and it came with the condition I had to pay
Speaker 2: for my first six months lessons though with all that
Speaker 2: money i'd saved up, and yeah, after that, it was
Speaker 2: just off to the races. It's everything I've you know,
Speaker 2: lived in Breeze since that moment.
Speaker 1: And did your dad play music? Did you play guitar all?
Speaker 2: My dad played piano, took like you know, classical row
Speaker 2: conservatory piano, and my mom had a piano growing up
Speaker 2: and just kind of like figured out how to play it,
Speaker 2: but never really like took lessons or they wouldn't consider
Speaker 2: themselves accomplished musicians, even though they're both fantastic.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because I remember growing up my dad used to
Speaker 1: play guitar at home, just like casually. And yeah, I
Speaker 1: remember playing Johnny Cash and John Pryne and oh that's
Speaker 1: country stars, and I always had a deep love for
Speaker 1: country music ever since then. I can still remember them
Speaker 1: playing walk the Line, the first the bar coming in,
Speaker 1: and yeah, that's where I ended up. I have two
Speaker 1: guitars myself, but it looks like you were in a
Speaker 1: music store or.
Speaker 2: Some Yeah, there's there's definitely quite a few in here
Speaker 2: right now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, what was your first guitar?
Speaker 2: Actually, my first guitar was a Greg Bennett stratocaster copy.
Speaker 2: So it's basically just a stratocaster, right, And I still
Speaker 2: have it. It's not here, it's actually back at my
Speaker 2: folks place, right, but yeah, I still have it, and
Speaker 2: it was a great guitar. I played it for a
Speaker 2: lot of years.
Speaker 1: Yeah, straight into electric, no, no acoustic guitar, straight into
Speaker 1: the real deal.
Speaker 2: Yeah, into electric, and then I got an acoustic maybe
Speaker 2: three years later after i'd been maybe it was about
Speaker 2: ten years old when I got my first acoustic.
Speaker 1: And so you played, you started playing at an early age,
Speaker 1: But what initially drew you to music.
Speaker 2: I don't know what drew me to music other than
Speaker 2: I just I remember being like two years old. We
Speaker 2: had one of those big like stereos of the big
Speaker 2: speakers and six disc changers and that kind of stuff,
Speaker 2: and I'd put on like the Beatles' Anthology disc and
Speaker 2: I remember just cranking the intro to Day Tripper over
Speaker 2: and over again. So something about the guitar lick in
Speaker 2: that song, and I probably asked, like what makes that
Speaker 2: sound or something like that kind of thing. And I
Speaker 2: think just being around music and music always being played
Speaker 2: in the house on the radio and stuff like that,
Speaker 2: it was just something that I became became the love
Speaker 2: at a very very young age.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because I like acoustic guitars and I like the sound,
Speaker 1: but there's something about electric guitars, just like the likes
Speaker 1: of Mayor and these guys. From this straight I'm just like,
Speaker 1: oh that sound is I love it. I love it totally.
Speaker 1: So I'd definitely love to get my own electric guitar someday.
Speaker 1: But saving up, Yeah, what was the first song you
Speaker 1: learned to play on guitar? Can you remember a.
Speaker 2: Song I learned to play? Was actually the day I
Speaker 2: got my guitar. It was just like the intro, like
Speaker 2: to Smoke on the Water, which I feel like is
Speaker 2: everyone's first thing that they get to learn. And like,
Speaker 2: my dad doesn't play guitar, but he knew how that went.
Speaker 2: I feel like a lot of people know how that
Speaker 2: goes on guitar. So that was the first one. But
Speaker 2: in my lessons, I think one of the first songs
Speaker 2: that I learned was iron Man by a Black Sabbath.
Speaker 2: After that, I think one of the first full songs
Speaker 2: I learned in its entirety was all Right Now by
Speaker 2: Free So lots of classic rock stuff nice I was
Speaker 2: growing up, lots of Southern rock, and then put a
Speaker 2: hair metal and heavy stuff in there as well too.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Mine, Mine isn't so cool. I think the first
Speaker 1: song I learned to play it was a Cars by
Speaker 1: snow patrul Okay, and it's basically yeah, started off pretty
Speaker 1: easy there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 1: So your sound blend's country and rock and roll. Which
Speaker 1: artists had the most significant impact on your style? Would
Speaker 1: you say?
