Couple Things with Shawn and Andrew - Cooper Alan & Hally: High School Sweethearts to Parenthood

Episode Date: May 28, 2026

We absolutely loved this conversation with country artist Cooper Alan and his wife Hally who joined us to talk about their relationship journey — from meeting long before the fame to navigating marriage, touring, and becoming parents to their newborn daughter, Coley. We get into how their relationship has changed through Cooper’s rise in country music, what life on the road really looks like, balancing family with touring, upcoming music and shows, and the moments that shaped them most along the way. This episode is full of stories about love, growth, family, faith, country music, and building a life together through every season & we hope you love it as much as we did!! You can find out more about Cooper Alan here! ➜ https://cooperalanmusic.com/ Follow Cooper here ➜ https://www.instagram.com/cooperalanmusic/?hl=en Follow Hally here ➜ https://www.instagram.com/hallywcooper/?hl=en Don't forget to find us on tour & pre-order our book today!! ➜ https://thecouragetocommit.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's up, everybody. Welcome back to a couple things interviews. With Sean and Andrew. Today we have two wonderful guests, Cooper Allen and Hallie Cooper. That's right. If you have not heard Cooper's music, you should go check it out now. He is a country musician here in Nashville and him and his wife, Hallie, now have a child. Exciting times in their life. And we really enjoyed sitting down with them, hearing their perspective. His voice I could listen to all day. It's insane. Just talking voice is amazing. It's such a wonderful conversation. We're so excited to share it with you.

you without further ado, Cooper Allen and Hallie Cooper. Bear with us. We've never, this is my second podcast actually, so hopefully. Very casual. All right. Hallie, welcome to your second podcast. I'm so excited. How you feeling? I'm excited to be here. We're excited to have you. Thank you. I love the chairs. I'm in love with your daughter. Thank you. So sweet. She's very sweet. She's a good baby. We are officially out of the baby, baby phase. So now when I see babies, I love them. I don't want any more of them. But when I see them, I'm like, I want to hold the baby.

I'll hold your baby, yeah, for sure. How is parenting of one child going so far? It's been awesome. I mean, she, the kid doesn't really need me. But she crushes it, and I'm just, I'm kind of there. No, it's been really fun. Yeah. Every time I say she's a good baby, I like feel like I need to.

to knock on wood, but she actually has been pretty good. That's amazing. Yeah. That's amazing. So I think for the first, it makes, like, transitioning into it. Pretty good. Yeah, also, starting with a girl, great strategy. Oh, I know.

Great strategy. We're glad you chose that one. And if you all have a, your girl is a list. Okay. Because boys are just wild. Yeah. It is totally different. And you're like, man, okay.

I'm glad we have the girl here to kind of anchor everything. Yeah, we both have two brothers. So the family of pretty much all boys. The girl, I could do all girls. Yeah. Yeah, he has said that. He's like, I'd be okay if we had three girls. Oh.

Which I always thought I would have all boys for some reason, just having older brothers. And now I'm like, watch us have just a lot of girls. I always thought we would have all boys. And then our first was like, we didn't find out the gender until she was born. And I was like, a girl? I don't know what to do with a girl. And now she is. My best friend.

The amount of times I cry. Yeah. With having a daughter, it's so different, man. I've cried like three times a week for the past three months. I see a commercial on TV. I was like, there was a commercial that like wrecked us. Oh, which one? It was the Chevy Christmas commercial.

I don't know if I said. I don't know if you should watch it. I watched it one week postpartum. And I mean, he might have cried more than me, but I was like we cannot do this to ourselves. It was just about like life and them growing up. And the dogs in it too. Yeah.

And they have like a truck and it's just, you know, the truck gets older too and you're just like, oh, gosh. No, don't watch it. Yeah. What I'm excited for you guys' experience and I can say this now as a veteran parent is it literally. Yeah, we're vets. We're vets. Wow. I mean, we've got a six-year-old.

I have no idea what we're doing. We, it gets better and better and better and better. Like this phase is amazing. I miss it. But it's like so fun. Every day it gets better and better. Not like necessarily. All the time, but better.

How did you guys meet? We've known each other kind of forever. We both grew up in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Yeah, we're both born and raised there. What do they call it the triangle of something? Is that part of the... The Piedmont Triad. Yeah.

The triangle is Raleigh, Chapel Hill, Durham. Yeah, so close. Yeah. Yeah, don't associate us with... That's like an hour and a half away. Yeah, the Piedmont Triad, it's High Point, Greensboro, Winston. Okay. No need to go to High Point Greensboro.

Winston's got it, though. Great city. Best city in the world. Wake Forest? Is that where Wake Forest? Yeah. The Vanderbilt of the East? Exactly.

It's like the right. I feel like it's the exact same school. It's like the same colors, same like size. Wait can't like compete anymore. It used to be fun when we were younger. Yeah. Oh God, it was so sick. Like Chris Paul and Riley Skinner.

football. It was just, it was pretty cool. But to answer your question, you talk ACC sports all day. We will immediately start talking about sports. I guess all sports. I'm an SEC guy now. It just means more, you know, I don't know if that. Dude, moving here, nobody cares about the ACC. It's like, I feel like I'm so out of place. Is that a mid-major or what is that even? Yeah, that's how all the SEC guys talk. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. You're not even a Tennessee fan. It's like background music when this happens now. Yeah. I'll enjoy this so far.

Okay. But we grew up together, both born and raised in Winston, and we were best friends, like, all through high school. We think we met really for the first time in, like, middle school just because we ran in the same crowds. But we didn't start dating until college. Okay. She came to my, the high school I was at, she came in 10th grade. And that's when we, like, became really good friends. And then went to college, you know, 30 minutes from each other.

