Today we’d like to introduce you to Cooper Greenberg.
Cooper, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I started playing music when I was seven years old– from the beginning, I was obsessed with guitars. Both of my parents are huge music fans, so they provided me with a huge record collection to draw inspiration from. My mom was even in an all-female KISS cover band for a short amount of time in the late ’80s, which totally contradicts with the genres that she shared with me early in my life. What I’m getting at is that I was incredibly lucky to be surrounded by great music from all members of my family since I started playing guitar. I started playing locally (and badly) in middle school, and just practiced and grew as a player through high school, where I met my current bandmates in Favorite Son, Ramon Botello, and Andres Ovalle. We all played different types of tunes, spanning blues, jazz, country, Latin, and psychedelic rock music. Together, we’ve tried to combine all of those into that sound that we think defines San Antonio so well, and I try to embody those influences in my solo music as well.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I’m really lucky to say that my road has been made smooth by a very dedicated support system. Starting with my parents and grandparents and sister, those closest to me have reinforced every decision that certain friends and teachers have doubted over the years. I’ve had plenty of people (as all musicians do) talk to me about the importance of having fallback plans, which is considerate overall– but something that I’ve been fortunate enough to learn is that it’s really hard to fail when you grind it out and try really hard; it doesn’t have to be a choice between two extremes like worldwide fame or complete failure. Just the small local successes of standing gigs and album releases and all that have helped me to sustain myself as a musician, and the support of my family and friends has made that a reality for me.
Please tell us more about what you do, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
I’m a songwriter/guitarist– I play solo as well as with the band Favorite Son. The heart of the music is alt-country, but what I think sets it apart is the wide array of influences and some more unorthodox song structure.
What were you like growing up?
Growing up, my biggest interests were music, Spiderman, my leopard gecko “Slice,” and science. Unfortunately, Spiderman 3 featured that emo-Spiderman dance scene, Slice died, and I eventually took sciences in high school that I failed at miserably, so music presented itself as the most fruitful obsession. I was very close with my sister Riley growing up, and still am, so we shared a lot of important musical experiences together, seeing some of our early favorites like Tool, Dave Matthews Band, Vampire Weekend, Kendrick Lamar, etc.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.coopergreenberg.com
- Instagram: favorite_son
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/coopergreenbergmusic
Image Credit:
Oscar Moreno, Chase Otero, Faith Fisher
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