← Takin' A Walk - Music History with Buzz Knight
Takin' A Walk - Music History with Buzz Knight
MSM with Kolby Cooper-"Finding Strength and Healing Through Songs"
00:19:32
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- [00:01]
A
Music Saved Me.
- [00:02]
B
I like to try and make a song throughout the conversation as much as I can. Cause I want it to feel like real life and I think it's part of the relatability, I guess. Or at least what I try to.
- [00:11]
A
I'm Lynne Hoffman and welcome to the Music Save Me podcast, the show where we go behind the scenes and explore musicians and their incredible bond with the transformative power of music. Thank you so much for listening, by the way. And while you're here, I'd like to let you know about another podcast produced and hosted by Buzz Knight, who is a dear of mine and it's called Taking a Walk. So if you like this podcast, you're really going to love his podcast too. So check it out wherever you get your podcasts. Now. Today I am joined by rising BMG Nashville star Colby Cooper. He was born in Bradford. Can you tell? I'm excited. He was born in Bradford, Texas. Colby's journey from small town roots to national acclaim is truly a dedication to his passion. With a unique blend of outlaw country and southern rock, Colby has certainly captivated audiences with his electrifying performances and truly his heartfelt storytelling. So let's delve into how music has been a source of strength and inspiration for Colby Cooper on Music Saved Me. Colby, welcome to Music Saved Me.
- [01:18]
B
Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
- [01:20]
A
I get really almost too excited to even speak sometimes because, you know, just the energy you bring. Even though we're on Zoom right now, you can just feel it the minute you popped on the screen and it's there. Not just with you personally, and we haven't even really spoken yet, but with your music, it is just so powerful. Your voice, like butter. Don't get me into it, but I appreciate that. Thanks for, for being here today. I want to start, you know, at the beginning where you first got interested in music. Can you share with us that? Was there a defining moment or an experience that you realized that music was going to be your passion?
- [02:03]
B
Absolutely, I think. I think as a. As a young kid, me and my dad really bonded over music. He drove a cow truck and I went with him so many times. It would be, you know, a few days we're gone, just me and him in the truck. And it was the best of times. It went into, like, first grade even. I was missing, like the max amount of school you can miss to go riding the couch truck with dad. And we would listen to to Waylon Jennings. It was. He's like one of my heroes. He was one of my dad's heroes. And, you know, it's one of those things. So I would say, like, being the cow truck is definitely like the first moment like this how. How we bonded over music really was like, oh, like, you know, this is cool again, you know, my dad was like my hero. So, like, he. We thought music was cool together. And I was like, wow, maybe one day I could. Maybe I could do this one day. It just took me, you know, a few years.
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A
Just a couple years. But you caught the bug. You caught the bug.
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B
Oh, absolutely.
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A
Well, growing up in Bradford, Texas, how did your hometown influence the songwriting and. And your sound? Because you have a unique sound. You're not just rock and you're not just country or southern rock. You're just the whole blend of goodness.
- [03:17]
B
I appreciate that. Yeah, I'll just. I'm just a music fan in general. I listen to so many things, but being out in Bradford, I mean, it's, you know, it's. It's lonesome. You know, you look at the population, it's like 30, 40 people, whatever. And I've got family and five. Yeah. Yes, man. I've got a family of five. So we've got a. We've got a. You know, and my family, we've probably out of the 30, probably like 20 plus or family members, you know, that's half the town. Exactly, exactly. Make me mayor. I've been.
- [03:46]
A
They should call it Cooper, Texas.
- [03:48]
B
Hey, come on. Why not? But, yeah, I think just growing up out here, it's. It's very. It's very country. And, you know, my dad worked hauled cows and he was a cowboy. I mean, he. When it wasn't hauling cows, he was working on ranches. So we were listening to. To Chris the Dude as well. I grew up on a bunch of. Just old. Just some of the best country music, really, in my opinion. And then as a, you know, young man, my. My dad got me an Aussie Osborne CD for my birthday. But, yeah, no More Tears record. And that was like my introduction to rock. And like, then it was Guns N Roses and. And Def Leppard and all that. And then I found grinds and punk and all that. But it was, you know, the lonesomeness out here in Bradford and just the. Also it's such a small town, so it's easy to get inspiration, you know?