Yeah. You know, kept in touch. with like all our high school people, they're still like some of our best friends today. So it was just kind of a little squad and then started dating one summer. Yeah. And here we are. We've had a couple of friends do this where they're like best friends. I will never forget. So this, these best friends basically that lived like across the hall from each other at our first apartment for years. And they're like, I am not interested. That is my best friend. And you're probably like, okay. You're going to get married someday. And they now have like three kids. Yeah. But.

How does that dynamic work and how does it shift? Because when it shifts, you're kind of like going all in or nothing, right? Oh, for sure. So your best friends and all of a sudden someone makes like a move. Who was that and when was it and how did you decide to go from? Or did one of you always like always know? I always wanted to make a move from like 10th grade. She decided to date somebody else who was the man.

Can't blame her for it. And at the time, we worked out great because here we are. But we were both living in New York. We were like interning that summer. And I think it was like the first night we were there. We went out and alcohol definitely helped for sure. We had been drinking a little tequila for sure. And also I had been, I was studying abroad.

So I didn't see him in like close to six months. So, but before I left, actually, we won't go down like this rabbit hole. I was like, hmm, I kind of feel like I have like a crush on him or something and it was so weird. I was like, that is bizarre because we're just such good friends left, like was living in Italy. And I kept thinking about it the whole time I was there. So then when we got to New York, so I came straight from there, we went out to dinner and I was like, okay, let's just see what happens. So I feel like I kind of made the first move. I think you might have put your hand on my leg, maybe.

Wow. Yeah, just a little like knee touch. under the table and that's all it took. And you're like, yes. Green light. Here we go. Sick. Yeah.

So that's kind of how it happened. But going from, I think being friends first is like the best foundation. Yeah. But it is a little bit of a bridge. The transition is weird. The transition is weird. And for like all your other friends who are also like, we're just all best friends with each other.

So that was kind of interesting. Our high school best friend group is still like our best friends. And so in the beginning they were like, my gosh, this, what are you all doing? Like, please don't mess this up for all of us. Wow. But it worked out, because obviously. I mean, it worked okay.

Yeah, we've got great. But I think going from friends to dating, I specifically was really scared of, you know, messing up our friendship and not being able to come back from it. So I would say it took the summer and a couple months going back into college to be like 100% sure that we should date. Wow. So. What were you intern in New York for?

I was selling beer for Anaheiser Bush. Oh, nice. I worked at a wholesaler in Jersey City, which I was so bad at it, and it just sucked. But I was just sitting right songs in my desk all day. And shockingly, they did not extend the job offer. So it made the move to Nashville pretty obvious. Yeah, I feel like you being a singer with that voice was always the inevitable. Yeah, I don't really know what I was thinking, honestly.

I think I just wanted to live in New York. York for a summer maybe. But this voice can only do one thing. I feel like you wanted to try. Try like a job. Yeah, maybe it was like, let's see before I'd do this music, crazy music thing, if like I can actually like a real job, I guess. And I did not like a real job. Yeah. And they did not like me. New York stuff. Overlapping your relationship and your career. When did music come into your life. When did it start taking off? And how did kind of those cards fall? It's been a long time. I won't go into the whole thing because we'd be here forever. But eighth grade, I started my first band. We were like a cover band all through high school and

college. And wrote music, put music out. But, you know, we just would play like fraternity, sorority parties, high school functions, birthday parties, all that stuff. Um, And Hallie would always come to our shows. It was pretty awesome. They were so fun. Oh. From the beginning. Yeah, from the beginning.

Yeah, we had, it's great. We had people show up and support us just as friends and family before we, like, ever deserved to have anybody come out and see us, really. So that was a lot of fun. It kind of became something for people to do. And, you know, when you're the band playing at a college bar, once you get to college, that's a lot of fun.

And, you get paid in beer and tips. And as a college kid, that's freaking awesome. Chapel Hill was good to us. And then moved here in 2018 and didn't really, you know, had some stuff going on. But it was like social media, TikTok, 2020 was when we kind of started getting, you know, any sort of real fan base or anybody listened to my music. And here we are. Did you ever make any cameos in the band in high school? Oh, no, no, no.

I was just in the crowd. She can sing, though. I'm not going to put her on the spot. I'm like a shower singer. Are you all like that? I mean, you're the shower singer. You're just, you sing all day. Oh, really?

I can play four chords on the guitar, which is pretty great. That's all you need. That's right. Four chords in a capo, brother. What do you, if you have to sing one thing, what do you sing? Oh, I mean, it's usually, I like hymns. The kids love listening to hymns. The reason I got into music is because we'd be sitting in the playroom,

and I found myself, like, on my phone. And I was like, I don't want to be sitting here on my phone. So like let me just get my hand something to do And so I picked up a guitar and then They love it when I sing so Dude, that's awesome I will say one of my favorite things he's ever done Which you should definitely do for your daughter

Have you heard about the Tony boxes? Oh Are our um Is that where you put the little like you're on top? Oh yeah Yeah So he love them He because he

He just walks around singing all the time He actually like sang hymns And put him on one of the little tony's Oh really? And so it's his voice? Yeah That's really cool. You can buy blank tonies and upload whatever you want onto it, whether it's like you reading a story.

You should do that for Hazel. She would freak out. That's a great idea. Your daughter's name, Hazel? No, our niece is Hazel. Oh, I love that. My daughter's true Hazel. Yeah.

It's a great name. There was a little hazel in there. Yeah. Sister Hazel, a great band. You can upload anything. So like if you're on the road, it's like, it's so great because they can always listen to you. I did not know you could do that. That's amazing.

