Dana Cooper is a poetic songwriter, an insightful storyteller, and a rousing musician whose performances engage and inspire audiences around the world.
New Digital Releases!
"Traveler Too" Full Band & Solo Acoustic Versions
Available on all digital platforms
Traveler Too blew into my ear along the rocky coast of the Irish Sea in a forlorn place called Kilmore Quay. The wind was so strong that I could barely stand up against it and seagulls were flopping around in the sky. Two haunting monuments stand there dedicated to all the souls who never returned from the sea. I thought of all us vulnerable human beings traveling through space and time together just trying to find a way to get along.
I wanted to record a raw, edgy acoustic version as I perform the song live in concert. I also wanted more of a rocky band performance to reach a wider listening audience. So, I enlisted Dave Coleman as a one man band playing electric guitar, bass and drums.
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Americana Highways says "In the full band version, the song instantly connects with the audience — we’re all travelers, we’re all trying to connect."
Latest Release Available Now!
"This album is radio ready, honest, vulnerable and an incredibly formidable effort. It is Dana Cooper at the top of his songwriting form and creative expression, with arrangements so strong it allows each listener to feel he wrote the song specifically for them...
Dana Cooper is an honest and passionate veteran who has paid his dues, done the work, and whose name deserves to be on the wall beside every other great who made Americana, folk and the music of the 70’s the treasure that it is today."
M Music & Musicians Magazine
"Nothing, absolutely nothing in this Dana Cooper country-torrent is hokey or novelty-oriented. I guess I have to re-establish Mr. Cooper closer to my Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark & Billy Joe Shaver shelves." John Apice - Americana Highways
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"Dana is quite simply one of the best damned songwriters out there." Jaime Michaels/Singer Songwriter
"The record bursts out with energy and joy...He leaves us thinking, as only the best songwriters do." Jim Hynes - Glide Magazine
“I Can Face the Truth” is also as melodic as it is thoughtful. A wonderfully realized set of songs from a writer who knows his form inside out.
Andrew Dansby - Houston Chronicle
https://preview.houstonchronicle.com/music/singer-songwriter-dana-cooper-returns-to-houston-17064451
I Can Face the Truth is filled with lasting songs, songs whose sound and message circle back once the album has been removed from the stereo, and good luck keeping it out of the music machine.
Fervor Coulee - roots music opinion
https://fervorcoulee.wordpress.com/2022/04/03/dan-weber-and-dana-cooper-album-reviews/
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Dana Cooper is an Americana treasure that you likely have never heard... If you are not previously hip to the Dana Cooper scene, use this opportunity to right a grievous wrong.​
Rock is the New Roll - Five Cool Ones
https://rockisthenewroll.com/category/artists-we-like/americana/dana-cooper/
Modern country that doesn't feel the need to sound like 70s rock He may be weathered and seasoned but it all serves a grand end. Well done throughout.
Midwest Record
Overall, this album offers original material that will work for fans both old and new. Here he tries to tell it like it is or certainly how he sees it and presents songs containing honest expressions, nigh universal truths, with a subtle, occasional retro musical tint and an underlying hint of humor to boot. So, check out Dana Cooper’s I Can Face The Truth because it’s just plain good for “Humankind.”
Will Phoenix - HVY Journalists
https://www.hvy.com/wsp2469/dana-coopers-i-can-face-the-truth
"I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry is the epitome of what it means to take a song and make it your own. While there's still a hint of the anquish Hank Williams poured into one of his most memorable hits, Dana Cooper has opened up the wound, letting us feel the misery some of us may have felt during the pandemic...
I CAN FACE THE TRUTH is the result of what can be created when you believe in something, and yourself, enough to push through any roadblocks. When you do that, magic is always the result!"
Kelly Henkins-The Country Angel
"I Can Face the Truth, not only boasts a telling title but more importantly, reflects an unimpeded joy and exuberance that are exactly what's needed during this pessimistic period of modern history...
Co-produced by Cooper and veteran multi-instrumentalist Dave Coleman, I Can Face the Truth is an unmitigated triumph, an album that should finally garner Cooper the credit he so decidedly deserves."
Lee Zimmerman - American Songwriter
https://americansongwriter.com/declaration-of-independents-may-june-2022-issue-indie-spotlight/
Interviews/Podcasts/Blogs
- Music City Mike-
https://musiccitymike.net/2022/01/15/11-questions-to-a-nashville-musician-dana-cooper/
- Making a Scene- Podcast
https://www.makingascene.org/dana-cooper-is-making-a-scene/
- Americana Rhythm Podcast Interview
https://cms.megaphone.fm/channel/americanamusic?selected=PAN4158226721
- Houston Press
https://www.houstonpress.com/music/houston-favorite-dana-cooper-is-back-with-a-new-albums-and-local-gigs-13117073
- Bayou Hack Press- Louisianna-
https://bayouhackpress.com/2022/04/06/dana-cooper-reflects-on-facing-the-truth-his-latest-with-a-cd-release-event-at-nunus-arts-wednesday-renee-reed-opens/
- KOOP Podcast with Tracey Schultz
https://archive.org/details/whats-new-interviews-dana-cooper
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-Disciples of Sound
https://disciplesofsound.blogspot.com/2022/02/a-bluebird-lands-in-texas.html
The New Video of "Bluebird" Featuring Tom Kimmel
We shot this video in Memphis and Nashville, along with Dave Coleman and Chris Benelli in the recording studio. Brother Paul Brown sent his video footage files and my friends at Punkinmusher Productions contributed drone footage for that bird's eye view.
"Bluebird"
The New Single Featuring Tom Kimmel
Available On Spotify & Everywhere You Get Your Music
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“Open your wings and fly with "Dana Cooper." Feel the freedom in the air of this Americana song and reach the sky over the dark clouds. Roaring guitar and vocals full of confidence, in a mission to charge you with positive energy.”
-Nagamag.com
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"I think sometimes a song can say in a few words what would take a volume to write. It seems like this one bubbled up from a deep well and wide perspective on a world that can be pretty tough on a tender heart and a bright spirit."
Tom Kimmel
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When Tom Kimmel brought his inspiring idea for Bluebird to me we wrote it in a few hours. All these years later it seems more pertinent than ever. I wanted the rocking joyfulness of this recording to convey a wry sense of hope for us humans."
Dana Cooper
Always Old Friends
Available Downloads
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Dana Cooper’s heartfelt tribute to friendship, aptly titled “Always Old Friends,” stirs up the sentiment in ways that are both affecting and inspired. Given its resilient refrain and depth of emotion, it serves as a reminder that even in these days of division and distrust, we’re all still bound by the need to connect, while placing faith in friendship and the enduring bonds of kinship that sustain us throughout our lives. Both moving and memorable, it ranks a true anthem for the ages.
— Lee Zimmerman, writer, reviewer and author