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A
Yeah, yeah. Well, you. You mentioned earlier about Waylon Jennings and driving with your dad. The song Rose in Paradise, I believe I read somewhere you said was a sort of a big inspiration for you. What was it about that song that that resonated with you especially song songwriter.
- [04:51]
B
I think just the storytelling. Just like the. The one thing I thought I think was cool is like the open endedness on the. The end of it is, you know, did he. Did he run away with there? Did he kill her and leave her buried in the garden? And that was so cool. But not only that, but so that was like the storytelling songwriting aspect and also the melody and just, you know, his voice is just so. Just AI. It's smooth, it's perfect. But the, The. The production and the guitar, like that intro lick is so. I mean it's. It's one of the most. It's probably the most underrated guitar of all time. Just throughout the lead, throughout. The whole song is so tasty. It's. It's nice, you know.
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A
Tasty. I like that word for. I've never heard anyone describe a song as tasty or even a guitar lick. That's pretty cool.
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B
Yeah.
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A
I want to talk a little bit about your songwriting process. I love you, Good night, which I was just per. Through some of the tracks. Your songs often draw from, you know, personal experiences, you've said also from friends and people in the neighborhood.
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B
Yes, ma'am.
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A
How. How do you balance. Well, first of all, when you. When you look at all of the. Even just the titles of your songs, you know, things jump out that are completely relatable, you know, to. To me, just the title of the song, much less the song itself. So how are you able to sort of balance your storytelling, telling other stories with a relatability? I mean. And are you ever surprised at how relatable your songs are?
- [06:24]
B
For sure, there. There's some that are. Like a song from our first album called Cursing October is By Losing My dad. And that was one that was really personal. It was a song that I tried to write for a few years and I guess I. I finished it. I was like 20 or so. And when I finished, I mean, it was where I was running and showed my wife and, you know, cried about it. And I was like, that's awesome. Cool. And that was it. And I didn't plan on releasing. And she was like, I think you should release that song. And you know, I showed it to my people that, oh, this is incredible. You should release it. All right. I guess so. I was really nervous about it, but then I released it. Had hundreds of people message me like, oh my God, this. You know, I just lost my dad or just lost a brother or friend or something. This all means the world. So it's. Yeah, It's. It's. I think since I've learned, you know, everybody's story is very, very similar, and you're gonna have similarities, I guess. Everybody's got that brokenness about them, and, you know, shit's happened to everybody, really. You know, it's part of life. But then also, like, I think whenever putting, like, putting an album together, like, if I was just totally writing about my life, it would be, you know, there wouldn't be. There wouldn't be any, you know, breakup songs or any of the. The fun. Like the. The fun ones to jam to or whatever. I just, you know, I've got a beautiful wife and three baby. I feel super lucky. But, you know, so when we put an album together, I want it to. I want there to be my story, but then I want there to be a. An overall theme, kind of an over. An overall, like, relatability, I think. And so that's like, part of the process is like, here's my story, and then here's like, stories of the world and probably your story.
- [08:16]
A
Like, you know, yeah, it's got to be scary letting your songs go. But when you just described to me, you said that after you were finished, it made you cry.
- [08:26]
B
Oh, yeah, absolutely.
- [08:27]
A
That's how you knew. But you actually even said that sort of sideways, almost like you're not allowed to admit that. But I thank you for saying that because I think. I think a lot of young men need to hear that it's okay and that, yeah, oh, my God. That happened to you and it happened to me, and, wow, if you can do this with your life, what are the. What are the options for me? So it's a pretty big deal.
- [08:51]
B
That's. I always tell everybody, anyone that comes up, I ask, like, you know, oh, God, what should I do? Like, you know, I want. I want to make music or I want to do it or say, you just got to do it. Just go do it and, you know, chase your dreams. You rather feel like you'd probably rather chase it and it not work out and not chase it and die thinking about it. You know, what if I'd done that back when I was younger?
- [09:14]
A
You know, so true.
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B
Whatever.
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A
So true. And could you walk us through a bit of that process of creating a song? I think some of your favorite tracks, you had said were Are we on Fire? Which, by the way, if you haven't seen the music video, brilliant. Love the story or Storms Coming. Can you. How did you make that all come about?
