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Justin Cooper

Justin Cooper (Lyrics, melody, vocals, guitar, harmonica).
Recorded and mixed by Rickey Ray.

"Justin Cooper stopped by Rickey Ray's to lay down his tune. Rickey Ray says, "This song would have been lost if we hadn't recorded it when we did. It turns out that the lyrics were lost and the first recording was used to recreate out the song." No wonder. This song is musically complex, and yet it comes to the listener as something light, airy, and full of melodic freedom. Justin Cooper's voice is expressive, sometimes glib. And he belts it out from the bottom of his heart. Green River isa stream-of-consciousness love song to the right place in the world-- joyful and poignant." ~ Kathy Tibbits

About "Green River": This song is dense with great poetry. Its like the best lyrics of Blues Traveller-- it dances with visual imagery. Cooper does it virtually as a one-man production. The most amazing thing about it is that the harmonica, guitar and vocals have three different melodies in this song. Justin Cooper IS a band all rolled up in one person.

About the Artist: "I was thinking about moving away from Tahlequah when I wrote this song. As an NSU student, sometimes we'd go floating 3 days during the week. Its almost a song of mourning, capturing what I would miss. I feel a calling to it as a spiritual place." ~Justin Cooper

Now an NSU graduate student with degrees in Psychology and Sociology, Justin Cooper grew up with music in home. He's from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. His mother taught piano lessons and keyboard lessons, and Justin plays piano, keyboard and mandolin, guitar, harmonica and bass - and he writes songs and performs vocals.

He reflects on his love for music as a medium of communication and expression, "My perfect future would be to play music and make a living doing it. I love bluegrass, blues and soul. Some day, I'd like to be a promoted artist and get my music out there to as many people as possible so that it can be heard."

With J. Wade and the GetPretties, he plays a lot of classic rock with bluesesque, fresh sound and weird time signatures and changes. It has a good old rock and roll feel. It captures the attitude of Led Zepplin, Pink Floyd and the classics. This band wants to put rock on the page for a new audience. The GetPretties is a new endeavor.

Justin will still be playing with The Fiddlebacks. If you like Ryan Adams and Amos Lee, you'll find this band with a new alternative country sound that is more soulful and mixes country with percussive bluegrass and roots music.