Speaker 2: I think that's I think I have two answers to
Speaker 2: that question, from like the rock world and then from
Speaker 2: from the country world, because growing up I was surrounded
Speaker 2: like my dad listened to a lot of Southern rock
Speaker 2: and blues. So on the guitar playing front like Stevie
Speaker 2: Ray Vaughan was one of my biggest influences on my
Speaker 2: guitar playing and kind of like the music style. And
Speaker 2: then in the country world. I never really actually got
Speaker 2: into country until I was about like seventeen or eighteen
Speaker 2: years old, right, and that was when I really dove
Speaker 2: into songwriting, and I actually went and saw a country
Speaker 2: concert live. My friend drugged me to it. It was
Speaker 2: Kip Moore and the Cadillac Three, and both of them
Speaker 2: are like very rock country, and there's like a very
Speaker 2: big blend between the two, and I didn't they realized
Speaker 2: that you could, you know, mix those two genres and
Speaker 2: and that was the thing that was happening. So I
Speaker 2: would say in the country world, my first big influences
Speaker 2: were like Kit Moore and the Cadillac Three and Chris
Speaker 2: Stapleton and guys like that that are kind of blending
Speaker 2: the line between the stuff I grew up listening to
Speaker 2: while still you know, taking the listener on like an
Speaker 2: emotional journey that country lyrics do.
Speaker 1: Right. Yeah, it's interesting to say that because obviously it
Speaker 1: was a Stampede last year and my friend Amanda had
Speaker 1: a ticket to Brothers Osbourne. I never heard of them,
Speaker 1: and she said, come on, we're going to Brothers Osbourne.
Speaker 1: I was like, Okay, I don't know who they are,
Speaker 1: but I'll go anyway. So I went and they blew
Speaker 1: the roof off the place.
Speaker 2: They're phenomenal. Actually got to see them. I saw them
Speaker 2: at that Stampede show last year, and then I had
Speaker 2: actually seen them two days earlier in Cavendish, Pei because
Speaker 2: I was out they're playing, and they were also playing
Speaker 2: that night, so I got to see, you know, the show,
Speaker 2: just two nights apart. And they're They're phenomenal. They're another
Speaker 2: huge inflownce for me.
Speaker 1: Talk about two alpha males is coming on stage like
Speaker 1: build like break poses and one guy looks like Chris Apleton.
Speaker 1: The other guy is massive, and I was like, are
Speaker 1: cool as fuck?
Speaker 2: They are?
Speaker 1: They their voices?
Speaker 2: Yeah, they sound phenomenal live and there John Osborne the
Speaker 2: guitar player is an outrageous guitar player, and yeah TJ's
Speaker 2: a fantastic singer, and yeah, just they're phenomenal.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Can you remember your first GIK that you saw live? Actually?
Speaker 2: Yeah, my first concert was actually just maybe two months
Speaker 2: before I got my first guitar. I was six years
Speaker 2: old and Nickelback was on their first tour in small
Speaker 2: arenas and the day of the show, more tickets became
Speaker 2: available and so we ended up getting some and it
Speaker 2: was my mom and I that went, and the tickets
Speaker 2: were they said front row, like on the floor front
Speaker 2: row and we were like, how do we get front
Speaker 2: row tickets to this? Like the day of the show.
Speaker 2: So we show up and it's just general admission. There's
Speaker 2: no seats on the floor, so it's just like a
Speaker 2: giant mosh pit. And my mom's really small and I
Speaker 2: was like six years old and she's like, Oh God,
Speaker 2: what do I do? What am I getting myself into here?
Speaker 2: And it was pretty wild. The security guards actually lifted
Speaker 2: me over the security fence because the bar was like
Speaker 2: covering my eyes, that's not all I was. So they
Speaker 2: lifted me over the fence and set me on like
Speaker 2: the subwolfer in front of the stage and I watched
Speaker 2: part of the show from there.
Speaker 1: Oh it's awesome. So your album Good Things, which we
Speaker 1: will come to later. I hear some influence from the
Speaker 1: likes of carry Underwood, Brothers, Osbourne, Keith Urban.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, there's a I would say that it's like
Speaker 2: definitely pulled from all of those influences. There's little nuggets
Speaker 2: here and there that are kind of all of the
Speaker 2: people that I've looked up to and kind of respect
Speaker 2: and people that influenced me that have been pulled in
Speaker 2: to create the sound that is the record, so there's definitely,
Speaker 2: you know, a little touch of all those things in it.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Good Things Deluxe album, which was released in twenty two.
Speaker 1: I personally love that album because I think every song
Speaker 1: is brilliant. It's a great album, and every song is different.
Speaker 1: And would you say that all the songs are connected,
Speaker 1: because I've heard you say before country music is both
Speaker 1: telling a story, and would you say that album as
Speaker 1: it goes on tells the story in itself.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would say it's kind of all of my
Speaker 2: you know, life lessons and ups and downs and things
Speaker 2: that I've learned up to this point in my life.
