Peter Cooper’s Mission Door is an engaging first-time collection from a songwriter who has spent the better part of his adult life writing about his musical heroes as a journalist (The Tennessean, No Depression, Esquire) and is now creating music revealing the lessons he learned from the masters. John Prine, Kris Kristofferson, Tom T. Hall, Todd Snider: these are the voices that have contoured Cooper’s inner landscape. He writes of barrooms and ballfields, grifts and dead ends, in a voice both sympathetic and honest. Recorded in Nashville at the fabled House of David studio, Cooper enlisted the legendary pedal steel guitarist Lloyd Green to co-produce and play a prominent role in the sound. The effect is a trio of voice, song and steel. Other guests include Todd Snider, Jason Ringenberg, Bill Lloyd, Jen Gunderman, Dave Roe, Pat McInerney, Paul Griffith, Nanci Griffith and label-mate Fayssoux McLean.