CRAVEN — Up-and-coming country artist Cooper Tropeau is taking steps to accomplish his goals. On a hot Sunday afternoon, he made his anticipated debut at Craven Country Thunder’s SaskMusic Songwriters Showcase.
“A dream of mine is to be on the main stage at Craven and play those huge shows, and to play at the Grand Ole Opry, but right now my big goal is to wake every day and do this for my career. I want my nine to five to be music,” said Tropeau. “Just make a living doing what I love.”
He says he’s grateful to SaskMusic for creating the opportunity for singer-songwriters like himself to perform. It also helps promote his new full-length album coming Aug. 15. Tropeau’s latest singles are titled Way Up and There I Go.
“I think we’ve really found our sound and finessed what we are doing. You can find it on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and our website.”
Tropeau, a 24-year-old Corman Park resident, describes his new releases as alternative country, country rock and a little Americano.
“Now we are taking a lot of influence from genres that aren’t country but at the same time incorporating a lot of country elements like steel guitar, fiddle and background lyrics,” he said.
This is the third year SaskMusic has partnered with Craven Country Thunder Music Festival to produce the stripped-down, interactive show.
“This is a way for them to get their foot in the door with Craven and other big country music festivals. They get to play with one another, show off their songwriting skills to this huge audience. We are looking to build audience for home-grown music,” said SaskMusic Executive Director Lorena Kelly.
His summer is packed with live performances such as Elbow Rodeo Cabaret and Kenaston Hillbilly Boogie with his band made up of his younger brother Gunner Tropeau on drums, EJ Freezen on lead guitar and bass player Liam Santha.
“Song writing is a great form of therapy for me and if I can take an issue or something going on in my life and turn it into a song it validates that that thing happened and I can turn it into art, which helps me get through things,” he said.
He says he repeatedly watched the movie Walk the Line and drew inspiration from the careers of Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and Allen Jackson. Now he's vibing on 1990s country, Keith Whitney, Zach Ryan and Zach Top.
“I listen to everything from rock, to rap, to country, to Indie,” said Tropeau. “Everyone starts somewhere, and I definitely look at other artists and believe I can do it if I put in the work and have some good songs.”
Tropeau went to school for music production has a band and a new album coming out in the fall and has released the singles
He got into songwriting at 14 and says he was fortunate to have music producer S.J. Kardash encouraging him to write songs and produce music. He made his first album at 18.
“When I first started, my influence was classic country. There was a lot of twang, but as I kept recording and performing, I found my sound,” said Tropeau.
