Texas Country Music Hall of Famer Clay Cooper took to the Wylie Opry stage Saturday, Aug. 2, along with his sons, Colt, left, and Caden. A Wylie native,  Cooper started his career at age 13. He now owns a venue in Branson, Missouri, where he performs multiple times a week alongside his sons and wife, Tina. Sonia Duggan/The Princeton Herald

It was a packed house Saturday night at the Wylie Opry as patrons gathered to watch a hometown star return to the stage where his career began — and bring his two sons along for the ride.

Clay Cooper, a Texas Country Music Hall of Famer and longtime Branson entertainer, performed alongside his sons, Colt and Caden, in an impromptu six-song set backed by the Opry’s Texas Legend Band.

“They came to visit me during a show about six or eight months ago and they just fell in love with the place,” said LeGrant Gable, owner of the Wylie Opry and a longtime friend and mentor to Cooper. 

Last weekend, Cooper called Gable and said, “Hey, the boys want to sing where their daddy started out,” to which Gable replied, “Get on down here.”

Now one of the most well-known variety show performers in Branson, Cooper headlines a family-style production nearly 20 times a week. Colt and Caden, now 21 and 16, perform regularly with their father at the Clay Cooper Theatre, alongside their mother, Tina, who sings and dances in the show.

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By Sonia Duggan | [email protected]