Nashville songwriter Ross Copperman is a guest on The Ty Bentley Show on Apple Music Country. On the show, he discusses his new EP, his 30 #1 hits and a Tim McGraw and Faith Hill track that is particularly meaningful to him. They also discuss writing with Ed Sheeran and his decision to pursue his own artistry again. Listen to the full interview with Ross Copperman here.
Ross Copperman on writing 30 number one country songs:
“I know this probably sounds super silly, but I always had the goal in my mind to write 30 number one country songs. I thought that’s my goal. If I reached 30 number one country songs, I can do something else. I’m not stopping that in any way, by the way, but I think I hit that goal, and I realized, “Okay, I’m ready for the next chapter.”
Ross Copperman on the influence behind his new music:
“Somebody else asked me this other day, he said, “Ross, why didn’t you make a country record?” And I answered, “I’m just not a country artist. To be a country artist you have to be authentically country.” And though I did come from a small town in Virginia and I did live all those things that I wrote about, but I’m not authentically country to be able to stand on a stage and sing country songs. And so, I grew up listening to these bands like, Third Eye Blind, Radiohead, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, and that’s the influence that I brought to Nashville when I moved here 15 years ago.”
“Somebody else asked me this other day, he said, “Ross, why didn’t you make a country record?” And I answered, “I’m just not a country artist. To be a country artist you have to be authentically country.” And though I did come from a small town in Virginia and I did live all those things that I wrote about, but I’m not authentically country to be able to stand on a stage and sing country songs. And so, I grew up listening to these bands like, Third Eye Blind, Radiohead, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, and that’s the influence that I brought to Nashville when I moved here 15 years ago.”
Ross Copperman on trying his hand at being an artist again:
“…it’s taken me 10 years to refind my voice. For me, I had lost that, and so, I do pull from that. And I have now refound songs, like Somewhere There’s A Light On, Electricity, songs that I feel are me, and it feels so good. And it started with the writing with Ed Sheeran and Johnny McDaid. Writing Electricity with those guys was like the first time I wrote a song where I was like, “Oh my god, this is everything to me. This is my song.” As long as Ed didn’t want it, I was like… And I had to ask him. I emailed him and I was like, “Ed, would you be okay if I put this song out?” It was the scariest email of my life. And he wrote me right back and was like, “Dude, I’m so excited for you to be doing the artist thing again.” And so, having his blessing was a huge jumping off point for me.”
“…it’s taken me 10 years to refind my voice. For me, I had lost that, and so, I do pull from that. And I have now refound songs, like Somewhere There’s A Light On, Electricity, songs that I feel are me, and it feels so good. And it started with the writing with Ed Sheeran and Johnny McDaid. Writing Electricity with those guys was like the first time I wrote a song where I was like, “Oh my god, this is everything to me. This is my song.” As long as Ed didn’t want it, I was like… And I had to ask him. I emailed him and I was like, “Ed, would you be okay if I put this song out?” It was the scariest email of my life. And he wrote me right back and was like, “Dude, I’m so excited for you to be doing the artist thing again.” And so, having his blessing was a huge jumping off point for me.”
Ross Copperman on his songwriting process and his song “Somewhere There’s A Light On“:
“It starts with the sound in my head. I throw headphones on and I just vibe out, I turn it up way too loud, and I just sing into my microphone, or I play something on guitar or piano and I create a vibe. When somebody like Shane McAnally, or Ashley Gorley, or Josh Osborne, or John Knight, can pull out a lyric out of that, and we can craft it to fit the melody that I’m emoting, that’s when my favorite songs happen. Like Josh Osborne [inaudible 00:03:32], Somewhere There’s A Light On, and I was like, “That title is everything to me.” Giving people hope that no matter how dark your days are, there’s always a light. And this has always been, I feel like my purpose as an artist is to shine a light on the fact that there is hope, that no matter how dark your days are, there is hope. And that somewhere in the world, there’s a little light on, no matter how hard it is right now, somebody else is also going through that. I kind of use that for myself a lot, that mentality to get through. This year has been hard, and we’ve all been in this together, and that song has helped me.”
“It starts with the sound in my head. I throw headphones on and I just vibe out, I turn it up way too loud, and I just sing into my microphone, or I play something on guitar or piano and I create a vibe. When somebody like Shane McAnally, or Ashley Gorley, or Josh Osborne, or John Knight, can pull out a lyric out of that, and we can craft it to fit the melody that I’m emoting, that’s when my favorite songs happen. Like Josh Osborne [inaudible 00:03:32], Somewhere There’s A Light On, and I was like, “That title is everything to me.” Giving people hope that no matter how dark your days are, there’s always a light. And this has always been, I feel like my purpose as an artist is to shine a light on the fact that there is hope, that no matter how dark your days are, there is hope. And that somewhere in the world, there’s a little light on, no matter how hard it is right now, somebody else is also going through that. I kind of use that for myself a lot, that mentality to get through. This year has been hard, and we’ve all been in this together, and that song has helped me.”
Ross Copperman on the song that influenced him the most:
“I remember being at Key West for the BMI Songwriters Festival. BMI sent me down there when I didn’t know anybody else. It was my first three months in Nashville, I played some songs for Bradley Collins. He sent me to the Key West Songwriters Festival. I flew down there, I didn’t know anybody. I went to a show and I got to see David Lee play I Need You, the song recorded by Tim McGraw and Faith Hill.
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