Biography

On April 23, 2013, Grammy-nominated duo Eric Brace & Peter Cooper release their third record, The Comeback Album, a sparkling set of songs that feature the pair's acclaimed harmonies and deft storytelling.

The Comeback Album features nine original compositions, plus songs by Tom T. Hall, David Halley, and Karl Straub, all featuring the duo's signature vocal interplay as well as an impressive cast of musicians -- including pedal steel legend Lloyd Green, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame guitarist Duane Eddy, multi-instrumental genius Rory Hoffman, and country music torchbearer Marty Stuart.

The Comeback Album is the first release from Brace & Cooper since 2010’s critically lauded Master Sessions, which showcased steel guitarist Lloyd Green and the late dobro master Mike Auldridge. Their first album together, You Don’t Have To Like Them Both, was a Top 10 album on the Roots, Americana, and Folk charts.

Why The Comeback Album? Did Brace & Cooper ever go away? Yep. They hit the road with a vengeance after Master Sessions, touring England, Holland, Germany, and most of the lower 48, and opened lots of shows for folks like John Prine, Todd Snider, and Nanci Griffith. Brace and Cooper made a foray into the world of children’s music in 2011 to produce I Love: Tom T. Hall’s Songs of Fox Hollow, a star-packed tribute to the songs of Tom T. Hall featuring Patty Griffin, Buddy Miller, Jim Lauderdale, Tom T. Hall, as well as Brace and Cooper and others. In addition to garnering a Grammy nomination for the pair's production, the album was featured on NPR’s “All Things Considered” and “Weekend Edition,” in USA Today and the Chicago Sun-Times, and was named a Top 5 Americana album by Rich Kienzle in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “I Love,” recorded by Patty Griffin for the project, was nominated for 2012 AMA Song of the Year.

Brace, a former music journalist for the Washington Post and leader of the roots-rock band Last Train Home, found a kindred spirit in Peter Cooper upon moving to Nashville in 2005. Cooper is a music writer for The Tennessean newspaper and other publications, and is a professor of country music at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music. He has released two solo records, Mission Door - 2008, and The Lloyd Green Album (2010), on Brace’s Red Beet Records label.

In addition to The Comeback Album, Brace and Cooper will each release solo projects later this year. Eric Brace's folk opera set in the California gold rush, Hangtown Dancehall, will come out in the fall of 2013, as will Peter Cooper's third solo record, Opening Day.