On a recent Thursday night in Lawton, Oklahoma, singer-songwriter guitarist Johnny Cooper was sitting at a table in the outdoor portion of Duvallz. The night air was pleasant for fall and opening act Bobby Dale was just about to take the stage. Cooper, wasn’t sipping a beer on this night. No, the young, curly-haired Wichita Falls resident who bears a vague resemblance to pop star John Mayer, was sitting politely with friends enjoying the atmosphere. This is the 18-year-old Johnny Cooper that has many in the Texas and Red Dirt scenes talking. And the talk is positive, to be sure. The talented teenager, born in Arizona and raised in Texas, and who has just released his first full-length studio album “Ignition” is well on his way to becoming a mainstay on the Texas and Red Dirt music scene, playing gigs just about anywhere. But tonight, he and his band’s guitarist, Jason Brown, are toning things down a bit from their normal, full-band set up. The two, playing in front of a decent crowd for a weeknight, will offer an appealing acoustic gig peppered with Johnny Cooper originals like “Down at the Shop” and covers like The Eagles’ “Victim of Love,” a song, we’re told, he just learned to play.

Speaking of just learning, it’s amazing to discover that Cooper only began learning to play guitar five years earlier, after he’d taken to pounding away at his first musical instrument, the drums. But long before he even played an instrument, young Cooper had learned how to dance, from his dance-instructor mother Cindy Saillant. She says he was a terrific dancer and also loved music, thanks to his father, Jimmy Cooper.

Johnny Cooper explains that the drums were the first musical instrument he was drawn to back in his early teens. But it was Wichita Falls-based promoter Woody Hodges, of Sold Out Productions, with his connections within the Texas and Red Dirt scene, who encouraged Cooper to sing and reach the level of success he is enjoying today. “I switched to guitar,” Cooper said. “I’d discovered it was a lot Harder to sing and play drums than it was to sing and play guitar.”Meanwhile, Hodges is cheering on the teen, recognizing his talent. In fact, early on, Hodges believed in Cooper so much that he booked Cooper to open up for The Great Divide at a Wichita Falls gig in early 2004. Cooper said he was flattered by the offer to open up for the popular, Stillwater-based Red Dirt band. But then he took a good look at the calendar. “I realized I had just two-anda- half weeks to learn 15 songs,” Cooper said with his winning smile. His desire to perform live and perform music he loves, Cooper did open up for The Great Divide and the crowd really enjoyed what they heard. From there, Cooper, still a student at Wichita Falls (Old) High School, spent his nights not only doing his homework but finding time to take to the stage in local clubs. “We kind of started finding places to play,” Cooper said. “Woody would put us in a bar in Wichita Falls and we started playing anywhere we could.” The young singer got better on guitar and began writing his own songs, mixing in some covers during his live shows. He did this in addition to dating, playing on his high school tennis team, singing in the acappella choir and trying to balance it all. Hodges, who watched young Cooper grow has nothing but praise for his friend. “He just gets more talented every time I see him,” Hodges said. “He’s one of the most progressive players I’ve seen in forever.”

Two years into his burgeoning career, Cooper, backed by a Southern rock band called A.A. Bottom (a play on the name of fellow Texans ZZ Top), also known as the Johnny Cooper Band, recorded his first album, a live disc called “Live at the Pub” which featured originals like “Rain” and “Tequila Girl” to covers like Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues” and Cross Canadian Ragweed’s “Carney Man.” Yes, there was a somewhat hostile review of the live album in his hometown paper, the Times Record News, something noted by Cindy Saillant, Cooper’s mother, manager and biggest fan. “They said, ‘how can a kid whose hardly experienced anything sing a Song like ‘Folsom Prison Blues’?’” recalls Saillant. But a fickle review didn’t faze Cooper. By this time he was gaining incredible experience opening for everybody from Pat Green to Gary Allan to his pals in Cross Canadian Ragweed. In fact, Cooper became friends with Cody Canada, the band’s lead singer and guitarist.

“Cody Canada really got me to up the guitar and play that (expletive),” saysCooper, sounding like a friend and a fan. Not only that, Johnny Cooper even sounds like Canada. Listen to his popular, new radio track, the crunchy, upbeat guitar-pop of “Nothing To You.” Cooper is a dead ringer for Okie Canada, at least vocally. A story Cooper likes to tell involves Cody Canada. Because he had covered Ragweed’s “Carney Man” on “Live at the Pub,” Cooper was required to pay songwriting royalties to Canada. Tracking him down after a Texas show, Cooper handed the blond-haired singer a check. “He said, ‘I don’t want your money’ and ripped the check up into a million pieces and threw it in the trash can,” recalled Cooper. Woody Hodges, sitting nearby, said he recalls that encounter and added, “He then said, ‘If you want to do one of my songs, then just do it.’” And that was that. Another example of an artist in the Texas/Red Dirt music scene helping another artist working to get established.

For more information on Johnny Cooper and how to get “Ignition” or other merchandise, go to www.JohnnyCooper.com.

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