Speaker 2: And in twenty twenty two, we released just the four
Speaker 2: song EP version of it, and then last year released
Speaker 2: the large twenty two song version, And for me, it
Speaker 2: was the four songs were great at the start, done
Speaker 2: two ways, but it didn't tell the complete Good Things story,
Speaker 2: and I felt like there was more to say to
Speaker 2: complete that chapter, which is why we did the deluxe
Speaker 2: edition with all twenty two songs on it. And it's Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's kind of all the ups and downs and the
Speaker 2: good and the bad and everything that I've learned to
Speaker 2: this point.
Speaker 1: Nice, and I like the SIDEB, which is the acoustic versions,
Speaker 1: because you know, when like there's a song you hear
Speaker 1: that's getting released, whether it's country or whatever, I always
Speaker 1: YouTube the acoustic version as well because I just like
Speaker 1: to hear it in a different way. So it's great
Speaker 1: did you have it on the Tulux album? Because you
Speaker 1: have all those songs and it's just like it's hearing
Speaker 1: the same song but in a different way, and you
Speaker 1: love both versions, so it's it's it's very smart actually
Speaker 1: to do that.
Speaker 2: It was cool because that's kind of how all the
Speaker 2: songs were written, is in that stripped down format with
Speaker 2: just an acoustic guitar, So it gives a little more
Speaker 2: chance for the lyrics to tell the story of what
Speaker 2: it is and kind of gives the listener an insight
Speaker 2: onto you know, how the song sounded the day we
Speaker 2: wrote it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, my favorite song on that is wanted Men, brilliant song.
Speaker 1: And so the songs on the album, did you was
Speaker 1: it a plan to release them individually as well after
Speaker 1: the album? Yeah, release the things.
Speaker 2: It was it was a plan to release the first
Speaker 2: EP and then kind of build on that, and at
Speaker 2: the time I knew that I had more that I
Speaker 2: wanted to say to put into the full record, but
Speaker 2: I wasn't sure where the direction was going to go right,
Speaker 2: and so we just kind of kept telling little parts
Speaker 2: of the story until it was like, Okay, this is
Speaker 2: how we need to finished the story. And then it
Speaker 2: was you know, going on the search to find the
Speaker 2: rest of the songs that finished telling the whole story.
Speaker 1: Yeah. When I describe an album to people, I tell
Speaker 1: them it's a great road trip album. And definitely I
Speaker 1: could listen to your album on a road trip for sure,
Speaker 1: because I was a thinging there's some great like road
Speaker 1: songs totally.
Speaker 2: Yeah, what do.
Speaker 1: You listen to? What would be on your playlist? And
Speaker 1: who would you listen to on a road trip? For example?
Speaker 2: Right now, it's been a lot of a band out
Speaker 2: of Winnipeg called Brose Landreth and they're phenomenal, like some
Speaker 2: of the best musicians I've ever come across in my life.
Speaker 2: Phenomenal singers, phenomenal harmonies. Joey Landreth is an outrageous guitar player,
Speaker 2: so I definitely check them out. In addition to that,
Speaker 2: I've been big on the Ella Langley train lately. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I love her new record that she put out it's fantastic,
Speaker 2: and then lots of Brothers Osbourne after seeing them last
Speaker 2: summer again twice was like diving back into their catalog
Speaker 2: again and going through that, and then a little bit
Speaker 2: kind of off topic of you know the stuff I
Speaker 2: usually play. I'm a big Zac Top fan and just
Speaker 2: love everything that he's doing.
Speaker 1: There's a lot to be said as well for like
Speaker 1: seeing live acts that you wouldn't necessarily know because you'd
Speaker 1: come away a being a fan like we were last
Speaker 1: summer at Stampede, Like Brothers Osbande didn't know who they were,
Speaker 1: so we should, like you should always go to live
Speaker 1: shows because you never know when you could just fall
Speaker 1: in love with them. So you learned to play guitar
Speaker 1: first and then songwriting came later, Is that right?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Absolutely, So I started playing guitar when I was
Speaker 2: seven and then started writing songs when I was about thirteen,
Speaker 2: kind of thing. I mean, I always wrote like little
Speaker 2: guitar riffs and stuff, but started writing lyrics when I
Speaker 2: was about thirteen. And I guess I started singing when
Speaker 2: I was about fourteen because I'd written these songs and
Speaker 2: figured I should probably sing them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, what's your technique for songwriting, because I'm like, there's
Speaker 1: a skill to it, isn't there totally.
