Folk Music for Longhaired Hoods

Born in East Dayton, Ohio, Wil soon moved to a horse ranch in Michigan, which he stated as being a significant moment in his life. ‘There was an old truck on the farm with a Neil Young tape still in the dash, I drove that thing around the place just to hear it play.’ Left alone a lot, Wil taught himself to play. At 14 he could play Needle and the Damage Done and by 18 his first full original song was born. A few years later things went south and and Wil found himself living in Georgia for a short time on another horse ranch but was soon shipped back to east Dayton where he discovered skateboarding, rock and roll and a love of Henry Miller and Jack Kerouac books.

With travel in his blood, Wil found himself crisscrossing the country, eventually landing in Nashville where he lived with music producer Steve Poulton. Wil stated, “Different musicians were always dropping by, I spent a lot of time there playing music and producing a record titled ‘Manana’.” He hopes to release it soon this year. After Nashville, Wil found himself in Mexico, California and Austin where he currently resides. ‘I’ve lived in a lot of weird places and I’m not done yet, I call them all home.”

Drunk Are the Stars exposes a meshed genre of the country past Wil fell into and the roll and roll lifestyle he created. He fell in love with everything from early 70’s and 80’s rock, to old blues. Some of his influences include The Ramones, Guns and Roses, George Jones, Keef Richards, Patti Smith, Nirvana’s ‘Bleach’ album, Lightning Hopkins, Elliott Smith, and Townes Van Zandt. ‘Drunk are the Stars’ portrays the sound of a less vile Kurt Vile. The album paints a sweet portrait of a troubled past full of heartache and a severe bike accident. The tracks, like a sip of whiskey at sunrise, are beautifully sorrowful and leave you wanting more.

Before Drunk Are the Stars, Wil previously recorded with the Heartless Bastards on his Sunset Craves album. As stated in the Austin Chronicle by Doug Freeman, “Wil Cope's debut rolls with such an easy, natural rhythm that his unassuming style camouflages a similar songwriting talent.”