INNISFAIL – A country musician who grew up in Innisfail honing his craft has rocked the stage at the Calgary Stampede’s Nashville North for the last few evenings.
Devin Cooper is set to play his last set at the event known as the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth Wednesday night.
The singer, guitarist and song writer has been performing in Innisfail and in the region for almost two decades.
However, 2023 turned out to be a blockbuster year of transition for the rising star, whose success has now grown throughout the province and beyond.
That year, the then-26 year old landed an incredible seven nominations for the 2023 Country Music Alberta Awards, making him the most nominated solo artist for the year. He walked away proudly with the Horizon Male Artist of the Year award.
The same year, Cooper received his first Canadian Country Music Association Awards nomination for Creative Team of The Year for his debut album Good Things and became a semifinalist in Sirius XM’s Top of The Country.
Kicking off 2025, Cooper secured six Country Music Alberta nominations, making him the most-nominated solo artist at this year’s awards.
He performed last year at Canadian Music Week in Toronto, Cavendish Beach Music Festival in Prince Edward Island and the legendary Whiskey Jam in Nashville, Tennessee as well as at Stampede.
But his hometown and the experiences had there are still close to his heart.
Cooper’s newest single, Memories That Made Us, is a reflection on the last decade of his life, he said in a social media post when it was released last month.
“I grew up in a little town called Innisfail, Alberta,” said Cooper who now lives in Calgary. “I fell in and out of love several times. I made friends, I lost friends. And all of those moments shaped who I am today—big and small it didn’t matter what they were.”
He added that he hoped when listeners hear the song, they “can reminisce and go back to those moments that made you who you are today.”
The music video for the song includes actual footage from his youth in Innisfail.
- With files from Johnnie Bachusky