It is. Yeah, we'll have to do that for Cole. Not the songs with Cusswords. Yeah. We'll get some different ones in there. So you sat down with our friend Caitlin. I think in that episode, you mentioned how Hally was your rock, and you kind of follow her lead, I think, is what you said.

I'm curious. In our relationship, I do feel like it's like the superpower to have a teammate, have each other as a teammate. no one knows you better no one can support you better i'm curious how that dynamic has grown and changed obviously your your foundations as friends uh it's like it's like a beautiful place to start but now that you're you know co-parenting and doing all this big career i'm curious how it's changed over the years and and how it's helped in different ways i mean i think we've been a pretty strong team since because we both moved here at around the same time and

like those first couple of years. You know, it was a lot of laying Broadway bars. It was driving six hours to, you know, play a four hour gig in Charlotte because that's what we got or Columbia or something. And so there was a lot of,

you know, kind of, I wouldn't say hard times necessarily, but just kind of less glamorous times. And you move to Nashville and you think this is going to be so easy because I'm really good at this. Turns out you're not really good at this.

You move here and you just slowly get better at it. So we've always kind of been in it together and Hallie just has been really, really supportive of everything I wanted to do. And it's a crazy thing, but she was supportive from day one on it. And so, you know, being kind of emotional support, just a teammate in that sense. But as we've kind of grown into the parenting stage, you know, I always thought we were kind of equal teammates. And now I think she's kind of Jordan and I'm more Pippin, which Pippin was still important. but she's a rock star at it and I'm not just saying this

because we're on a podcast she really is and it's kind of my role to just kind of be there and support I think and step up when I need to step up but really as long as she's steering the ship we're in a pretty solid spot yeah thank you honey that's very nice I feel like within

we've had the privilege of having a lot of musicians on the show and it never ceases to amaze me just the perseverance it takes to like make it in that world and I would I would consider as by standards that you have made it like you're you're up there and you're you're crushing it but I feel like within the music world it feels so volatile at the beginning you're always chasing that dream and I love these stories of always having kind of that supporter or person behind you whether it's been the wife or the husband but there's always that person were there any moments within that journey where you have to have come to Jesus moments of like are we going to continue this

where it was their tension within it or was it easy to just say you know what if this is your dream we're going to we're just going to keep chugging along um i think from the beginning like i just like even in new york i knew that he was never going to work like a desk job i always knew he was going to move to nashville and try this so i don't think there was ever like a time or like a thought where I, you know, I was like, hmm, maybe he won't do this. I think it was just like, okay, he's going to go to Nashville and I'm going to go and we're just going to like, we're just going to do this together. And a lot of that was like even Broadway days playing Tutsis at like 8 a.m.

Like, I would be there. Like, can you go get me a tea? And I'd go and get him a tea or whatever. And I'd never question it even then. Like which at that point maybe you do. You should a little bit. Like you're on Broadway at Tutsi's at 8 a.m. And he's playing for just me.

Should be questioning everything. I'm like, we're doing this. Maybe then I should have. But no, I just, I've always really believed in him. I think as a friend first, now as, you know, his wife. But he works so hard and he's just so passionate about it. I never like questioned that he couldn't do this. And if anything, she's the one that, you know, musicians would get in our head and all that stuff.

and are super dramatic. I woke home, you know, probably once a month ago. I should just freaking quit. Like, I can't do this anymore. And she's always the one that is like, no, this is, remember how much you love this. Remember, this is what you were born to do. This is what God called you to do. And she's always been, you know, a rock even in that sense of like, this is, stay the path.

It's going to be okay. It's not as bad as you think it is. Well, I do think it is such, like, a God-given gift that, like, I think that is what he intended for you to do with your life. So like, who would we to question that? Do you think that confidence and then kind of sticking with it has gotten stronger with the more success that you guys have gotten? Or do you think it gets harder the more successful you get? I do think it should breed more confidence probably. But as I'm sure you all know, the second you get something you want or an achievement or a milestone, suddenly it's like,

well I either have to do that again or I'm terrified of losing it and so you kind of start it almost feels a little more volatile I guess and it's also just in music like yes you know I think I'm pretty good at what I do and I think I write fine songs and all that stuff but we also got pretty lucky as anybody who has success in music has to get and so part of you is always like when is when's the luck going to run out because you just feel like I don't know it's imposter syndrome I guess but at the same time It's like, you know, we'll figure it out. We'll make it through. And if we don't, it's just, it's just music.

You know, there's things more important for sure. Music is so fascinating to me because it's like, you do it from this passion, you know? And then it's almost like, did you feel like you knew what you're signing up for with all the tours and the shows? Or did you just, did that just all come as you grew into it? You know what I'm saying? Yeah, it sort of came growing into it. think you never really know it until you're in it, I guess. But at the same time, you do kind of realize, like, one, that it's not going to be super easy or whatever.

But it's also, you've got to keep the perspective that you're just playing a guitar and singing every day. And, you know, even though touring can be hard sometimes, it's like, well, we're riding a bus to go play a show. Think about how lucky, like, we really are and how many people would kill to do this. So, yeah, I didn't really know what I was signing up for. But you just kind of, you do it, I guess. Yeah. Which is a bad answer. Yeah.

