Brent Hopper has been playing music since age 4 starting out on piano. He has played more than 2,000 shows in his time in more than 30 states. Brent left home right after his 16th birthday to travel all across the US from Boston to California and everywhere between seeking out his musical career and playing in coffeehouses and small venues. At the age of 17 he began to fill for some shows with South Florida's Grateful Dead cover band Crazy Fingers and within that year formed a reggae band Cosmic Revolution which fused roots reggae original tunes with improv. jams bridging different forms and styles of music together. Cosmic Revolution played around the state of Florida until 2001. Brent became a member of "The Grass Is Dead" in 2000 playing mandolin, guitar and vocals. The Grass is Dead is a bluegrass band based out of South Florida that covers Grateful Dead songs and many other genres of music in a bluegrass/acoustic-style. In 2002 Brent started a group with Billy Gilmore (The Grass Is Dead, Aquaphonics, Crazy Fingers, Stonehouse) on Banjo, Mandolin, Dobro, Fiddle, Guitar, Vocals & Josh Foster (The Grass Is Dead, Cosmic Revolution, Crazy Fingers) playing organ, keyboards, vocals. This project was called the Almost Acoustic Band which was the 1st national touring act Brent played with. Still doing shows with the Grass is Dead, Brent played about 300 shows nationally with AAB blending bluegrass, reggae, jazz and other roots music together.
In 2004 the Almost Acoustic Band did their last show in April and Brent released his first solo album "Home to Africa" that summer. Home to Africa is a collection of roots reggae originals with flavors of bluegrass and jazz mixed in. He moved to Asheville, NC in the Spring of 2005 where his life took a new turn. Brent began playing shows with his wife Brittany Reilly in the fall of 2005 and since then has toured around the country with her playing Country, Bluegrass, Honky-Tonk & Rockabilly music. They have done just under 500 shows in 23 states together in the past 4 1/2 years and have released 2 albums together "Back to My Roots" in 2006 and "Good Old Country Sound" in 2008. Billy Gilmore also plays with Brittany full-time as well as doing other shows with Brent as a duo and with his acoustic band. Brent & Billy have made music together for 12 years so far in several groups and line-ups and continue to explore their musical interests together. Brittany has another release coming out this spring and will follow it up with several national tours in 2010.
Discoography:
The Grass is Dead - Built to Grass - 2002
Almost Acoustic Band - Live Tracks Vol.I - 2003
The Grass is Dead - 20 Degrees of Solitude - 2004
Brent Hopper - Home to Africa - 2004
Brent Hopper & Brittany Reilly - Back to My Roots - 2006
Brittany Reilly - Good Old Country Sound - 2008
