Devin Cooper of Innisfail has been named a Top-12 finalist for Project Wild 2019, a province-wide artist development program open to Alberta musicians.

By Sheldon Spackman

project wild

Innisfail artist hoping to score big in Alberta country music competition

Jun 3, 2019 | 2:33 PM

An Innisfail man is one of a dozen Alberta musicians vying to take their career to the next level through a province-wide country artist development program.

Devin Cooper, 22, has been named a Top-12 finalist for Project Wild 2019, a program funded by Wild 95.3 radio in Calgary.

Wild 95.3 is owned by the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group, which currently has a seven-year commitment of $4.9 million to develop artists and industry in Alberta.

Project Wild has artist applicants competing for significant music grants, with each of the Top 12 finalists awarded $5,000 to go towards career development. A committee then judges how effectively each artist uses their financial windfall.

BEEWISE PROTOTYPE SHOWCASE

Lacombe high school students cause a buzz at Calgary AZTech Awards

21h ago

COMMUNITY BUILDERS

Three central Albertans recipients of Alberta Immigrant Impact Awards

Oct 05, 2024

town calls suit 'frivolous and vexatious

Sylvan Lake council member suing municipality, mayor and CAO for $317,000

Oct 05, 2024

Cooper describes his music as a culmination of southern-rock, country and blues.

“I started playing guitar when I was seven-years-old,” recalls Cooper. “I hung out in my dad’s shop listening to a bunch of southern-rock bands like ZZ Top, Lynyrd Skynyrd – all those kinds of things. So when I was growing up, that’s all the kinds of music I played and when I was 15, I started singing and when I turned 16, I put out my first record.”

Cooper played in a band and explored his songwriting skills while in high school. It was after college and working for a year that he decided to quit his job and do music full-time.

“Here we are about eight or nine months later since I quit my job and I’m playing full-time,” says Cooper. “Since January 1 this year, I’ve written about 35 songs, been down to Nashville a couple of times this year and writing as much as I can, building up the catalogue.”

Cooper says he’s been following the Project Wild program for a couple of years now.

“I’ve had some very good friends that have gone through the program and I applied this year to be a part of it,” says Cooper. “Over the past year after really kind of developing my sound and honing-in on what I want to do as an artist, it’s something that I felt would be incredibly beneficial to be a part of. I’m very thankful I was selected to be a part of it this year.”

Local singer and songwriter Ryan Langlois finished second in 2018 and brought home $50,000.

Following an artist orientation day anticipated this month, Cooper says he is also busy preparing for a charity event that each Top-12 finalist must organize and put on.

“I’ll have some more details coming out about that soon,” adds Cooper. “Then we all go to a boot camp out in B.C. in a cabin. For about 10 days we spend out there with a bunch of industry mentors, as well as previous participants of the program and do hands-on, in-depth learning and work on our live performance skills.”

A series of live showcases at Knoxville’s in Calgary will follow the B.C. boot camp.

Regardless of where he finishes, Cooper hopes to come away with a lot of insight and newfound knowledge to boost his career.

“If you can work with these people who have been fortunate enough to have success and learn from them and the things that they’ve done,” says Cooper. “In the end, it can help you create a sustainable, viable plan for yourself in the future.”

Cooper anticipates recording a new record starting this fall and will perform live at the Innisfail Legion on June 28.