Speaker 2: It's like it's a muscle that you got to work
Speaker 2: and I feel like the more you work it, the
Speaker 2: easier it gets. My songwriting process has changed a lot
Speaker 2: over the years. I used to write basically everything by myself,
Speaker 2: and as I got more into the country world, I
Speaker 2: started co writing, and now I basically exclusively co write,
Speaker 2: where I'm always collaborating with other people and I'll work
Speaker 2: on ideas and you know, record some guitar riffs and
Speaker 2: write down some lyrics and kind of create some ideas
Speaker 2: of what a song could be, and then usually get
Speaker 2: into a room with you know, people that I like
Speaker 2: to work with and trust and you know, have them
Speaker 2: help bring the vision to life with me.
Speaker 1: And when you're not songwriting at your playing shows, how
Speaker 1: do you keep busy here?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Playing shows is a ton of it. There's gonna
Speaker 2: be a ton of shows this year and then so
Speaker 2: lots of writing, lots of playing shows, and lots of planning.
Speaker 2: And I also, as you can see, there's quite a
Speaker 2: few guitars in here. I like to buy and sell
Speaker 2: a bit of gear as well and have fun you know,
Speaker 2: collecting pieces and find a new gear to use in
Speaker 2: the studio and finding pieces of gear that inspire me
Speaker 2: to you know, write different things and feel like every
Speaker 2: guitar has a story and it has a different something
Speaker 2: that it makes you play. And so by you know,
Speaker 2: expanding the collection of guitars, it makes you play different things,
Speaker 2: makes you feel different things and seeing what those have
Speaker 2: in them.
Speaker 1: And are you touring around Canada right now?
Speaker 2: Right now, a little bit of a break. We're firing
Speaker 2: things up at the end of the month, and then
Speaker 2: it's going to be busy all year long basically till December.
Speaker 2: So it's not a lot announced yet, but this month
Speaker 2: all the shows starts to get announced.
Speaker 1: Nice, So you'd be coming back to Calgary, no doubt.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, absolutely, Yeah, We've got lots of stuff playing
Speaker 2: for Calgary.
Speaker 1: Definitely keep an eye out for that. Then I'm sure
Speaker 1: you would be at stamped this year as well.
Speaker 3: Probably can't say yet, Well, yeah, okay, who do you
Speaker 3: love in Canadian artists?
Speaker 1: For example, like the country music scene.
Speaker 2: Yeah, in the country music scene in Canada, there's a
Speaker 2: lot of fantastic acts Alberta specifically. Yeah, there's so many
Speaker 2: I have a lot of great friends in the industry
Speaker 2: as well, and a big fan of an artist named
Speaker 2: Drew Gregory. He's fantastic. He puts on a super high
Speaker 2: energy show and it's just a ton of fun. I
Speaker 2: write a lot of songs with him as well, so
Speaker 2: he's definitely a frequent collaborator with me. Another great artist
Speaker 2: in Alberta is an artist at a Left Bridge named
Speaker 2: Shayla Miller. She's fantastic, kind of a blend between like
Speaker 2: classic country and then kind of pulls some modern elements
Speaker 2: into the into the production in that as well, and
Speaker 2: then on a national scale, some of my favorites are
Speaker 2: like Jade eagleson I just love like, you know, the
Speaker 2: classic nineties listening to that stuff with that and big
Speaker 2: Dallas Smith fan. You know, he comes from the rock
Speaker 2: world originally and toured for years in a rock band,
Speaker 2: so it's kind of cool to see how that transition
Speaker 2: has evolved from him going from the rock world to
Speaker 2: the country world. But a lot of the people that
Speaker 2: I love live like Brett Kissel's fantastic, but his live
Speaker 2: show is excellent and his live band is excellent, So
Speaker 2: you know, when you go see a Brett show. It's
Speaker 2: going to be high energy, it's going to be a
Speaker 2: great band, and they're always super fun to watch.
Speaker 1: Yeah. It's funny because when I moved here to Calgary
Speaker 1: a few years ago, these country music stars who I
Speaker 1: wouldn't necessarily have heard about if I stayed in Ireland
Speaker 1: that I really love now are like JJ Shiplett, Gord Bamfort,
Speaker 1: Britt Kissel, even like the Brothers Osborne who from the States.
Speaker 1: Like all these acts. But one guy I heards sing
Speaker 1: live actually and he sings it all the Fames game,
Speaker 1: George Kenyon. I was thinking, man, that voice.
Speaker 2: Yeah, George has an unbelievable voice.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I looked him up and he's been around
Speaker 1: for a long time, like I saw like early day
Speaker 1: George Kenyon, and he still had that like chisel Joe
Speaker 1: and like a great voice. I was thinking, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: but country music is massive here in Alberta in Canada, too, Isn't.
Speaker 2: It it is? It's it is. I think it goes
Speaker 2: a lot with like, obviously the lifestyle of farming and
Speaker 2: ranching and all of that stuff that's so prominent in Alberta.
