Album review – Drew Cooper’s “This Life”

At the final part of 2021, Drew Cooper released a wonderful cover of Charles Brown’s “Please Come Home For Christmas“, produced by John Lousteau, and featuring Cody Canada and his son Dierks Canada.

Four months later, Drew Cooper released, on April 15th, the first part of his new double album, “This Life“. John Lousteau, chief engineer at Studio 606 in Los Angeles, the Foo Fighter’s home studio, also produced the record. There’s no other artist who had the privilege to record an album at this studio, so it was a great honor for Drew Cooper. Listening to the first part of “This Life“, we can say it was worth it.

Released four years after his debut album, the brilliant “White Horse“, “This Life” ‘s first part is a gem for those who love red dirt music, real country and quality songwriting. Y’all will enjoy it and have it on repeat, for sure.

Let’s talk about the first song present on the first part of the album, “Vaya Con Dios“. Once you began listening to this fantastic tune, you only want to repeat the listen and you appreciate it more and more after each one. It’s a great country Tex Mex song, that will make happy all the lovers of Texas music.

“Whiskey and Smoke“, that was released as a single, is another great tune present on the album. I absolutely love the musical quality of this song about the simple pleasures of life. The more you listen to this song, the more you appreciate it.

“Lodi” is a fantastic cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s tune. Very catchy, it perfectly shows off the the baritone and gritty voice of Drew Cooper. This version of John Fogerty’s song is a gem!

With great guitar riffs and excellent songwriting, “American Son” is one of the best songs of the album. You’ll undoubtedly have it on repeat.

“Madeline“, released as a single on January, is very catchy and highly representative of Drew Copper’s style of music and of the quality of his songwriting.

The album also includes others great songs about Drew Cooper’s life, that will speak for all of us and show off the talent of Drew Cooper for storytelling. The title track, “This Life“, is a fantastic tune about his life, with a final part that is musically impressive. “Darker and Darker” is a brilliant song about the addiction. “Every Note” is a somewhat bluesy song that’s particularly catchy. “New Heart” is a beautiful love song about Drew Cooper’s wife. You also need to listen to the great cover of John Prine’s “Angel From Montgomery“. Mostly acoustic, it’s a brilliant and somewhat rocky version of John Prine’s iconic song.

“This Life” is the brilliant album of an underrated artist who combines perfectly high quality music and excellent songwriting. Drew Cooper is a name that you can’t ignore if you love red dirt and real country. With him, rock and country just combine so perfectly. His future on the red dirt scene is assured.

Nicolas Davelu