Tuesday, November 04, 2008


Peter Cooper – Cautionary Tales (CoraZong)

Cautionary Tales is the debut album from East Nashville singer songwriter Peter Cooper. There is a bright opening in the form of the nu-country Boy Genius and All The Way To Heaven is world weary but will be a crowd pleaser with its singalong style chorus. There is some excellent pedal guitar from the legendary Lloyd Green as Cooper tips his hat to the old timers. The word legendary is over used these days but in Green’s case it is more than justified. Just listen to his contribution to The Byrds’ Sweetheart Of The Rodeo amongst many others (he has played on more than 100 number 1 country records). Cooper’s laconic style is coming through in spades on tracks such as Wine. It’s a simple execution of a topic well discussed and has a pleasant feel, just like the feeling after a bottle of wine by coincidence!! Couple Of Lies is gentle but again covers a harder topic whereas Take Care is a bit more upbeat, musically. This fractured country gets a bit grungy at times with harp from Todd Snider and electric guitar from Cooper.

Mission Door has the addition of none other than Nanci Griffith on vocal along with Snider and Fayssoux McLean with Jen Gunderman’s accordion in the background – a masterpiece. They Hate Me is a little bit of boogie and this is about as excitable as Cooper gets. He is a very good social commentator and manages to raise a few smiles during the album. 715 (For Hank Aaron) is pure Americana. It’s about baseball, how more American can you get? Lyle Lovett comes to mind throughout and on this track in particular.

Take Cooper’s advice and take caution on the topics of his songs but there is no need to be so wary of the man or his music.

http://www.corazong.com/
www.myspace.com/petercoopermusic

David Blue.

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