Speaker 2: And obviously the Calgary Stampede has a big, big, part
Speaker 2: of that as well.
Speaker 1: So say, there'll be a lot of Irish listeners to
Speaker 1: this show. How would you describe Stampede to someone from
Speaker 1: Ireland for the UK?
Speaker 2: Well, it is I would start off by saying, it's
Speaker 2: the largest outdoor rodeo in the world, and it is
Speaker 2: also the largest ten day party where basically the entire
Speaker 2: city shuts down. There's millions of people that attend this
Speaker 2: event and there's everything from rock concerts to pop concerts,
Speaker 2: to carnival rides to unbelievable food and vendors and rodeo
Speaker 2: and it's literally everything that you could want to go
Speaker 2: do at any point combined into one event in ten days, NonStop.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there is something for everybody, isn't there. Like I
Speaker 1: was telling my dad about Stampede. He said, Oh, it's
Speaker 1: for the weekend, is it? I was like, no, that
Speaker 1: this is ten days, this is everyday. Constant shows country
Speaker 1: music every night of the week for ten days, and
Speaker 1: he's like what. So it's cute, it's.
Speaker 2: And it attracts people from all over the world, and
Speaker 2: they get artists from all over the world to come
Speaker 2: and play and perform there as well, and not just
Speaker 2: in country music as well. Which is cool.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because I've told people that too, Like we've had
Speaker 1: Usher and Floorida and all these kind of guys and
Speaker 1: Shaquill O'Neal was on the dext.
Speaker 2: One year and yeah, it's pretty unbelievable.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's crazy. The country music scene has changed over
Speaker 1: the years, too, isn't it. It's not it's moved on
Speaker 1: from the likes of the Ding Ding Ding Ding. So no,
Speaker 1: it's kind of into the rock and roll and you
Speaker 1: are a very good example of that. How it's changed
Speaker 1: to your Cadillac three Brothers Osbourne thing where a lot
Speaker 1: more rock and roll country is coming out now, isn't
Speaker 1: it totally?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's cool that the genre has expanded
Speaker 2: musically in terms of like what the production can sound like.
Speaker 2: But I think that at the end of the day,
Speaker 2: what makes all of that music still country is the
Speaker 2: fact that you can like strip it down, play it
Speaker 2: with an acoustic guitar and it's still a story that's
Speaker 2: going to captivate an audience and convey an emotion that
Speaker 2: that's gonna, you know, resonate with people.
Speaker 1: And that's what music is all about. It's making people
Speaker 1: feel something, isn't it So totally yeah, and even like
Speaker 1: even just the atmosphere at the Brothers Osbourne again going
Speaker 1: back to them last year, is just that you could
Speaker 1: feel electricity in the room. It was just crazy like
Speaker 1: and it was just in your veins and it was sly.
Speaker 1: Where is your favorite venue or city to play?
Speaker 2: There's a couple. One of my favorite places I've played
Speaker 2: is actually right here in Alberta in Red Deer bowse
Speaker 2: Barn Stage. It's just a fantastic stage, a fantastic room.
Speaker 2: You could have seventy people in there and the room
Speaker 2: feels great, or you could have four hundred people in
Speaker 2: there and the room feels great. Just the way that
Speaker 2: it's set up. The staff they're phenomenal. They treat you
Speaker 2: so well, they got great food, so overall, that's just
Speaker 2: like a out of ten venue that kind of checks
Speaker 2: all the boxes. Some of the cooler places I've played
Speaker 2: is a little place south of Calgary in a town
Speaker 2: called Bow Island, and there's a quarterly concert series that
Speaker 2: happens called Blues at the Bow. And it's this old
Speaker 2: theater from probably turn of the century, like early nineteen
Speaker 2: hundreds with a big drop down dance floor and it's
Speaker 2: kind of an old quantt that's kind of falling in
Speaker 2: on itself and you know, you can like smell and
Speaker 2: feel the beer coming out through the hardwood floors. It's
Speaker 2: been there for you know, one hundred and twenty years
Speaker 2: that people have been dancing in partying in it, and
Speaker 2: there's nothing that just like beats the energy of an
Speaker 2: old room like that.
