Dana Cooper

Dana Cooper is an American singer-songwriter from Missouri. His awards include the 2014 Heritage Musician award from the Pilgrim Center for the Arts in Kansas City, MO and Folk Alliance International's 2015 Spirit of Folk award. He has performed on Austin City Limits, Mountain Stage and at the Kerrville Folk Festival. Cooper's songs have been recorded by a long list of artists that include Trout Fishing in America, Rex Foster, Claire Lynch, Maura O’Connell, Pierce Pettis, and Susan Werner. Fellow singer-songwriter Buzz Holland has said “Cooper is a person who can sing like an angel and play like the devil.” +Singer-SongwriterDana CooperBorn:April, 1951Hometown:Kansas City, MODates Active:1970s - PresentGenre:Pop/Rock/FolkStyles:Contemporary FolkAssociated Acts:Shake Russell, Jack Saunders, Michael Marcoulier, John Vandiver

Early music and career Dana Cooper was born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1951. From an early age, he expressed an interest in singing and playing drums, guitar, and harmonica. By thirteen he had begun writing his own songs and by sixteen he was regularly performing at the Vanguard Coffeehouse and Sign Coffeehouse in Kansas City. He was awarded several scholarships, but only attended college for a year before dropping out to focus on music.

Cooper moved to Los Angeles in the early 1970s to work on his debut solo album with Elektra Records. Dana Cooper was released in 1973, featuring Leland Sklar on bass and Russ Kunkel on drums. Around 1975, Cooper's longtime friend and fellow songwriter Shake Russell began to send letters to Cooper, encouraging him to move to Houston, Texas. The group played gigs in the Houston club circuit like Anderson Fair, Steamboat Springs, and Rockefeller's. During its five-year run, the Shake Russell/Dana Cooper Band released three albums. The self-produced Songs on the Radio (1978) sold over 10,000 copies between Houston and Austin without the help of a major distributor. The band separated shortly after, though members would continue to play together occasionally over the years.

Cooper went on to start his own power trio, DC3, a three-man indie rock-band featuring Al Del Gigante on bass guitar and Tim Davis on drums. The group released the indie single “Give Us the Money” in 1983, an eponymous self-produced cassette in 1985, and the Perpetual Man cassette in 1986. Harry Truman Built a Road was named one of the best records of 2002 by the Tennessean and was also chosen as one of the best DIY recordings for that year. Made of Mud, released on King Easy Records in 2005, won Cooper the “Best Male Songwriter” award by Indie Acoustic Project. In 2010 Cooper began working with guitarist/songwriter/producer Thomm Jutz. Together they have recorded four projects, The Conjurer in 2010, Road Show in 2012, Building a Human Being in 2015, and Incendiary Kid in 2017.

Cooper has become an integral figure in the Nashville songwriting community, collaborating with renowned writers like Tom Kimmel, Kim Carnes and Don Henry. Cooper has been invited to participate in songwriting workshops from Belfast to Copenhagen to Austin.

Discography

Solo work

Collaborations