The Wes Loper Interview is featured on The Paul Leslie Hour.

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We have an interview with Wes Loper from the archives that went out on radio back in 2009. It’s a pleasure to get it out to you.

Ok. Growing up and residing on the South Alabama Coast, Wes Loper progressed into stardom. Wes entertains professionally across the region and beyond. He has performed along the gulf coast for the years now and continues to mix Rock, Country, Blues, and Folk music to create his own style with a funky, beach-side feel and plenty of country.

After enjoying the local success of his debut album, “Take Me Home,” Wes joined with a team headed by Alan Schulman, along with Mac McAnally featuring musicians from Muscle Shoals and Nashville. They recorded a breakthrough album of Country and Southern Rock. Yes! The second studio project entitled “Keep On Growin’” is available. But, check out all of Wes Loper’s tunes.

And, you should also go see him! Wes Loper is renowned at legendary venues like LuLu’s at Homeport and the Flora-bama. You can even see him at this year’s Meeting of the Minds festival!

You know folks, we’ve got dozens of interviews from the archives just like this that need to get out there into the world. You can help support independent media and give yourself and others the gift of stories. Go right here! Yes, give Paul a hot or cold beverage.

Now, won’t you join us for this interview recorded on the road with Wes Loper? I think this one was recorded on the tour bus. Either way, we like to listen together on this show, so let’s get this going.

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Today on our show, we have Wes Loper, a talented musician from Mobile. Wes’s latest album showcases his versatility and musicality, featuring Mac McAnally on guitar and harmonies. Wes cherishes every opportunity to perform and strives to make people smile with his music. He encourages others to find something they love and make a living from it. To learn more about Wes and his band, visit wesloper.com

Transcript

Introduction and Background of Wes Loper

[2:49] We’re welcoming Mr. Wes Loper on the program today. We’d like to, first of all, thank you for taking the time to do this, Wes.
Oh man, anytime. Glad to be here.

So you come from Mobile? 
Yeah, originally. I spent a lot of time down on the coast, whenever I could get away from Mobile, right down to the beach and the island and stuff.
Were you born in Mobile? 
I was born in Mobile in 1974. 
A lot of good things come out of Mobile.
Yeah. 

So tell me, how did you start with music?

[3:21] Well, when I was six years old, I came home and there was a piano in the living room, and I started just picking stuff out on the piano by ear, you know. And I noticed that I could just, I don’t know, pick things out. It was really simple. So I tried to pick out as many songs as I could, and I had a few lessons. I had an aunt, a cousin that played and gave lessons and took a few lessons from her as much as a young man with ADD could pay attention. [3:54] And then didn’t really do much with it until after high school, when I went from the piano to the guitar. That’s when I really started butting out because the guitar was so portable, I could take it down to the beach and practice my songs for whoever walked by at night when people walked the beach and I would take requests and if I didn’t know them I would tell them to come back tomorrow, I would learn it, so.

Influences and Favorite Music Growing Up

[4:18] Well, what did you grow up listening to? What was on your CD player or cassette player?
Oh man, everything from the Beach Boys to Chuck Berry. I didn’t get into Jimmy Buffett until later, until I started getting into high school or whatever. But all through high school, I learned when I was way young, going way back, my dad and momwould always have music playing around the house. That was always like Charlie Daniels Band and Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson a little bit, and some Allman Brothers. We were big Allman Brothers. [5:05] And of course, Wet Willie was a favorite around the house, being from Mobile originally. So that was in high rotation.

And your newest album, if I remember correctly, it has Mac McAnally playing guitar on it.
Is that true? 
It is and it does.

Collaboration with Mac McAnally

[5:23] We actually did one of his songs too called “The Simple Life.” And he not only played guitar on it and graced it with his harmonies, but he also did, he, led the sessions, which made for a really fun experience because he’s a nice guy and he knows how to orchestrate things pretty well, you know, with a quiet guiding hand. So it was really cool to watch. 

So how did you hook up with Mr. McAnally?

[5:54] McAnally came along because of one of the producers on the album, Alan Shulman is from Sheffield, Alabama, which is right around the Muscle Shoals, Quad City area.
And they’ve been friends for a long time, you know, ever since the beginning of each of their careers.
And Alan Schulman has been engineering Jimmy Buffett’s stuff. So there’s the connection between the McAnally, Alan Schulman thing. And Mac McAleer, you, know, he’s the one who pointed, pointed us towards, when I said, “Hey, we need a producer,” We looked at first to McAnally, but he was a little busy at the time, and Schulman came on and really took up the project as a producer.
And then he turned the sessions over to McAnally, so it’s all one big team thing.

Touring and Favorite Places to Perform

[6:47] Out of all the places you play, and I was looking on your website, and you guys get around a lot. [6:53] You know, you guys are moving. 
We’re trying, you know, we’re trying to spread out. I spent so much of my early career, I guess what you could say paying your dues, you know, down on the coast and playing all the beach bars and restaurants and, you know, I played my first paying gig was playing for the folks that were waiting for a table at the Oyster House, the Original Oyster House, which is where I bartended before I started playing music.
From that, I started doing weddings and birthdays and graduation parties and whatever, but I could stay pretty busy. I stayed busy seven days a week right there in my hometown by diversifying and playing as many events as I could. My big thing was I never wanted to make it and go big without feeling like I really had my chops and my dues, you know, those dues at least. I feel like I could hold my own, so that’s what I did, and now we’re taking basically all I’ve learned from doing that seven days a week on the road and continuing to learn.

