Singer-songwriter and South Florida local (well sort of!), Ryan Cooper, is celebrating the first monthiversary of his newest album release, Windowpane, a collection of 10 songs covering love, life, family, and all the good and bad moments in between. While Ryan calls Miami home most days (he has his favorite coffee shop – shout out to the Imperial Moto family), he is originally from Laurel, Mississippi and has travelled a lot for his music, going back and forth between Miami and Nashville, in addition to performing across the world in countries like Argentina. He’s a father of two. Sarcastic. Very uniquely Ryan. While the style of Windowpane is listed as Americana, Ryan’s music is a bit more versatile than that, and even contains familiar elements from late 80s and 90s, which, based on our most recent interview makes total sense:
So tell me, Ryan, how long have you been doing music?
Ryan Cooper: Oh, wow. I guess it feels like forever, but I started playing the guitar in 1994. My freshman year in college. But I didn’t start actually playing out until, I want to say, like 1998.
Maybe it’s the obvious question, but why did you even pick up a guitar in the first place?
Oh, that’s a good question. I’ve always loved music. I always sang, like, in the car. Love bands. But I never thought I could make it myself. Um, and then I don’t know, it was just like this thing in college, this guy named Leo…he had a guitar in college and he could play it and then he started teaching me things. And next thing you know, I just got one for my birthday or something like that. And said “all right, well, I’ll kind of teach myself.”
What were some of the bands that, like, were your first influences?
I mean, I loved Smashing Pumpkins in high school, but it wasn’t, like, what made me want to pick up guitar. It was just like, I think, like I said, the college experience and just wanting to do something and I loved music. I grew up with my dad. Listened to music in the car, and he was… He grew up, you know, as a kid in the ’50s, and then high school in the ’60s, and then he was in Vietnam in the late ’60s, or ’70s. So there was all these different types of music. So when I used to ride with him to school, or games, or whatnot, he was always playing, like, the Band, Janice Joplin, and Linda Ronstadt, Willie Nelson, Sade, Jim Croce, Joe Cockerson, was all this, like, different types of music flowing around. So it was always around. But I would say Smashing Pumpkins was, like the first, like push to play music.
What did you like about the Smashing Pumpkins’ music?
RC: I remember hearing like “Cherub Rock” and seeing that video and just like, it was psychedelic visually, but I think it was how the guitars were layered and the drums of Jimmy Chamberlin and the guitar playing and the melodic vocals of Billy Corgan recorded, of course. I don’t know but there’s something about that song that jumped out… It was just something about the Pumpkins I love. More than any…Pearl Jam came out when I was in high school, and Nirvana, all that grunge stuff came out, which was cool, and everybody, like, sunk their teeth in Nevermind and Ten, but there was something about Gish and Siamese Dream that just took it to another [place].
Your music doesn’t really sound that grungy, having listened to it on repeat the last few days. So how would you describe your music to someone who has never listened to you before? And then on top of that, like, how did you end up making the music you’re making now, even with all these kinds of loves at the beginning of your journey?
Well, to answer the first question, I don’t really know what it is. I’ve been told it’s Americana. I thought it was all country rock just because of some of the influences like Ryan Adams, and Pete Yorn, and all that. But the answer, the question on how did I get to the sound? I grew up in this intersection, like I said before, my dad, I was listening to Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin and the Band and Jim Croce, which is a singer-songwriter, right? and Joe Cocker. And then there’s Willie Nelson, and then all the stuff that my dad was listening to. And then I was growing up in the ’80s, which started with, like, ’80s, new wave, right? The Smiths and The Cure and Culture Club and Duran Duran, and then here comes the 80s hair metal bands. And then I got into, like, punk rock stuff because I was skateboarding. And then here comes grunge. And then after that, I started listening to, you know, a lot of jam bands, like Phish and Widespread Panic and the Dead. So, like, I kind of grew up and was around all this different type of music all the time. And then growing up in the South, there’s this intersection between rock and roll and country and bluegrass and jazz from [Mississippi]. So you kind of stir it all in a pot. It’s everything, there’s a little rock and roll, there’s a little blues, there’s probably some country in there as well. So I don’t have, like, one definitive genre. I think it’s just kind of like a gumbo or a mix of everything that I grew up with and where I lived.
Tell me a little more about where you’re from.
I’m from Laurel, Mississippi, which is in south central, Mississippi. about two hours northeast of New Orleans, about an hour north of the coast. And what’s interesting about my state is, like, you had the blues that was created in the Mississippi Delta. And then it was ripped off and what was created rock and roll, right? And then in the southern part of the state, you have more of the jazz influence with New Orleans. And then, if you get a little bit further north, you get more country because you get close to Tennessee. So all these artists from Mississippi were leaving the Delta. They were going north to Chicago and Memphis, and that was mixing with bluegrass and country, and then the South, so all this intermix of music was happening from these different places because of the highway that was running north and south between Chicago and New Orleans. So it’s really interesting all the different types of music that’s come out of that state.
So your album, Windowpane. Why did you choose that title for the album?
The first album [Songs for Her] was more about things that were going on inside me or inside my head and my heart. And when I was writing this one, I was more like, going to be focused on things that were happening outside my view. And one of the songs…it’s called Windowpane, it’s really literally about sitting on the couch and watching everything that’s happening outside and recognizing that, reflecting on it. So I thought it was a good kind of marriage of the 2 ideas, and that it’s not necessarily what’s happening inside…and that image that’s on the record was me being shot through a window. So it kind of all came together like that.
What are some of the influences that may have influenced the Windowpane album?
