About Pat Roper
The first time Pat Roper came into my office,” recalls Lofton Creek Records President Mike Borchetta, “I felt I was in the presence of a star. My fascination continued after I heard his first version of his current single, ‘Somethin’ “Bout That.’ He’s good looking, his voice is fresh and real country and his personality is 
genuine. He has all the ingredients to succeed in today’s country music marketplace.” Adds the enthusiastic Borchetta, “’Somethin’ ‘Bout That’ is a simple, refreshing and fun country song that fills the need for radio’s summer airplay list. All you have to do is listen, and I guarantee Pat Roper will rope you in.” In “Somethin’ ‘Bout That,” Roper sings about a sleepy, riverside village “that didn’t make the map,” a place a lot like his native Hazlehurst, Mississippi. “Naturally, that’s part of why I was attracted to the song,” he explains. “Hazlehurst’s a small town. It did make the map, but just barely. I grew up as a country boy and didn’t have a hope in the world of being anything else.” After years of sharpening his act in Nashville’s most-demanding clubs, Roper has at last emerged as one of the most exciting voices of his generation. “I grew up playing on the riverbank, just like in the song, and riding down dirt roads,” Roper says. “I was a big Kenny Rogers fan when I was six. Then there was George Strait, the Bellamy Brothers, Garth Brooks, Vern Gosdin and Keith Whitley. I still can’t get enough of any of those guys. “ At Mississippi State University, Roper fell under the musical sway of classmate Dave Moore, a locally renowned performer, whom he remembers as “a phenomenal singer, guitarist and mentor.” After graduating, Roper went to work as office manager for a large construction company, a job that took him from Baton Rouge to Carthage, Missouri and finally Roanoke, Virginia. In each city, he became a fixture singing in local clubs. “It was in Roanoke that the bug just bit me,” he says. “I was playing three or four nights a week. Every night, several people would come up and tell me, ‘You need to go to Nashville.’ So that’s what I did.” Roper’s songwriting friend Ben Hayslip pitched him “Somethin’ “Bout That” not long after the two began playing together on a summer league softball team. “I loved it the first time I heard it,” Roper says. (Hayslip is perhaps best known for co-writing the Jeff Bates hit “Long Slow Kisses” and Brooks & Dunn’s meteoric “Put A Girl In It.”) When it came time to record the song, Roper drafted Hayslip and Jeff Jones to co-produce it with him. “It came out even better than we expected,” he beams. “It was just magic. Everything happened exactly like it was supposed to.”