Speaker 1: I love it and for me anyway, like obviously a
Speaker 1: life big shows that you'd see at Stampede, but I
Speaker 1: also have like a love for intimate venues like we
Speaker 1: spoke about earlier as well. Have you ever been to
Speaker 1: the UK or Ireland? I heard you mentioned on another
Speaker 1: podcast that you'd love to take the Royal Albert Hall
Speaker 1: and they didn't know, they didn't know, they weren't familiar
Speaker 1: with the venue.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, but I have never been there. I would
Speaker 2: absolutely love to get over there, and that's definitely on
Speaker 2: on the bucket list and on the list of things
Speaker 2: that I want to do and that we're we're going
Speaker 2: to make happen at some point. The Royal Albert Hall
Speaker 2: would be be unbelievable and some of my favorite artists
Speaker 2: have played there, and you know, growing up, I DVDs
Speaker 2: of you know, Joe bonamass alive at the Royal Albert
Speaker 2: Hall and you know Air clapped in and all these
Speaker 2: different people that have played there over the years, and
Speaker 2: it's just kind of one of those like bucket list places.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And like over in the UK and R and
Speaker 1: country music is growing over there as well. It's getting
Speaker 1: more and more popular and as a whole, country music
Speaker 1: is having a moment right now, isn't it It is.
Speaker 2: I feel like it's probably the most popular genre in
Speaker 2: the world, especially because it is so diverse in terms
Speaker 2: of the like production styles and music styles that people
Speaker 2: are able to bring into it. And I think that's
Speaker 2: because at the end of the day, like the lyrics
Speaker 2: and the writing of what people are talking about resonate
Speaker 2: with everybody, and they've been able to now produce it
Speaker 2: in a bunch of different ways to connect with new audiences.
Speaker 1: What do you think about the country crossover at the moment,
Speaker 1: the likes of Post Malone and Beyonce and Letting Isaacs.
Speaker 2: I think it's cool. I mean, at the end of
Speaker 2: the day, it's like if you can tell a story
Speaker 2: and you can you know, convey in emotion, I think
Speaker 2: that you know, I think that everybody should be welcome
Speaker 2: in country music. I know that there's a lot of
Speaker 2: people that are you know, against the post Malone and
Speaker 2: Beyonce and all that kind of stuff, But I feel
Speaker 2: like things have to change, they have to evolve. You
Speaker 2: have to be able to you know, grow as a
Speaker 2: genre and grow as people to to have new sounds,
Speaker 2: because that's what keeps things moving forward. And that's what,
Speaker 2: you know, innovates everything in the world is you know,
Speaker 2: being open to new ideas and being open to you know,
Speaker 2: expanding the genre and expanding our tastes. And if I
Speaker 2: feel like, if we don't like it at the moment,
Speaker 2: it's just because it's a little bit beyond what our
Speaker 2: tastes currently are, uh, And we just have to you know,
Speaker 2: accept and welcome that. That's how change happens exactly.
Speaker 1: And I completely agree with you, Like, why shouldn't Beyonce
Speaker 1: make a country album? Like, yeah, why shouldn't someone make
Speaker 1: a particular album a blues album or a Christmas album
Speaker 1: or whatever? Like music is for everybody, and you know,
Speaker 1: if you don't like it, don't buy it. That's what
Speaker 1: I say, you know what I.
Speaker 2: Mean totally and as like a creative I feel like
Speaker 2: you want to continue to expand what you can make.
Speaker 2: And I know I never want to make the same
Speaker 2: record twice. I want to try and you know, evolve
Speaker 2: and try new things and expand on that. And you know,
Speaker 2: maybe there'll be a more blues record in the feature,
Speaker 2: maybe they'll be a more rock record. But it's like, ah,
Speaker 2: I feel like as artists we're constantly chasing a different
Speaker 2: creative direction and trying new things and finding new ways
Speaker 2: to inspire us. And I don't think you should be
Speaker 2: penalized for that.
Speaker 1: No, absolutely not. And like I'm sure Beyonce, for example,
Speaker 1: is honing in on her first like like I'm sure
Speaker 1: she's sick of making the same old hip hop albums
Speaker 1: or pop albums a year after year after years, she
Speaker 1: probably gets boring. Why shouldn't she try something new and
Speaker 1: get outside of your comfort zone and try something new,
Speaker 1: you know, And totally that's what it's all about.
Speaker 2: I respect that a lot.
Speaker 1: And as we're talking about like new country artists at
Speaker 1: the moment, I definitely like the likes of Lane Brilliance
Speaker 1: and she's so good live as well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Lane Wilson's fantastic. She puts on a great show,
Speaker 2: great energy, fantastic voice.
Speaker 1: Going back to Canadian artists, have you heard of oc Elliott? Oh?
Speaker 2: C Elliott definitely don't believe.
Speaker 1: So they're not country at all. They're kind of focused.
Speaker 1: Their very melancholy. But they're from out of BC, Okay.
Speaker 1: And I've seen them live and they a couple of
Speaker 1: times now, and they were playing in Calgary a few
Speaker 1: months ago, and it's very like, sit down and enjoy
Speaker 1: their voices kind of thing in the harmonies and everything.