- [09:38]
B
Yeah, Are we on Fire? That was. I read it with Jordan Walker. And I remember we. We were up in the room, and we'd been throwing ideas around for 30 minutes or so, an hour or so. And it was then I'd been there for a long week. I was like, man, I wonder if we weren't going to get anything today. And then the. The smoke alarm went off downstairs, and the lights kept flickering and just, like, laughing and did it again and like, damn it, are we on fire? And we just kind of chuckled. Be like, that's. That's cool. We should write that. And we wrote it and just. I think, you know, I like to try and make a song for, like, a conversation as much as I can, because I want it to feel like real life. And I think it's. It's part of the relatability, I guess, or at least what I try to.
- [10:26]
A
It is. It truly is. I mean, it's like you're talking. Telling the story, talking about yourself or talking about. Actually, after I saw Are We On Fire, I thought, oh, he must have gone through a really bad breakup. And then I read, no, he's happily married with three kids to his high school sweetheart. Am I correct?
- [10:42]
B
Yes, ma'am.
- [10:43]
A
I mean, three kids, and you're only, what, 25, maybe? Ish.
- [10:47]
B
Yes, I am. I am 25. I turned 26 in May.
- [10:50]
A
All right.
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B
So I got a few more months on, you know, insurance and whatnot.
- [10:55]
A
Yeah, well, you figured out some secret sauce, obviously, so maybe that'll be some future songs that you'll write about how to. How to make it work.
- [11:04]
B
Yeah, absolutely. We'll see.
- [11:06]
A
That's. We need that. We need that. What. What's a lyric or title that you've written that holds, like, a special place in your heart that stands out to you? Probably so many.
- [11:16]
B
Then there are. But for the new album. Love you, Good Night, I would say that that's the title track, and I would say that song specifically. There's just. And they're very. Just, like, casual phrases and stuff. But it's. It's. When I wrote it, I'd been on the road for two weeks, and then I got home on a Sunday for about an hour and said, hey to my babies and. And my wife. And then I had to unpack my bag and repack it and go to the airport and fly to Des Moines. And I got there with my guitar player, Bo, to the hotel, and I was just. I was bumming. I was really sad. I wanted to be back home. My babies were sad. And he was like, I'm get Some coffee. You want to go? I was like, I'm just gonna stay in the room and just be a sad boy or whatever. And he's like, all right, man. Let me know if you need anything. He left his guitar sitting on my bed. So I picked it up and I put my phone down, started recording, and had, like, a two minute voice memo and just sang, like, the first thing on my head and, like, wrote the first verse and chorus and second verse of the song. And I was like, I need to put that down and take a nap or whatever. And a couple months later, I finished it with my producer, Andrew Bayless. And just that song, the. It feels like it's kind of just describes, like, our whole situation. It's. It's the push and the pull, the whole deal. Trying to find who's fake and what's real. You're the only one that I feel just because it's, you know, it's a song about being on the road and missing my wife and missing my babies and, you know, feeling like, wow, am I doing the right thing? Being gone so much and that hard. Yeah, that one's one of my favorites.
- [13:00]
A
And that's the title track. I love you. Good night.
- [13:02]
B
Yes. Yes, ma'am.
- [13:03]
A
It sounded like a, you know, a bedtime song. And it. I have to say, even though this podcast is about music, I would love to know one tip from you that makes your family stay so complete, especially with what you do for a living, because that's not easy to share a relationship with someone when you're a musician. You perform for thousands of people.
- [13:29]
B
Absolutely. And I think that unfortunately, honestly, the biggest thing is my wife is just a rock star. She is. We've known each other since we were in fourth grade or third grade, and we've been best friends since fourth grade. And I mean, I started playing music back in middle school. So, like, she's. She's known for a long time that I wanted to play music. And when we got together, seniors like her and my mom were the two that even pushed me to just, like, to not go to nursing school after I finished the year, my last year, Basics. And they're like, you should try, you know, music. We put some music on. It was decent. And so I think, really, it's just. I'm super blessed and super lucky. My wife was. She's awesome. She's awesome. But also FaceTiming. I mean, you know, I FaceTime as much as I can on the road, but, you know, we're not far from family, too. That. That Helps a bunch. But, you know, other than that, it's just. My life is awesome.