After the first album, I didn’t think I was gonna be able to write any more songs, and then I wrote, “Underwater,” which was like, okay, there’s more in there…and then one song came after another. And really what, I think, started it was, I got on all these, like, country playlists, which I didn’t think I’m a country artist, so I thought it was funny. I was like, okay…I’ll just write a country song. So I sat down and wrote “High Times”. And I was like, okay, and then I had written “Hell and Back” for a friend, and that one just kind of came, and then my buddy and I were kind of messing around, and that’s where “All I Can Do” came out…It was like, hey, these different situations have happened, and I just wrote a song about it. Next thing you know, I had multiple of those. And then the question was, okay, if you’re gonna record it, what kind of sound do you want? I didn’t want to do it in Miami again. I wanted a more Nashville, Austin sound, and that’s where I found the producer…
Do you have a favorite song on the album? Like one that you just, like, are kind of obsessed with?
Well, I told Billy, the producer, I was like, if we only put out one song it has to be “Hell and Back.” And it really was more the nature of the message, about men’s mental health, and what my friend was going through, and how it can really connect with people, to maybe talk more about what’s going on with them. But I also love, “I See Them in You”, because it’s a love song for my boys, and it reminds me of riding in the car with my dad, and that relationship between a father and son…But to answer your question, I would say, “Hell and Back,” what the message is about, how critical the moment was in the conversation I had with this individual, who was having a really hard time, and then how it ended up being produced, and the sound that goes along with it, would probably be my, I think, the most important song on it, maybe not my favorite, but the most important.
And do you have, like, a favorite lyrics from the record? Or set of lyrics, like, They’re just like, wow, I can’t believe I wrote that?
“I’d see its purpose if its made me a better man. It’d be worth it and I’d go through it all again. For them. For you. Just to help and guide you through.” [from and Hell and Back].
How was your release party? Where did you do that?
We released it in Nashville. We had a release party at a bar called Buddy’s Tiny Tonk in Nashville, where we just played the record on loop. And for me, it was about the ability to watch people and see how they reacted to it, what songs they reacted to. Do they connect with it? And then we played a show at The Basement in Nashville…played the record top to bottom in order. And I had the band that recorded the record there…And a lot of good feedback…And it’s funny, everybody has their own song.
I was just about to ask, what’s been seemingly the favorite?
It’s funny. all over the place. Like, some love “Annie Says It’s Ok,” ’cause it’s, like, a sleeper, and it kind of rocks out…I’ve been thinking about it a minute, but a lot of people like “Ugly” a lot because it’s like a punch in the face, rock and roll real quick. A lot of people love Hell and Back because of the melody. I get a lot on “Heartbreaker” because it’s like a fun, bluesy, rock and roll song. High Times, some because if they love country, and so the rock, and then “Windowpane” is kind of groovy…New Orleans, Mississippi thing. So it’s interesting to me on how each different song, um, has been responded by different types of people, what other music they listen to.
And what’s next for Ryan Cooper? Like, are you writing again? Yes. I mean, obviously, I selfishly know that you are writing a little bit, but like, as far as, like, kind of where you want to go with your next work.
So I’m gonna put another EP out at the end of June. It is gonna be 4 songs, 4 different versions of the song “Can You” from the first record… One’s a live version. 2 are EDM, like house music, remixes. And the other one is like a slow stripped down acoustic. And then, yes, I’m in the process of writing a new record, which I think I’ve got 7 or 8 now. Obviously, we worked on a few, and the idea is to get back in the studio. maybe at the end of the summer to start laying those down.
Is there anything else you want people to know about the album, about your inspirations, about anything?
Um, yeah, I mean, look, all the songs are, our stories, like they’re all real life events that have happened in my life. And I think if people resonate with, like, real, honest, original live music, and they [like] the storytelling, this is for them. I tried to mix it up and have different types of sounds that come along with those that connect with everybody, but it’s not just one thing. I think it’s kind of everything, it can be anything to anybody.
So we’re getting to the end of the interview here, but I wanted to know, since I know you’re a dad. How do your sons feel about your music?
I think they thought it was just a, uh, a thing dad was doing until they actually, like, saw their friends listening to songs or they heard it on the radio…. So now they’re a little bit more intrigued, but at the end of it, they’re so worn out from hearing, like, a 1000 different listens as you’re mixing a song, as you know.
Is there any song that they’re kind of like, sick of?
Like all of them. Because they’re always having to listen to me, you know, either the different mixes, you listen to a thousand times, or then I’m studying the songs to get ready for a show, or…
Well, do they have a favorite?
I think they like they most like Mississippi [Miles Away], there on the first record. Oh, man. On the new one, they like, um… Windowpane because it’s about their neighborhood. I’ll have to ask them on that, but that’s a good question.
Okay, well, there you go. You know, if you want recommendations for a song, his sons recommend Windowpane from the Windowpane album. Thank you, Ryan Cooper. This has been a wonderful interview.
Thank you, Alexa Lash.
Ryan Cooper is absolutely right. Everyone is going to interpret his music differently, because we all have different familiarities with different artists. Grew up in different generations. After the interview, I sat with the album again. I heard a little Jimmy Buffett. A little bit of Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” in “Windowpane.” A little “Jack and Diane” from John Mellencamp in “High Times.” A little bit of the Gin Blossoms, Train, Barenaked Ladies. So give Ryan’s new album a listen, and let me know, what do you hear?
Instagram: @ryancooperofficial
Facebook: @ryancoopermusic
Website: www.ryancoopermusic.com
YouTube: https://youtu.be/9GCzQyUC_FE?feature=shared
