This musician, born and raised in Saskatoon, has dedicated his twenties to living life on his own terms and living without regrets, all while showing others that taking risks can be worth it – even if you’re just left with good stories to tell.

I know the talented Mr. Tropeau from my high school days, so when I saw he was playing a show at Louis’ with his band, The Broken Bones, earlier this month I knew I had to jump at the chance to interview him and share his story. 

Luckily he invited me out to his private home studio, bestowing upon me the honour of picking his brain. He let me peek into his creative process, and hear the stories that have taken him from the stages of Saskatoon’s Jazz Fest, Coors Event Centre, and the Capitol Music Club, all the way down to the country capital of the world, Nashville, Tennessee. When I showed up for the interview and was immediately handed a cold beer I knew I would be in for a hell of a time.

Tropeau’s talents and passion in country music were heavily influenced by his family. He shared stories with me about how he grew up listening to artists like George Jones, Johnny Cash and Alan Jackson, while riding to and from hockey practice in his dad’s pickup truck and bonding over a love for country with his grandpa in the family garage.

“We have a jukebox out in the garage that I used to listen to Hank William’s records on with my grandpa,” he said. “We’d listen to songs that were recorded fifty years before I was born, so I was getting inspiration from a lot of old artists.”

Noticing his interest in music, Tropeau’s parents bought him his first acoustic guitar at eight years old, and he started taking lessons shortly thereafter. Though, it wasn’t until his teen years when he would start viewing his musicianship as more than just a hobby. 

“Around thirteen or fourteen I got a new guitar instructor and I started really getting into playing more and not having to make a conscious effort to play. It just became a part of my routine,” he told me. “Then my instructor, who was a producer and played in some bands, started showing me the structure of writing songs and over the next few months I ended up just writing lots and lots of music.”

Despite his progress in writing original music, it still took Tropeau an extra push from his guitar instructor to try his hand at recording music and giving performing a shot. Once he got that ball rolling, oh boy did it roll.

“Eventually I had like twelve to thirteen songs, I was like sixteen or seventeen at the time, and he [Tropeau’s instructor] was like ‘do you want to do something with this?’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, why not?’” Tropeau explained. “I never really thought of it before then. I never thought I was a singer, but once we started recording the music that was when I really started being like, ‘oh shit. This could be a career path that I want to do.’” 

Tropeau would go on to record and release his debut album, Crown on the Dash,  just prior to his eighteenth birthday and his highschool graduation. 

With this experience under his belt, leaving music behind and jumping straight into university felt a little off for the burgeoning musician. But with external pressures and some anxieties, Tropeau put down the guitar and tried to stick to the path society thought best as he enrolled in the Edwards School of Business at USask in the fall of 2019.

“I went into business because I was a sociable guy, and a lot of people, and my friends, went into business and I was like, ‘oh, cool. I’ll go into business, whatever,’ and towards the end of my first semester I kind of knew I wasn’t enjoying it. It felt like a chore to go to school,” he explained. “Then before COVID happened I decided I was going to drop out.”

And drop out he did – ut the story didn’t end there. Tropeau made a lateral move, deciding to attend RAIS, the Recording Arts Institute of Saskatoon, for their Audio Engineering program where he learned to record, produce, mix and master music. He expressed to me that this has been beneficial not just for the money it has saved him in recording his own music — which I’m sure would have been a lot — but also that it has provided him unique insights into the music industry and gotten him in contact with other artists.

“It’s given me a lot of insight on doing live sound when I go to gigs. And now I produce for some other musicians too,” he told me. “I went into it because I wanted to learn more about music and just do more and by the end of it I was like, ‘man, I love producing,’” he said. “Now I’m just trying to get as good as I can. But I’m still learning, obviously.”

After dropping out of USask and graduating from RAIS, Tropeau released – amidst the tumultuous years of the COVID-19 pandemic – his second project; an EP entitled Life of the Party which provided him opportunities to gig around Saskatchewan.