Speaker 1: They're so good, like it's something different again, you know.
Speaker 2: Oh see Elliott, that's what you said.
Speaker 1: Yeah, o Ce Elliott definitely.
Speaker 2: Gonna write it. I'm gonna write it down otherwise I
Speaker 2: will absolutely forget.
Speaker 1: It's John and Sierra are they're the jewet in oc
Speaker 1: Eliot And they do these videos on Instagram and YouTube
Speaker 1: and they sing in their car looking at each other
Speaker 1: and it's so it's beautiful. Actually, their their voices blend
Speaker 1: so well and it's definitely not the type of music
Speaker 1: you go to get you repped up on a Saturday night.
Speaker 1: Is more of a chill for you know kind of thing.
Speaker 2: It's awesome. I'm definitely going to look them up.
Speaker 1: Yeah, what is your favorite song from the Good Things album?
Speaker 1: Or is that asking you like your what's your favorite child?
Speaker 2: That's tough. There's I like a lot. I mean I
Speaker 2: like all of them, obviously, for for different reasons. I
Speaker 2: think that one of the songs that hits closest to
Speaker 2: home for me is the last song on the record,
Speaker 2: Dying to Be Seen. I wrote that back in twenty
Speaker 2: nineteen and have been holding on to it for quite
Speaker 2: some time, obviously, if it's just coming out now. And
Speaker 2: I love songs that you kind of have to intently
Speaker 2: listen to and are a little bit heavy and take
Speaker 2: you on this journey of kind of realizing some things
Speaker 2: about yourself, and I feel like that song it just
Speaker 2: hits so close to home in so many different ways.
Speaker 1: His back Pocket the latest one to come out.
Speaker 2: Back Pocket came out back in February of twenty twenty two,
Speaker 2: actually okay directly on the original package. And wrote that
Speaker 2: one with Drew Gregory, one of the artists I was
Speaker 2: mentioning earlier, and it's one of my favorites on the
Speaker 2: record too. Again, I could give you a listen why
Speaker 2: each song is my favorite on the record.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's some great shredding on that one, and it's like,
Speaker 1: I'm thinking, ooh sound I love it?
Speaker 2: So yeah, that one was a lot of fun to record.
Speaker 1: Before I came on to talk to you, I got
Speaker 1: some fan questions and I'm going to read out a
Speaker 1: couple of them here. What's the most embarrassing thing to
Speaker 1: happen to you on stage?
Speaker 2: Most embarrassing thing to happen on stage? Oh man?
Speaker 1: For example, have you ever completely blanked lyrics during a
Speaker 1: performance or anything? Oh?
Speaker 2: Absolutely? I remember one time it was aactly We're playing
Speaker 2: a cover song. At the time, we were at Nashville
Speaker 2: North at the Calgary Stampede, and you know, there's five
Speaker 2: thousand people in front of me, and I had stepped
Speaker 2: back for a guitar solo and played the guitar solo,
Speaker 2: and then I kind of stepped to the side of
Speaker 2: the mic and was just playing, and my musical director
Speaker 2: justin hopped on the talkback mic, which is a microphone
Speaker 2: that just goes to our ears so that he can
Speaker 2: kind of communicate with us, and he was like, hey,
Speaker 2: what are you doing? Like I just kind of zoned out,
Speaker 2: was just playing but wasn't going anywhere, and I'd forgot
Speaker 2: the lyrics. I'd forgot where we were in the song.
Speaker 2: I was just like, I don't know, soaking in everything
Speaker 2: that was happening around me and just completely blanked. And
Speaker 2: he said he said some funny remarks on the talkback
Speaker 2: mic that I won't repeat out loud, but it definitely
Speaker 2: made for the good laugh in the whole band everyone
Speaker 2: on stage.
Speaker 1: That's funny. I love that if you had to form
Speaker 1: a supergroup with three other artists that our life, would
Speaker 1: they be?
Speaker 2: Oh, supergroup with three other artists as like us being
Speaker 2: the front people kind of.
Speaker 1: Man say, for example, like the Beatles, But.
Speaker 2: Oh geez, should I say? Probably at the moment, this
Speaker 2: is where I'm at. Anyways, well, it would be myself
Speaker 2: and probably Marcus King. Okay, and hm hmmm, trying to
Speaker 2: think Marcus King.
Speaker 1: I'm not familiar of your Your music knowledge is a
Speaker 1: lot bigger than mine, but.
Speaker 2: I would definitely check out Marcus King. He's a phenomenal singer,
Speaker 2: phenomenal guitar player based out of the States. Marcus King.
Speaker 2: Probably this one is like, you know, another Alberta artist,
Speaker 2: but she's just a phenomenal singer, has so much soul.
