Peter Cooper Obituary – Death : Country Music Journalist, Peter Cooper passed away At 52
Peter Cooper, a well recognized Nashville journalist, producer, and executive who was nominated for a Grammy, passed away on December 6. He was 52.
His family released a statement on Facebook confirming his passing, saying that he passed away in his sleep following a fall late last week that left him with a serious brain injury.
Cooper, a native of South Carolina, started working for The Tennessean in 2000 as its top music journalist before transferring to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2014 as museum editor.
According to the CEO of the hall, Kyle Young, “he developed into assuming the role of museum senior director, producer, and writer, leading several significant creative initiatives and giving a lyrical grace to them all.
Peter Cooper, a well recognized Nashville journalist, producer, and executive who was nominated for a Grammy, passed away on December 6. He was 52.
His family released a statement on Facebook confirming his passing, saying that he passed away in his sleep following a fall late last week that left him with a serious brain injury.
Cooper, a native of South Carolina, started working for The Tennessean in 2000 as its top music journalist before transferring to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2014 as museum editor.
Despite all of his abilities, many considered Cooper as a journalist first and foremost. This included music legends like Johnny Cash, George Jones, and Kris Kristofferson who said of Cooper that he “looked at the world with an artist’s eye, and a human heart and soul.”
According to Ricky Skaggs, Cooper was “one of the most polite and soft-spoken men I ever known,” according to Billboard. In Nashville, his understanding of musicians, writers, players, and singers was truly unsurpassed. A crucial voice for our times was gone in our sector. He’ll be sadly missed, I say.
Alanna Nash, a best-selling biographer and journalist, continued, “One of the many things that set Peter apart from the rest of us in this business, aside from just the breathtaking humanity that infused his writing, was his side gig as a musician and his intimate understanding of the suffering artists endure. Because he experienced every painful passion and traveled every worn-out road, he was able to write journalism from the inside out, from the heart of the narrative. Without experiencing the same pain, one cannot travel Hank Williams’ 300-mile “final ride” from Knoxville to Oak Hill, West Virginia, as Peter did for a report about the 50th anniversary of Williams’ passing.
Cooper was, above all, a storyteller through his reported essays and his own career as a performance singer/songwriter, much like Tom T. Hall, whom he admired. He was a talented musician who was a member of the group Eric Brace, Peter Cooper, and Thomm Jutz and made several recordings with them.
Among others, John Prine, Todd Snider, Bobby Bare, and Mac Wiseman had recorded his tunes.
I Love: Tom T. Hall’s Songs of Fox Hollow, a 2011 tribute album to the songwriter’s story songs, won Cooper a Grammy nomination for best children’s album.
Early in 2023, a memorial service will be held. In lieu of flowers, his family requests contributions to the Country Music Hall of Fame or the Baker Cooper fund to support his 12-year-old son’s education, both of which are administered by Wells Fargo Bank.
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