I think it's funny. We've actually been talking about this recently of, what's the show we've been watching? Age of Attraction? Yeah. Well, whatever, which is a crazy show if you haven't seen it. I've heard about it. I haven't seen it. Anyways, it sparked these conversations, which makes me giggle thinking about you talking about being playing at Tootzee's at 8 a.m.

but it seems like life back when we first met and life when you start dating is so cringy, but you don't think about it. Yeah. It's so easy to a certain extent. You don't think about the, how we're starting careers because what we used to do back in the day,

I'm like, why would we do that? Why did we stick with it? But I feel like there is such a beauty at the beginning of your passion where it's just like, yeah, well, I love it. I'm going to do it no matter what. Yeah. And then along the way,

pressure starts building. You get a little momentum, a little success. You're like, I don't want to lose it. And it starts building these second thoughts almost when it's like you, like you said, you are mastering your craft, so you should have more confidence. And that imposter syndrome seeps in. When did you start feeling that? And how did you deal with it?

I know you've talked a lot about having anxiety. And even in our athletic careers, we've been very open about feeling that on a stage and having to deal with it and trying to master that, which is really difficult. But when did you first realize that? And then what steps did you take to kind of hone it? Well, speaking of gringy, just go watch. That's like what got me too. I was like, the things we did in 2020.

Oh, my gosh. Well, not we. I just was behind the camera. I was just holding the camera. And I was like, just do your thing, honey. I'm right here just filming away. but some of them were crazy. Don't go look.

I mean, same with us. So don't go look. 2020 was a weird time, though. We tried making slime for a living, okay? So I think we tapped out the cringiness. It doesn't even touch what I did. I know. I'm like,

I'd take your slime any day. But I think, you know, some of that really started setting in because, like, COVID felt like not really real. And so, like, it didn't really, it just felt fun and kind of like a game, then I think maybe after like the first couple tours that we did,

and people were actually showing up. And like, that's when it really felt real. And so that's when it felt like, oh, wow, we have to really, really keep this going. And so there was, you know, I put pressure on myself to succeed and grow. And even when we did grow, you know, you still have some shows that suck or something where 50 people show up.

And then the next night, maybe it's a thousand people or something, but you're thinking about the 50. So that's for me, I guess, kind of when it's set in. And in terms of like dealing with it, I'm still not sure I'd do a great job. But, you know, faith in the past year especially paying a lot more attention to that, diving into that at her encouragement has really, really been something. I don't know. It just kind of changed a lot for me. because I've done the therapy thing.

I'm an advocate for all of that. It's awesome, but really trying to dive into faith every day was what kind of, I don't know, tipped it for me, I think. What happened in the last year, Halley? What didn't happen? Like in terms of him? That would have caused, I don't know, was there like a difference in your approach in some way? I mean, I think I've always, I mean, we've both grew up. in the church and have been Christians, you know, our whole lives. But I think just letting him navigate,

like, all of those things on his own and then trying the therapy and just different things. I think I've always just kind of been in the background of, like, you should turn towards the Lord and, you know, kind of put your worries there because he can handle it. So I think I've always tried to encourage that a little bit. And I think it's just been on. his timeline though of being like okay all these other things these worldly things like haven't helped maybe I just need to like spend some time in the word um so I don't think it's really me I think it's just kind of being in the background of being like you know you might not remember this conversation we were in the car it was January last year and we were coming from like a

small group thing and she was just like you know you're so routine and discipline like I do the exact same thing every day and eat the same thing, all that stuff. Just like, what if you just started working into your routine, you know, reading the Bible for 10 minutes every morning, 20 minutes every morning. And I think like the day after that conversation, I started trying to do that and work that in the routine. So it was you. Do you know what types of therapy? You give me a lot of credit. That's great. It's not. It's him. Sounds like a good team. I did forget that conversation. So there you go. I'm like, I don't really remember. You've gone through a lot in the past year.

I can't remember anything. Welcome to Motherhood. It's scary. It is. Do you know what types of therapy you've tried previously? And I still actually, you know, do it. But just general, it's a, she was an entertainment specific therapist and just sitting down talking. And we still, you know, I still book sessions.

We still do all that. Yeah. She's been really, really good. I was going to say I hope you don't mind me sharing this you've shared it many times before but I will never forget we hadn't had our first kid yet

and when Andrew was in the NFL we were married and there was one season in particular where you got in your head and I had never seen this as a wife before like he had been steady and confident and

I'm usually kind of like I probably skewed towards being annoyingly, like overconfident, like borderline, maybe arrogant vibes. Not even arrogant. He has like this reckless abandonment vibe to him. It's always just happy go lucky and things feel easy in the sense of like

he just likes to play. And it was the first time in his career where I saw him overthinking everything. And as a wife, it was so interesting to watch because I was like, this is new. I don't know how to deal with this. Just stop doing that because just go have fun. and then it started getting almost like worse and worse

where it was really affecting him and it was such an interesting position to be in similar to what you're speaking as a wife because you're like I can't fix it for you right and I remember trying to help find sports psychiatrists and but really the only thing I could do is just be there and say baby I love you and like this doesn't mean anything

football doesn't mean anything like you are amazing no matter what but there was a helplessness within our marriage of all I can do is just be there for him. Yeah. How, and I remember when he finally got through that and stuff, we've kind of ebbed and flowed in our life where I've had those moments where he's been my support and just been there and vice versa. I'm just, that was such a weird face alive. It was a weird face of life. But I'm curious within your marriage, do you find that dynamic where you're ebbing and flowing? And did you feel the same way, like when you saw him kind of going through that and how it's a very loaded question because it just happens in life.

But then you guys just had your first baby girl. And even hearing you say, like, I can't remember anything. How did it feel watching her go through that phase of life? How are your support systems wired? Well, I mean, honestly, you saying that, like, it is really hard because you, like, I'm such an empath to. like I feel like to my core just things that he feels like I mean he could have a cold and I'm like I think I'm sick like it's things like that where it's almost like what is wrong with me so when he feels that way I just feel it like so personally and there's you're right like there's nothing I can

really do or say other than to just like love him through it which is hard because you do feel pretty helpless in terms of like you just want to fix it for your person um but I think we're like we still kind of go through that. I mean, I think you still probably have days like that. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Like current times.