With the hard choice of dropping out seeming to have paid off, and some steam picking up on his career, the aspiring country artist decided to kick risk-taking up a notch, push himself out of his comfort zone, and chase his music dream as far as he could take it – in this case, all the way to Nashville, Tennessee. 

“I was just kind of like, let’s go down and see what it’s all about. See who I can meet. See if I can catch a break if somebody really likes me.” He explained to me his thought process on pursuing success in Nashville: “It’s like if you buy a lottery ticket, chances are you’re probably not going to win but you’re definitely not going to win if you don’t buy a ticket.” 

So, Tropeau packed up his Mazda hatchback with his gear and the tips saved from a bartending job and ventured to the country music capital of the world. His trip was not without its problems though. A major health scare scored the singer an airlifted emergency ride in a helicopter and a short stay in an American hospital, and his living arrangement in Nashville had him staying in an area with one of the highest murder rates in the country. Additionally, once he got there and settled himself in, Tropeau felt somewhat homesick.

“I was missing my parents, and I couldn’t just call my buddies and meet them at Leo’s in fifteen minutes, ya know, they’re like twenty-two hours away,” he told me. “So to get myself out of the funk I went to see the Johnny Cash museum.” 

It was at this museum that Tropeau re-ignited his reason for taking this leap-of-faith and was able to maintain the promise he made to himself: live without regrets.

“[Johnny Cash is] one of my biggest inspirations and I ended up walking though [the museum] and tearing up, and I was like ‘F–k Coops, you’re here as long as you’re here. You can drive home whenever you want to drive home, but you told yourself you were gonna do this, you told everybody you were gonna do this, and you’re down here. You gotta make the best of it and do everything you can while you’re down here.”

And make the best of it he did. Tropeau started venturing to open mics as frequently as possible, exploring bars, talked and made connections with other musicians, and dug into the history of Nashville. Something that surprised me — someone who can hardly keep a workout routine while stuck at home — was that he even went to the gym daily. 

While Nashville didn’t land him a breakthrough connection like he dreamed of catching, Tropeau still looks back on the experience as beneficial. He noted that part of his willingness to take these big risks comes in just knowing that it’s part of the journey of being a musician, and that he has the support of his family behind him.

“Everybody wants to be the rock star on stage in front of a screaming crowd but you have to enjoy the late nights, missing out on different things to practice, or playing in front of crowds that don’t care and aren’t there to listen to you,” he said. “My parents always taught me to work hard. I think they think in their mind, ‘if you want to do this and you’re willing to work whatever job you need to support yourself to do it, then you’re fine.’ They’ve always been super supportive.”

With the drive in his bones, the steadfast mindset and the support of his friends and family, Tropeau told me that he felt sure of his decisions – that he is going to give music his all and that if it doesn’t work out, then he’s still all the better for it.

“I’m not going to be here forever, and that’s a scary thing, but also a reassuring thing, because one day I’m going to die, so while I’m young I’m going to decide what matters for myself, and put all my energy towards the stuff I want to do,” he said. “That’s why I’m travelling and playing music and trying to record as much music as I can. I’m just trying to f—ing grab life by the balls and just squeeze every ounce out and make an opportunity out of every experience.

As for the future of his music career, Tropeau says he is looking to “get in front of new audiences” and “expand his fan base” in the next year as he plans on touring around different parts of Saskatchewan and beyond. In addition to touring, Tropeau told me on the down-low (but not off the record) that he is currently in the process of writing and recording a new full-length album that he is “hoping to have out in summer 2024.” 

It was cool to catch up with someone I knew back in high school, and a lot cooler to see him perform at Louis’. We’re at different points in our lives, pursuing different things, but I can say that I learned a lot in talking to Tropeau and cracking some beers in that private studio of his. If there is anything I’d take away from the man living life on his own terms, it’s that it’s important to make the most out of any situation you’re given. To grab “opportunity by the balls,” and hope that – if anything – you’ll come out of any experience, not only having grown as a person, but having gained a damn cool story to tell.

Cooper Tropeau can be found on Spotify under his artist name, Cooper Tropeau, and on instagram @coopertropeau.