Dana Cooper - Hearing the songwriter's songwriter

I must admit, when a very excited Jimmy Baldwin called to tell me that he had booked Dana Cooper to play at the Ranch on March 13th I had no idea who he was talking about or why he was so excited.  So I Googled him -- signed with Electra Records in 1973 ( I was 3 years old!), critic favorite, outsider in the record industry, "the songwriter's songwriter."  Well that explained to me why Jimmy had heard of him and I had not. He's one of those guys that other songwriter's sit around in awe of saying things like, "Man, I wish I'd written that song," or "Hey Dana, what's the tuning on that guitar?"

Last night about four songs into the first set a local musician on the first row shouted out, "What's the tuning on that Gibson?" The analytical geek in me relished in hearing the words, "It's a D# with a C back."  At least that's what I heard, and I loved it!  All this talk of chords and sharps and flats, minute technical details of projection and movement, finger-picking only rivaled in highest backwoods of Appalachian Bluegrass.  Dana's music is mesmerizing cocktail of words and songs played to a voice, a sweet sweet voice of melodic purity.