- [14:27]
A
Oh, that's the right thing to say, by the way. It's all your way. I'm just kidding.
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B
Absolutely.
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A
So now you said to me just in that just earlier you were going to go into nursing. Isn't it interesting how healing music can be? And almost, in a sense, you. You wanted to be in a profession that gave back immediate originally.
- [14:48]
B
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I think it feels really good to. To have people just, you know, come up and I love hearing people's stories about what my songs mean to them, if they mean anything to them. If they mean enough for you to have, you know, this core memory that stuck with it, you know, it means enough for me to hear it. And it's like, that's part of it. That's like the whole. The whole thing. And also, I found out that I'm. I hate blood. So that was. Oh, I was gonna have to be like the rich doctor that just saw patients or something, but not patience with anything nasty.
- [15:23]
A
No. That's so funny. Do you. How has music helped you navigate some personal challenges? You mentioned you lost your dad when you were 14. And when you lose your dad such a young age, it changes you and you really could go in two paths. My husband lost his father at 15. A friend of mine also lost their father, and it really changes you, especially if you had a really good relationship. So was music ever. Obviously it started with him. Was that something that helped you get through losing him?
- [15:58]
B
For sure. And I just like. He got diagnosed with brain cancer when I was 13, and I just started like, really playing guitar and singing within those past, like, year and a half. So he got to. He got to see me kind of start and was really pushing me to keep going. So that was a big inspiration in the end. But yeah, after he passed away, I mean, I was definitely. I mean, dove deep off in. In music and, you know, know every whing song. And on the Cloud by Cross Canadian Ragweed was one of his. His funeral songs and. And cross country and Ragweed was. Is an alcohol band. That's one of. It was one of our favorites when we were growing up. It was another one like Waylon that we just listened to. And I'm still one of my favorites. So, like that, you know, I definitely dug deep off in music and lost myself, but started writing a bunch and making music too and trying to get better, you know. Yeah, so it was definitely a big.
- [16:52]
A
Inspiration, the fact that he was supportive of you and that you have that connection with Waylon. Geez. You know, I'm. I. I just can't help but to think that when that happens, you really could go in two directions in life. And. And you pulled yourself out of it and created a career for yourself and married someone and had children. I mean, it's a really good story. It's a beautiful story.
- [17:17]
B
My. My brother, too. I have a brother two years younger than me, and he. So, you know, he was. I was 14, he was 12, and he. He manages me now, so it's.
- [17:29]
A
It's all in the family.
- [17:31]
B
It is. It's really awesome. Where I feel very lucky.
- [17:34]
A
Do you feel that there's a specific song that resonates deeply with your fans and brings them, you know, comfort or strength? Or to rephrase, what song of yours would you prescribe to Comfort or inspire someone who really needed it?
- [17:51]
B
Yeah, I think we got a few different remedies, you know, if you just need, like a big. To hell with it. We got a couple. We got one called Hate you too, which is. It's. It's one of my favorites. It's so fun live. And I don't club two words. The whole. The whole hook is just fu. And it's very fun. Yeah. You know, if you're. If you're in love and you know, you're. You're in love with somebody, they got a few of those. Fall is. Is one of our. Our bigger songs. And vatsely do a cal out and say, like, this was our first dance song. Like me, you know, we were doing concerts and my boyfriend asked. My friend asked me to be his boyfriend during, you know, whatever, blah, blah, girlfriend, you know, so we had so many of those. One last there. It's this song called Coming Home, and it was me and my wife's wedding song. Actually. It was just about me being gone. I'm coming home. But off the new record, there's this one called One Big Happy, Sad Family. If you're going through it and your family's driving you crazy and you just want reassurance that you're not alone and that everybody's family is a little lackey. There you go.
- [19:04]
A
Like I said, when you read the titles of the song, it's almost like you're going, what. What do I need today from Colby to make my day? It's so perfect. Colby Cooper, I wish you nothing but continued, incredible success. You with an amazing group, bmg. Hello and thank you for sharing your story with us on Music Save Me. And I hope that you do come back when you release the next ep?
- [19:29]
B
Absolutely. Thank you for having me.