So I don't know. I think, wait, I'm sorry. Now I'm like missing for getting the question. No. The ebb and flow of the support. Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. But I think like in terms of me just having a baby,

it has like flip flopped a little bit where now he's like playing that supportive. role in our marriage just I mean he's been the best ever since I mean since I've had her when I was pregnant so supportive um and just like loved me through all of like the crazy ups and downs of being pregnant and then being like newly postpartum so I feel like it has kind of switched a little bit where now I feel like he's serving me in a lot of ways like currently um and with our daughter yeah but she's been so strong through all of it. She's, she's handled this tough time emotionally better than I've handled, you know, any tough times of mine, I think, from an outside looking in. But I have tried to be there and support. And that's, you know, it's what marriage is. That's what you sign up for is,

you know, some days you have 50, some days you have 90 and the other person just kind of is there to fill in that other percentage that's missing. I think it's a musketine bloodline song, 90-10. It's a great. Good guy. Yes. Great. Yeah. No, but he is. He's great.

And he's done so many things that he's just, like, stepped up. And a lot of different love language is shown. So. How long y'all been married? It'll be three years this year in September. Congratulations. Thank you. How long have y'all been married?

Ten years. Really? Yep. This next month. Yeah. It'll be 10. Ten years next month. Wow. Nice.

That's a big one. You don't need to do something. I was thinking about like doing a product review of marriage 10 years in, you know, like 10 years later. How do you feel about that? That sounds great content. Is it worth it?

It sounds like it will not hurt any feelings. That's good. Yeah. I've seen people do like product reviews on their kids. Yeah. Actually that is good. You'll should do that. Oh boy.

I'm curious. How did they, How did Cooper propose to you? Because I feel like he's just like a suave. Probably had some epic story of it. He did a good job. I will say I don't do many things that well. I did the proposal pretty well.

I think I'm pretty proud of the proposal. Well, since we just talked about it, it'll be like fresh, but it was in New York. And it was at the restaurant where we drank a lot of tequila. Nice. Full circle moment. This sounds like a great night. You guys have kind of circled that. It was full circle.

So we had done. dinner at that restaurant and then we went to this bar afterwards and he proposed at the restaurant we went to the bar down the street and all of our family and friends were there and it was the same bar that we went we just kind of recreated the first night that's awesome yeah so he hit like all the spots it did such a good job um and it was outside of the restaurant in new york yeah so it was really special that's really sweet yeah you guys have kind of created a brand between the two of you where I feel like especially on social media people know you really well

and you've showcased your life really well do you ever find it hard to separate real life from social media you can answer that first if you want not really because like being like you know a social media

artists you know we do share a lot of our life and you know my face is on the camera all the time and all that stuff and we show a lot of our stuff together and wedding footage and personal stuff. But at the end the day, it's always, I don't know, like I don't find myself like looking at social media that much. I'm not really on it except for when I post for music stuff. So there has always kind of felt like a divide, I guess. And you can, you share as much as you want. You know, we're not sharing every little

thing on there. Yeah, it's funny too because he actually like didn't really have social media until he needed to start using it. Like he never was really a social media person, which I just always think is funny because now it's obviously a lot of your work. But, like, is on social media. But, I mean, he never had, I don't even think you had Instagram for a long time.

Got an Instagram my senior year of college. Wow. He, like, is just not really a social media person to be a social media person. You know what I mean? So, but I don't, I don't think it's hard either. I mean, I don't, sometimes I just I don't think I think about it enough because I just kind of forget like

sometimes I'll look at his page and I'm like oh my gosh there are a lot of people that follow you I just try not to think about it too much because then I think I think about it too much you know like I just I try to keep it pretty separate it's also like so much more the norm these days for you know artists influencers people to share a lot of their like personal lives to where like I think even people on the other side, you know, receiving that stuff, they're still super respectful and, you know, understand privacy just because, you know, a lot of people are doing it now. So it's never felt weird, really, maybe a couple times, but. Yeah. Yeah.

I think it's a good balance between the two. Yeah. You're talking about that Chevy commercial on how it, like, pulls at your heartstrings. I feel like the more of that, that, you know, the wedding footage type of. content that is out there, the better. You know, there's, there's so much of the polarizing or the provocative type of content. It's like, this is what makes us human. This is like the best part about the whole deal right here.

So anyway, people need more happy stuff. That's what I'm saying. Like, just like the stuff that makes you go, oh, you know, oh, that's cute. You mentioned, you said a social media artist. So is that like a category or is it like a self-imposed? is that's kind of the box like I've been put in I guess and a lot of us that like started on TikTok or whatever um you know people call us TikTok artists or something and you know who who really cares what they call you and like now music is like so social media driven that like

every hit song is a viral moment on a social media app now that's just like how it goes um but yeah that's that's kind of since we kind of came up that way that's kind of how people have labeled it I guess Does it work differently in the industry? In terms of I don't know I don't know how the industry works Yeah I mean

I feel like it used to like It used to be something where like oh that's just like a TikTok thing Yeah But now because it has kind of taken over There's less of like a stigma around it I guess I think it's like the cringy TikTok thing you know At the beginning like what we were talking about Oh yeah

