Biloxi Teen Musician Builds Following Through Local Performances

BILOXI, Miss. A 16 year old Biloxi musician is turning local performances into a growing audience as singer songwriter Cooper Cross continues making a name for himself along the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Cross, a junior at Biloxi High School, performs guitar and also plays trumpet and guitar in the school’s marching, concert and jazz bands. He wrote his first original song, “The Good Ol Days,” when he was 13 and has since continued developing his own music while performing throughout the Coast.

Rather than waiting for a major break, Cross has been building his audience the old fashioned way, getting in front of people at restaurants, music venues and other local businesses while sharing his performances through social media. One of his recent appearances came at Ground Zero Blues Club in Biloxi, where he performed on September 23. Earlier in September, Cross was also part of the live music lineup at Margaritaville Resort Biloxi.

Those smaller Coast performances are also opening doors to bigger opportunities. Cross is a member of the Mississippi Songwriters Alliance, and Ground Zero says his involvement has taken him from Biloxi all the way to Nashville’s famed Bluebird Cafe. The Ear Candy Coalition, which works with developing artists, has also described Cross as a teenage singer songwriter from Biloxi and says it has recorded music with him.

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Earlier this month, Cross performed during the Scott Stradtner Memorial Youth Showcase at the Mississippi Songwriters Festival in Ocean Springs. He said events like the showcase allow young musicians to meet other songwriters, test unfinished songs in front of an audience and begin getting their names in front of more people.

For Cross, that combination of live performances and online exposure appears to be helping turn a teenage passion into something much larger. He is still balancing high school with music, but he is already building a résumé that includes Coast venues, songwriting events and opportunities outside Mississippi.

And while social media can introduce thousands of people to an artist in seconds, Cross is also doing something increasingly uncommon for young musicians by building his following face to face, one local performance at a time.