Country Music Journalist, Musician Peter Cooper Dies At 52

Country music journalist and Grammy-nominated musician Peter Cooper has died. He was 52.

A statement from his family said Cooper died Tuesday night after suffering a severe head injury last week.

Cooper was an award-winning journalist for The Tennessean from 2000 to 2014, interviewing and writing about artists such as George Jones, Johnny Cash, Taylor Swift, Kris Kristofferson and many more.

The Tennessean reported Wednesday that Kristofferson once said Cooper “looks at the world with an artist’s eye, and a human heart and soul.”

Cooper left The Tennessean to work at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee, where he continued to work directly with country artists as the museum’s senior director, producer and writer.

“He developed and implemented mission-oriented programs, exhibitions, podcasts and, as a writer, elegantly described the rich character of the country music story,” the museum said in a statement on Wednesday. “His talents were immense, but his heart was even bigger, and he touched the lives of those he encountered in immeasurable ways.”

He authored a book about country music called “Johnny’s Cash & Charley’s Pride,” and released his own records, as well as collaborating with other musicians.

Cooper and Eric Brace produced the Grammy-nominated album, I Love: Tom T. Hall’s Songs of Fox Hollow, a tribute album based on Tom T. Hall’s children’s music. It was nominated for a Grammy for Best Children’s Album in 2012. He also co-produced an album for Mac Wiseman called Songs from My Mother’s Hand.