Yeah you kind of get in like that box. I should have expected it. I was doing cringy stuff. This is deserved. I will say, I feel like it's so blended now, though, that I couldn't even tell you who started on social media versus who didn't, if you, like, showed me the artist because they're all to me just musicians. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, it's like, it's really the only way to like get organic traction on your music and stuff. And so really everybody is kind of a social media artist when you think about it, whether they're honored a lot or not. It's just kind of the way, the way it is. What would you say if you're going to give advice to someone who's like, you know, putting out tons of music on TikTok, how do you make the leap? Like now you're, you're doing the whole music industry thing here in town. Not everybody's able to make that leap. How do you do that? If I knew, I'd probably be playing bigger rooms, but it is, you've just got to keep doing it. My God, it's like,

You just have to push through the times when you think it's a waste of time because there's a lot of time where social media feels like a waste of time when you're getting, you know, a hundred views on something or, you know, you have a viral moment and then it tails off for months and you just got to keep doing it, keep posting, but keep being yourself because they want authenticity. They can tell when somebody's not being authentic. And also just the music matters more than anything. You know, people analyze social media and all that stuff. But the end of the day, it's a lot of the day. It's a lot of the day. It's, It's, the music is what is reaching the people. So if you're making the music that you're most proud of and that is like truest to you, then, yeah, I think you're on the right track and you got to use social media and do it every day or whatever, but don't get like too wrapped up and all of that. You said you're super disciplined. And I'm curious what your creative process is, like, as it applies to music, is it still the discipline mindset or is it like, is it more of a whimsical trying to chase down anytime you feel inspired or

yeah kind of a mix like i'm so type a that it surprises me every day that i do music because music is so like everything about the music industry is so not like type a i guess every time we do an event with musicians there's like we'll do some where some musicians some athletes and the difference is so funny and just the way they carry themselves the way they what time they show up. It's like, it's just different. It's so funny.

It's rock and roll, man. 30 minutes late. Yeah. But I'm pretty disciplined, I guess, still. It's like a writing session every day. Yeah. Show up at 10 or 11. And spend a couple hours in there,

try to write a song. After that, come home, try to think of some content to do. That's kind of all I do, really. And they go out on the road, play shows, and kind of rinse and repeat. So there is a discipline to it and trying to come up with ideas, what we want to say, be

purposeful and all that stuff. I'm pretty bad at just like showing up and let's just see what happens. Yeah. Which, maybe if I were a little more like that, it would be a little better results. But yeah, there's kind of a way to blend it both, I think. How do you define success? You've said multiple times jokingly, but like maybe it would be better. Maybe it would be in bigger rooms and stuff.

How do you define success in your career? Well, realistically, we've had probably more success than, you know, me or anybody deserves in this. So I got to step back and like always realize that. I think success is a great question. That is a really good question. Well, it's doing it at the level that you're happy at. and making the stuff that you want to make, being around the people you want to be around,

having time still for family and for the actual important stuff in life. So, I mean, when you put that all together, I think we're pretty darn successful in it, which is awesome. And you always want to, you know, play bigger rooms, have songs that stream more, all that stuff.

But I don't know. If it stayed like this forever, the exact level that it's at, I'd consider that pretty awesome. Do you feel that same way? Oh, for sure. I mean, I think you've been so successful. Thanks, Ben.

Just to be able to, like, build on his own, like, the following that he has without, like, a lot of, you know, at the time, like, label, support anyone behind him. He just sat down and, you know, kind of figured it out on his own. But, I mean, I agree. I think having like the balance between the two is successful, but also having people that like genuinely care about him and the music that he's putting out enough to like spend their hard earned dollar to come see a show. Like I think that is, you know, a success because people do show up and people come back and like they'll travel. Like I just think that's so cool when people will drive like six hours to come see him play a show at a casino. know in Waterloo, you know, I'm like, whoa, that's really cool. So I think when you have people that are like following your career and supportive in that way too, it's, I'd consider that a win.

And you get to do what you love and it's exactly what you said you wanted to do and now we're getting to do it. So that's pretty fun. Yeah. Having a three-month-old baby girl, did that change your mindset as a musician, as a, ambitious musician growing in the industry at all? Or did it fuel you more? I think it's probably fueled me more. I mean, of course, there's going to be

a point in my life where no matter where we are success-wise that I'm not going to want to be on the road all the time and be there for, you know, to coach basketball games and to do all the stuff that comes with it that my parents did for us. So there's going to be a point with that. But it's definitely driven me more kind of in these early years

to try to keep doing it. And you kind of have something even bigger to fight for than what you were fighting for before. But it's also put in perspective. Like, say this all went away. You know, life is really, really good with how we got it. And nothing brings that in perspective

like a cute little daughter. Yeah, I know. Oh my gosh. It changes everything. It does. I'm so fortunate to have a teammate like Sean because I feel like I'm like just recklessly ambitious it feels like where it's it's always like, oh well I just love doing the thing.

I just love like the work. I just, it's fun. And then it's never enough also. Yeah. And so I'm just thinking y'all have been married for three years. How much has changed in your life in three years? Fast forward three years. What does your life look like?

You know, bigger. If you're playing bigger rooms, you're playing stadiums. You're doing the whole thing. Now you're booked out for 50 shows a year. You're probably playing that. How many shows are you going to do this year? I think we'll do close to 80. Yeah.

Oh, my God. Which is a little less than last year. I think we did maybe 90 or 100 last year. Okay. So you're doing 120 shows. People are loving it. And it's like, does any part of that, like, scare you? Or, like, is it, how do you balance it?

