Peter Cooper

Peter Cooper, one of Nashville’s most admired music journalists and historians, died on December 6, 2022. He was 52. A South Carolina native, Cooper moved to Nashville in 2000 as a music reporter for The Tennessean. His knowledge, wit, and enthusiasm quickly endeared him to the country music community. He accepted a position at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in 2014, channeling his storytelling talent as a speechwriter, panel moderator, and frequent commentator for TV specials and documentaries. In addition to releasing albums of his own songwriting, Cooper co-produced the Grammy-nominated children’s album I Love: Tom T. Hall’s Songs of Fox Hollow. He published the autobiographical book Johnny’s Cash and Charley’s Pride: Lasting Legends and Untold Adventures in Country Music in 2017.