Finding Joy in Unexpected Places

So given the fact that you guys are getting around so much, is there any place in particular the is a favorite place for you to play?
[8:22] Yeah. Man, it’s so weird because we play a lot of cool places and right off the top of my head, it’s not always the obvious ones. I mean, we’re in Atlanta, Georgia tonight, and it’s an awesome place to play up here, but you know one of the most.

[8:48] And the gigs that you do for little money that are sometimes the most fun, and there’s a place in Meridian, Mississippi that we play for very little money. I won’t say how much or how little, but we do it because the people there really come, out and support us a lot.

The Dedicated Fans of Meridian, Mississippi

[9:10] It’s amazing their dedication and how much they ask for us to come back.
And when we show up, they show up and they’re ready to have a good time. And that refuels our jets, you know, and, and our engines. And, and, uh, you know, that’s Meridian, Mississippi at a place called the Shed House. And, uh, it’s pretty fun, pretty fun.

But, you know, any place that I’m playing is better than, you know, going to work for a day. So I make the best of all of them. You know. 

We did an interview recently with Mac McAleer and Lucy Buffett at their place, Lulu’s, and they said Wes is legendary around here.
Well, I guess as any legend, the legend is probably bigger than the man. So, you know, I don’t know what part they’re talking about, but I just do what I do.

[10:05] You know, I’m not I wouldn’t call myself a traditional musician. I don’t fit all the regular musician stereotypes because…

[10:15] I worked for a living, you know, and for a long, long time doing many, many jobs.
And I guess I come from a lower middle class, I wouldn’t say poor because there’s some poor, people in the world that I couldn’t even compare to, but a lower middle class, we worked every day and my parents, I saw my parents work every day. And that’s how they, that’s what made sense to me in the world. And so that’s what I do is I work every day, you know, I don’t party, drink, you know, like people think musicians may do all the time. I can party and drink with the best of them when the time comes, but I never want to be that guy who’s on stage in front of a bunch of people and the drunkest guy in the room and not taking life seriously. Because I do take what I do do seriously because, I mean, you know, it’s my bread and butter. So if I don’t do what I do well, I don’t eat.
And I really like to eat. [11:19] Yeah, that’s just me.

Spreading Smiles Through Music

What is it that you hope people get out of your music?
Uh, man, just a good time, you know, really, first and foremost, I, I wanted to smile, and that smile can come from a deep realization of the truth or something that’s just funny.
From a young age, I remember wanting to make people smile. I probably aspired to be a DJ, I think, at one time, but I could have seen myself being a clown too in the circus, or even a birthday party clown, just to make people smile. I carry that over to my music, I try to make people have a good time.

Unexpected Comparisons and Musical Influences

[12:10] What musician, if any, do you find yourself getting compared to a lot?

[12:16] Depends on which clothes I’m wearing sometimes. The one that was surprising to me, I guess, was Jim Croce. I had a song on my first album that people listened to, and they said it sounds a lot like Jim Croce, which is kind of weird. I listened to Jim Croce, but I never did – he’s one of those guys that I never covered any of his material directly. I played with a duo with a guy who did some Jim Croce, and I sang the harmonies on it and played the songs, but never sang Jim Croce’s part.
It’s weird, when I wrote that song, it’s called “Meant to Be Together” on my first album, I, was trying not to sound like James Taylor, because that’s a big influence.

[13:04] I thought that was a James Taylor-ish song. I guess by not sounding like James Taylor, I ended up sounding like Jim Croce, so I don’t know.

Wes Loper’s Thrilling Hobbies and Adventures

[13:15] When you’re not on the road performing or writing songs, when you’re not doing music-related stuff, what kind of stuff do you enjoy doing?
Well, I’m an adrenaline junkie, even though I can’t pronounce it right now.

[13:28] I like going fast and that doesn’t always, it’s a relative speed I guess because I love to sail and it’s something when you’re out there harnessing the wind and squeezing every little ounce of speed you can get out of the wind that you have to work with.
That’s what I like to do. I’ve just taken up kiteboarding or kite surfing and still in the initial banging my knees, falling down stages of learning that. I also fly. I don’t know, I’ve always wanted to fly, I’ve always wanted to be a naval aviator. [14:10] But I didn’t take that course of study, I didn’t follow it as well, but I really enjoy, the fact that I’ve been thankful that I’ve gotten the opportunity to get my pilot’s license and fly, and pretty much between those three things, if I can get any of those in, in a week I’m a happy guy. I’m back to center.

Wes Loper’s Message: Let People Live and Pursue Dreams

Given that this program goes out all over the world, given the powers of technology my last question for you: what would you Wes Loper like to say to the world?
Everybody just chill, I mean come on there’s this is a big world and oh man if we could all just chill and let other people be whatever they want to be. [14:59] And it seems like if people would let other people be what they want to be, they would have time to be who they are and there’s plenty and give each other each other’s space and that’s it. Stop fighting.

[15:14] Stop killing people. Let people live. Live good. If anything, I would say to the kids, find out what you’d like to do and without bastardizing it, learn how to make money at it. If you can make money doing what you love, you’ll never work again.
Well, Mr. Loper, I appreciate you taking the time to speak with us.
Thanks, Paul. I appreciate you having me.

Where to Find More about Wes Loper

[15:41] And before we go, tell all the listeners how they can find out more about you.
I guess the most informative place would be wesloper.com
And that’s W-E-S-L-O-P-E-R dot com. But of course, we’re also on MySpace/wesloperbandrocks

[16:01] And of course, each of the band members have their own page.
And that’s, you know, you start at Wes Loper and then from there, we’re each other’s friends, first and foremost so you can find out more about the bandmates and then CDBaby is where our album is sold online most of all so please buy an, album and check it out.

All right well thank you so much again.
Thanks Paul.