Because in your profession, it could always be more. And I know we've kind of circled that concept a little bit. But what is your approach to navigating that and in that context with the family at home? Like, are there guidelines or do you guys sit down and say, hey, if this is, we're not doing any more than 100 shows or we're not like are there conversations like that or what does that look like for you yeah i mean like last year we had the conversation of you know we're having this baby in december let's take the first pretty much three months of the year off of touring um and i needed wanted a break also um and so we just communicated and thought that that would be best and then

kind of do the rest of the year and then kind of take the winter off again um yeah yeah Yeah, it's hard not to always want the more thing. That's just how a lot of us are wired. But I think for me, it's like the more that you experience and go through it, you know, the more you have things don't work out and realize it's okay is like the big thing for me. Like I, you know, you say, God, if this song doesn't do well, we're screwed. Like it's going to, the nose dive will start right now. And then you have a song that doesn't do what you wanted to do, and it's okay.

Or you have a show that goes bad and it's okay. You know, you're not going to stop. You're not going to stop like living. And so you just kind of push through and realize the failures are not like that big of a deal. And so I think for me that's kind of helped, you know, being okay with not always getting more, I guess, if that makes sense. Yeah, like being content with where you are. Yeah. Are you all pretty, do you guys have those conversations well, like live, like when the song releases and it doesn't do as well?

Because I can't. It's a dark day, brother. I was tough to say. It is dark day. That's when we just go to Dairy Queen, get an extra large blizzard and sit there quietly. We eat in silence. Take it back to the car and just sit in the parking lot. But then you wake up the next day and it's okay.

Yeah, it's like life goes on. It's like when Carolina loses in the NCAA tournament. It hurts really bad for a day or two. And then it's fine. And then there's another season. And then they lose again. Is that pretty much how it goes? Because I found myself, Sean now is able to identify it.

But like, if something's out of whack, she'll be like, yo, what's up? Which is my least favorite question? It's your least favorite question ever. So even if I identify, I can't ask. Is there anything wrong? See, that's how I feel. Like, it's almost better to, like,

not ask too many questions, you know? But I gotta know. Yeah. Like, I have to really feel it out. Because sometimes she'll be like, walking into a tornado. Hey, is there something wrong? I'm like, no.

But if you ask me that one more time, I'm about to be annoyed. Something about to be. But I actually know there's something wrong. Yeah. Am I going to find out ever? Like, two weeks from now, tonight?

Yeah. get impatient so I'm like what's something's wrong same I'm very much the same way I am kind of an impatient person by nature yeah I will say you said empath earlier and he I would deem myself exactly the same and I think our daughter is exactly the same she feels anybody's like emotion around the room and he doesn't like that because he's like you can't feel my emotion I'm like I 100% can and I can tell how you feel when you walk in the room. Yeah.

And no, but what if, what if? What if it's you in a funk? And then that comes off as me in a funk. You know what I'm saying? This is my whole thing. Because I see what you're saying. It's in the eye of the beholder. It's in the eye of the beholder.

So if she's out of whack and then I walk in the room and she's like, well, yeah, he's out of whack. I'm not. It's just like, it's the lens. I think we know you guys better than that. Exactly. Yeah. As you can tell. We need to go to counseling as well.

We could continue talking to you guys forever. I feel like it's just casual company conversation. I know. Not to hit on like a deep, hard question on the end, but again, your beautiful three-month-old baby girl, which is just the sweetest. With your career, with being a new mom, with being a new dad, with your marriage,

and everything that you're, like, striving for, what do you hope? She remembers you by. And I say that because you are climbing the ladder so fast. You're going to make me cry here. I know. I know. I'm probably shouldn't ask.

But out of everything, like, wrapped up with a bow on it, what's one thing that you hope she remembers? I think just like how, I mean, this sounds very cliche, but like just how love she is and how present, like, we were with her. from the very beginning. Like I hope she always feels like our time with her was intentional and that we were fully present, you know, in the midst of like the craziness that is, you know, his career right now. That she just always feels like, you know,

we loved her so much and we loved her so much. And that our time with her is like really special, I think. And I think, you know, remember us by hopefully our faith, generosity, you know, what we did for other people and, you know, how we made other people feel and just being good, moral people no matter what is what I hope, you know, we can set our example as. And, you know, hopefully she sees the music stuff and is like, I can also do what I love. I think that's cool. Yeah, there's like no limits for her. Yeah, and hopefully she sees our marriage and is like, you know, I hope I find somebody that, you know,

makes us a marriage like my parents had. I hope she looks at it in that light, like we both did with our parents. Yeah, that's a great one. And I, before she was born, we actually talked about like a family creed. I think our church talked about that, like things that just for our family that we wanted to like live by that they would know. But I do think our marriage is a great one too. I want her to always know like how much we love each other and how in love we are and that she can have a marriage like that too because we saw that in both of our parents.

Now our parents are like our best friends. Yeah. You know, both sets of parents were in that phase of life that's so fun now. So fun. And I hope that we can, you know, have that with her down the line. And I just, we both look so favorably on our parents because they were awesome and present and nobody's perfect. but, you know, they were pretty good mold. Yeah, and they have such great marriages for us to, like, look at as example.

I hope that she feels that way about us. Do you guys— You're watching this Coley one day? Do you guys still remember your family creed? Did you come up with one? Yeah, we—it's in my notes, and you know I can't remember. I'm sure we can even remember where we put our phones. Yeah.

It's in my notes, though, and we did it while I was pregnant. we would just add to it and actually we need to add to it a little more. Yeah, I need to print it out and laminate it. But a lot of it you touched on like being generous even with like finances and our money.

Loving each other, but like the Lord first. Doing hard stuff. Yeah. Pushing yourself. It's off to a good start. I think we have like five. I will add to it. We're going to get in the car and be like six, seven.

