Life is loaded with contradictions, not the least of which is the “tough guy” veneer. Everyone has weaknesses in their personality, and showing strength is one way that people hide their insecurities.
In reality, it takes an enormous amount of fortitude to admit a vulnerability, and the greatest artists are frequently those who are able to help listeners explore -— and even embrace — their own fragility.
New artist Preston Cooper does that right out of the gate with his debut single, “Weak,” which flips the switch on those soft spots, bringing them into the open with a fierceness that turns them into a source of power. Life experience has made him comfortable with that dichotomy; his girlfriend of six years, Liz, helped him weather a rocky stretch in the earliest parts of their relationship.
“I went through a hard time there a little bit after I met Liz and we started dating,” he remembers. “It was just a mental period where I was very lost, and she helped me through that. And Jesus obviously did, too.”
Both Liz and Jesus show up in “Weak,” though neither was necessarily the inspiration. Instead, it came from a melody he concocted at work. Cooper delivered mail in rural Fredericktown, Ohio, and he used music so much on his route that he was known locally as “The Singing Mailman.” Near the end of 2022, he invented a musical passage built around a long note that would eventually trail off as he imagined bluesy chords underneath. He recorded that melodic idea on his smartphone with the drawn-out word “weak” and another line or two behind it.
“The music drives you to certain words, you know; the emotion of it, the musical part alone,” he says. “It feels like it’s ‘weak,’ [but] it’s this strong relationship. When the intro to that song comes in, I feel that already.”
As fate would have it, Skotynsky Financial Group hired Cooper as an opening act for a corporate event on April 21, 2023, at the Hilton Garden Inn in Perrysburg, Ohio. Mike Severson’s Songwriter City had booked Brett and Brad Warren (“Red Solo Cup,” “Highway Don’t Care”), plus JT Harding (“Sangria,” “Beers and Sunshine”) to headline that night, and when the Warrens heard Cooper, they invited him to visit Nashville and try his hand at writing.
A few weeks later, on May 8, Cooper and Liz drove six hours to Nashville and headed straight to the Orbison Building, where songwriter Lance Miller (“I Called Mama,” “Beer With Jesus”) kept an office. Liz busied herself in another room while Miller and the Warrens worked with Cooper. Asked if he had any ideas, Cooper launched into the unfinished half-chorus of “Weak.”
“When he started belting out that chorus, we were like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is like driving a musical Maserati,’” Brad remembers.
They finished the chorus first, recognizing resilience, but crediting Liz and faith for the ability to overcome the hard times: “Just you and Jesus/Get me where I need to be.” The last line returned to that one word — “weak” —threaded through a conclusive run of descending melodic trills.
The opening verse was more conversational, exploring a handful of strong elements: an El Paso, Texas, wind; an oak tree; and bourbon. It set up the dramatic chorus, and as that stanza ended on the drawn-out, emotional “ee-e-e-e-ak,” Miller started verse two with a one-word line: “Strong.”
“Willie Nelson said simple is complex,” Miller reasons. “That song,” he adds, “came out fairly easily. I don’t remember this being a laboring process.”
Nelson and “Whiskey River” were counted among the verse-two strengths, and before it was all over, they came up with a bridge about tension and comfort — “Crazy like a train, amazing like grace” — that referenced Ozzy Osbourne and Jesus side by side. “We’re not comparing him to Jesus,” Brett notes.
Once they had finished a second song, the Warrens surprised Cooper with a same-day demo session four blocks away at Curb Studios. The A-list musicians were surprised to find they were playing a blues-inspired number and thoroughly impressed once Cooper locked in at the mic.
“The second he opened his mouth in the studio, all the session players stopped and turned around,” Brett recalls. “They were like, ‘Hey, we got a real singer in the room.’ ”
The band developed a slow, spacious groove, the sound thickened by Jeff Roach’s soulful Hammond B-3. Guitarist Justin Ostrander laid down a chill solo live on the first pass, and drummer Evan Hutchings added some shimmer with his cymbal work. “It must have been right,” Brad muses, “because Brett hates cymbals.”
Cooper continued working on his newfound career, his voice deepening and his confidence growing. After a year, Brett had him return to the studio to redo the vocals, and he nailed them on the first take. Outside of hiring Greg Barnhill to overdub background vocals, Brett didn’t change much about the production — the session that was supposed to be a demo became a master recording.
“Brett was smart enough not to put too much makeup on the mannequin,” Miller says. “Basically what we did at Curb that day was the foundation of that song.”
“Weak” recognizes that admitting emotional struggle provides an opportunity for strength to arise. While it’s written around a relationship, listeners can easily apply the concept to other life facets.
“I’m a recovering alcoholic,” Brett says. “I remember the first time I raised my hand in a meeting and said, ‘My name’s Brett and I’m an alcoholic.’ Oh, my Lord, I was so scared to say it, but the moment I admitted that I struggled with alcohol, in that weakest moment in my life — boom! — 60% of this weight just came off me. It’s really fascinating. So on the lyrical side of it, I think that that side of ‘Weak’ is really true.”
“Weak” was the first song Cooper performed in an audition for Big Machine Label Group; by the third tune, president/CEO Scott Borchetta was ready to sign him. “Weak” got a standing ovation at the label’s lunchtime showcase during Country Radio Seminar in February, and it cinched BMLG’s decision to make it his first single. Subsidiary Valory released it to country radio via PlayMPE on April 23 with a May 19 add date.
“Ever since we wrote the song — like the day of — we always thought this was going to be a first single,” Cooper says. “It was so much excitement in making the song and the vibe of it. It just felt right.”