On this day (October 1) in 1982, songwriter Ross Copperman was born in Roanoke, Virginia. At just 44 years old, he is a vital force shaping country music today. His 43 number-one hits include Luke Bryan’s “Strippin’ It Down”, Keith Urban’s “John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16”, and Kenny Chesney’s “Get Along”.
A three-time BMI Awards Songwriter of the Year with multiple CMA and ACM Awards to his name — including the CMA Triple Play Award for writing six number-one sings in a 12-month period — Copperman also co-produced Kelsea Ballerini’s 2020 album Kelsea. Today, we’re taking a trip through his career.
Ross Copperman Was a Musician First
Growing up in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains, Ross Copperman followed in the footsteps of his classical pianist grandmother when he began playing the piano himself at age four.
Meanwhile, he also absorbed the Beatles and Rolling Stones records that his parents consistently played on repeat in the family home. However, it was Keith Urban’s 2002 album Golden Road that first sparked Copperman’s interest in country music.
“[It] really inspired me to think – ‘wow’,” he told Holler Country in 2020.
After earning a degree in classical piano from James Madison University, Copperman moved to London and self-released his debut album, Believe, in the early 2000s.
Netting a contract with Phonogenic Records, he dropped his major-label debut, Welcome to Reality, in 2007. The second single, “All She Wrote”, made it to the UK top 40 and appeared in an episode of ER.
The Move to Nashville — And Songwriting
Despite his success in England, Ross Copperman decided to return to the U.S. in 2008, settling in Nashville.
Although he continued to release his own music, Copperman channeled most of his energy into songwriting and country music production.
“Even when I was making pop records, I thought my songwriting was in a Nashville style – that’s how I’ve always liked to write,” he said. “I was writing country songs, but not realizing it. Nashville was the right place to go to tell stories.”
Copperman scored his first number-one hit when Justin Moore took his song “Point At You” to the top of the country charts in 2013. He earned a Grammy nod for Best Country Song with Blake Shelton’s “I Lived It”, off The Voice star’s 2017 album Texoma Shore.
And he also produced Gabby Barrett’s seven-time Platinum single “I Hope”, which spent 62 weeks on the U.S. pop chart beginning in 2020.
His Songwriting Process
While songwriting is undoubtedly an art, Ross Copperman approaches each blank page with a more scientific mindset.
“[You] learn a formula, you learn what works, how to communicate emotions and things that people associate with,” he said. “I start with the vibe or the essence of the song, I’ll have a melody and be mumbling out words.”
Of his 43 chart-topping hits, Copperman credits Keith Urban’s 2016 hit “John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16” with changing everything for him.
“That was when I realised you can write a song that has a bigger meaning and say some important things – and it doesn’t have to be just about trucks, beer and the weekend,” he said.
[RELATED: 3 Country Songs From 2020 That Influenced the Entire Decade]
Recalling how the song came together, he continued, “We [Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne and Copperman] were writing down the things we loved about American culture, when somebody said, ‘Everything I learned was from John Cougar’. I think Shane said ‘John Deere’ then I was like ‘what about John 3:16?’ We just put those three together to make the longest song title ever! Did I immediately think it would be a hit? No, that did not fall into the realm of the most obvious ones to me.”
Featured image by Jason Davis/Getty Images
The post Born 44 Years Ago Today in Virginia, the Grammy-Nominated Mind Behind Career-Defining Hits by Luke Bryan, Blake Shelton, and Kenny Chesney appeared first on American Songwriter.
Author: Erinn Callahan