Add to it. I've gotten this is like just classic dad stuff. I feel like I've gotten so into this type of family values, the mission statement. Sean knows that I have like this rolling document of just thoughts that I have. Because it struck me that everyone talks about how important the values thing is or like a creed, whatever iteration of that for like the business world or like, you know, Cooper is known for his brand and music and like here, here's his thing. But then like, and that's fun for business. But nobody really does that as much for family. And it's so fun to think about, you have this

marriage, which is like two styles blended together that makes this new style. What is it? Like put some words to it, find some vocabulary. It'll help like you as you navigate parenting. It'll help the kids as they're like growing up and like the whole identity thing becomes kind of interesting. And it's like I came across this article of like indicators for success. This is a Harvard study. You know, I don't know all the stats behind the validity of this. But they said if your kid knows the answer to 21 questions all about like your family upbringing, how'd your parents, to me, what was it like the day you're born, then like their likelihood of success is way higher. And it's so interesting just like try to capture that in whatever way, like the creed or

the values type of thing. But I love it. So keep doing more. I love to know that. I'll send you the article. Yeah. Yeah. I know. And that's so true about like businesses. Like it's such a thing in the workplace. Like to have a mission statement and like our core values and all these things. So it's like why wouldn't you have that for your family? Yeah. And you see it when you're, I mean, you even think about the people you grew up with. Like, I remember that family,

really, really good people. That family, they're hilarious. Like, they're super fun and funny. That family is freak athletes. It's awesome. They're great. And that family, they're kind of jerks. So people do, people do see it.

And so it is important to, I don't know, be intentional and how you go through all that. Your intentionality is palpable. It's really, I mean, truly, I feel like it took us a lot longer than being married three years to find that. I feel that way about y'all. I think we did our values, admission statement, what, two years ago, eight years into marriage. But you guys are crushed in life and it's really, you're just, it's refreshing. Seeing people like y'all is inspiring to people like us.

I know. Y'all are so fun to talk to. Thank you. I was even asking questions. I'm like, this is. chill there's no like I kind of forget that the cameras are on us too I know oh yeah you know yeah we just oh didn't see there sorry uh we just kind of found out we're almost neighbors too so i know well we were not anymore yeah yeah what do you have coming up that you're most excited

about um we've got our um this week yeah this friday and saturday we're doing our big cooper Allen Foundation fundraiser weekend and it's capped off for doing the Riemann on Saturday for the first time. Let's go, dude. Which is going to be awesome.

That's awesome. Let's go. But Friday's like we do a big sponsor dinner and we're raising money for Brothers Keeper. Really?

Veterans Mental Health and Charlie Daniels Journey Home Foundation. So we've gotten a lot of people to give a lot of really generous money and then Saturday will be fun.

Then we go to the UK in a few weeks for the tour over there and then just kind of do the rest of the year. My mother-in-law is going to fly with me and the baby, but we want to go to, like, all the spots and do the shopping. And we have. So I'll need all your rats. We've got a bunch of places.

He's the one who documents everything, so I remember nothing. I couldn't even tell you. I can kind of picture it. We're very similar. And paths, but they can't remember anything. I can feel it, though. I knew I liked that dinner. Yeah.

What are you most excited about? I'm excited I mean honestly I'm excited to just like I think about the summer like the last couple of years I've actually traveled on the bus and gone to like pretty much every show for a couple years but this year is going to look a little different with the baby and I'm just excited like obviously I'm going to miss it a lot because I loved going on the road and going to shows

but we're not doing that because I can't take her on a bus so I'm kind of just excited to like slow down a little bit and just like have quality time with her making some noise um yeah and just like kind of take like a backseat a little bit and just like I've noticed even in the three months that like I've been a mom just like slowing down and just like the beauty in that because I am like I said a little bit of an impatient person and I feel like I typically like feel rushed and I've just noticed like being able to slow down there's like a lot of there's some good things in that too so I'm kind of excited for a different like change of pace this year um you deserve a break from 12 sweaty dudes

sharing a bus I put in my time that's a lot that was god's work it was fun but and then go to some shows like here and there um but yeah just like no real pressure about it I would say uh it took me too long to realize that the cadence as a parent and having kids is different than like when you're just doing your thing. So like realize that. Embrace it is beautiful and it's a phase. So yeah, it'll end at some point. I say there's never enough time. Yeah. It's already going by really fast honestly. I know. Like I look at her. I'm like, how are you three months old already? Yeah, it's like smiling and like she laughed for the first time. She laughed. I know. It's the greatest Yeah, it is. And you feel like your heart's going to like burst from being so happy that they're getting older and that they're healthy, but then the fact that they're not like a newborn anymore, I don't know. I guess that's just like parenthood as a whole is like being so happy and like heartbroken about everything.

For the rest of our lives, right? Yeah. First time she didn't fit into an outfit anymore. It was like, oh my God. Yeah, that was too much. I wasn't, no one told you about that part. No. Like when you have to put their newborn clothes away. I don't think this will be a last baby the way you're talking. Yeah. I might just never stop.

I don't know. I joked. I'm like, I think I want like seven. Oh my gosh. No. John and Kate plus eight. You always said three because we're one of three.

But I could see how it happens to people. Yeah. Well, thank you guys so much. So good to get to know you. Hopefully it's the first of many conversations. And for those listening who want to find out with these two are up to. We'll link their information down below. Congrats on everything.

Can't wait to see you continue to crush it together. Appreciate you joining us. Thank you so much. Thank you all for making this so easy. This was so much fun. I know. It's great to meet you guys. Great to meet you.

Yeah, yeah. Let's go over for dinner. I would love to. Yeah.