Zoo Music: Jesse Roper

Bring the family to Zoo Music during the summer to enjoy performances by national touring entertainment. Plan to spend an evening with wildlife, food, music and fun. Kids will have fun getting their faces painted. Adults with an ID can order a drink from the variety of bars at the Zoo. Dusk is one of the more active times for animals and a great time to learn about the Zoo’s conservation initiatives. Checkout the variety of animal habitats open during Zoo Music!

Jesse Roper is a blues/Americana artist with a penchant for writing modern indie infused blues music and delivering bombastic live performances buoyed by his virtuosic guitar playing. His innate and impressive musical talent has served him well, giving him the flexibility to play with soul icon Booker T. Jones, rock veteran Colin James, blues belter Beth Hart, and Canadian legend Burton Cummings. The stage is where Roper shines. It has been his home since overcoming crippling stage fright during his early twenties. Fear is a part of Roper’s past that barely seems real today - especially when you see the in-concert image of a six-string soldier, hair matted to his face, tearing up the stage, without a hint of second guessing.

Roper’s last album ‘Horizons’ marked a sonic high point in his career thus far. Working closely with famed JUNO-nominated producer Gus van Go (Metric, The Stills, The Beaches, Arkells, Sam Roberts) on that new collection of songs pushed Roper into creating some of his best work.

His newest single "Make It All Work Out" is the first of multiple energetic, fresh, soulful and R&B inspired tracks from a forthcoming LP that harkens the voices of JJ Cale, Leon Bridges, Alabama Shakes - while maintaining Roper's strong and unique expression in the genre.

Adventuresome doesn’t properly describe Roper as an artist, because when the guitar-wielding dynamo sets out to accomplish something, there’s no telling where his mind will wander, or when his energy will go.