Speaker 2: Mariah Stokes, I feel like you have to have that
Speaker 2: kind of like powerhouse female vocal if you're gonna put
Speaker 2: together a supergroup, you can't can't, can't not have that.
Speaker 2: So I'd say Marcus King, Marias Stokes myself, and probably
Speaker 2: like Jarin from the Cadillac Three, the singer guitar player.
Speaker 2: He's just ripping in swagger and coolness and everything that
Speaker 2: it does, and I feel like that would just take
Speaker 2: everything over the top.
Speaker 1: That's sick. Yeah, I know that Cadac three, and they
Speaker 1: you have some bangers to really like them.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: The country music scene, especially in Canada is quite close knit,
Speaker 1: isn't it. You're all like a big community.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, it's a super tight, super tight community and family.
Speaker 2: And you know every year when there's the you know,
Speaker 2: Provincial Awards, the Country Music Alberta Awards, or even the
Speaker 2: national ones, the Canadian Country Music Awards, it's like it's
Speaker 2: like a big family reunion every time everyone gets together.
Speaker 1: Do you still do the Pass the Guitar, the Blue
Speaker 1: Jay Cafe kind of shows.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I haven't done one in quite a while, but
Speaker 2: those are some of my favorite shows to play, and
Speaker 2: I jump at the opportunity every time something like that
Speaker 2: comes up.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because I remember yourself obviously, and Amy Hef and
Speaker 1: Alex Huse are the two that I remember the most
Speaker 1: actually from Yeah, but it's been a while since i've
Speaker 1: been to one myself.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're fantastic. They actually have a new location. I'm
Speaker 2: not sure if you know down at the they have
Speaker 2: a new venue in town called the prairieum Porium, Okay,
Speaker 2: and it's in the back of a motorcycle shop actually,
Speaker 2: and that's where they host the blue Jay sessions. And
Speaker 2: I think they have one coming up in the next
Speaker 2: week or two actually, like a Valentine's Day one.
Speaker 1: Right right, check that out. Actually, what have you got
Speaker 1: coming up? What's what's next for yourself?
Speaker 2: There's gonna be a lot of shows this summer. I'm
Speaker 2: really excited to announce all those. And then I'm in
Speaker 2: a big writing phase right now, So I'm off to
Speaker 2: Nashville next week for about a week and a half
Speaker 2: of writing down there, and then when I get back,
Speaker 2: we're actually hopping right into the studio and getting to
Speaker 2: work on the next record and starting to pick tunes
Speaker 2: and working all that stuff. So there's going to be
Speaker 2: some music coming out this year as well. And we're
Speaker 2: going to keep that train rolling.
Speaker 1: Yes, let's get through winter as fast as possible and
Speaker 1: get in festal season.
Speaker 2: Yeah so them.
Speaker 1: But where can people you up and hear your music
Speaker 1: and find you.
Speaker 2: I can find me on social media at Devincooper Music
Speaker 2: and my website is Devincooper music dot com and then
Speaker 2: on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music. It's just all under
Speaker 2: Devin Cooper.
Speaker 1: All that good stuff. We'll keep an eye out for
Speaker 1: you and your your up and coming shows. Devin, thank
Speaker 1: you so much. I really enjoyed this chat. Thank you
Speaker 1: very much for making time to chat to me today.
Speaker 2: Oh, thank you for having me on. It's been a
Speaker 2: great chat with you.
Speaker 1: Yeah you too, and best look in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1: And yeah, well we'll keep an eye on you. What
Speaker 1: do what you do.
Speaker 2: Next sounds great? Hopefully we'll catch you out the show
Speaker 2: here sooner than later.
Speaker 1: One thanks Devin, talk to him yeah to get Thank
Speaker 1: you again to the very cool Devin Cooper Leeds. You
Speaker 1: need to check him out. You can look him up
Speaker 1: online at Devincooper music dot com and if you're local
Speaker 1: to Calgary and the wider Alberta area, Devin will be
Speaker 1: playing in venue who's very near you across the summer.
Speaker 1: So that's it. I appreciate you guys for listening. I
Speaker 1: appreciate you so much more. If you like, share and
Speaker 1: subscribe to the podcast. It's tough out there, legs, and
Speaker 1: I need a love so till next week. Mind your subs.
Speaker 1: Salon last night.
Speaker 2: And down side at the bar and the music was loud,
Speaker 2: and you lean nask me, what do you say we
Speaker 2: grab a drink, go through?
Speaker 1: I said, where your friends go? You said there gone,
Speaker 1: Look got the Dansk flow.
Speaker 2: I love this song. Start of pressing your.
Speaker 1: Body and man does your boat Frando?
Speaker 2: Where you aren