Ross Copperman

Ross Copperman first built his profile in England as a major-label rock performer during the late 2000s, yet he would later emerge in the mid-2010s as one of Nashville’s most sought-after songwriters and producers. His 2007 release Welcome to Reality spent time on the U.K. pop charts before he returned to the United States and launched a highly successful second chapter that included country radio smashes such as Luke Bryan’s “Strip It Down,” Keith Urban’s “John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16,” and Brett Eldredge’s “Wanna Be That Song.” He has also maintained an active recording career of his own, issuing a series of singles in 2019 and EPs in both 2021 and 2022.

Born in Roanoke, Virginia, Copperman studied piano during childhood and later enrolled in a songwriting course at James Madison University. In the midst of the early-2000s singer/songwriter wave, he issued his self-released debut Believe in 2004. The collection blended catchy indie-pop hooks with melodic rock textures and earned him a Sony contract in the U.K. After relocating to London, he delivered the more refined yet still engaging Welcome to Reality in 2007, which performed strongly on the British charts. Despite that success he chose to return stateside and test his skills in Nashville, where he gradually stepped away from touring and concentrated on country songwriting and production. Already holding an EMI publishing agreement overseas, he linked with the company’s Nashville division and began securing cuts and co-writes.

His first charted co-write arrived with Thompson Square’s “Glass,” which peaked at number 15 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs tally in 2012; later that year he added another hit via Dierks Bentley’s “Tip It on Back.” Additional placements followed for Kenny Chesney, Trisha Yearwood, and Florida Georgia Line as his profile rose. In 2012 he also put out a pair of independent albums under his own name. Subsequent years cemented his reputation with number-one singles for Billy Currington (“Don’t It”) and A Thousand Horses (“Smoke”), plus three tracks on Brett Eldredge’s 2015 album Illinois, which Copperman co-wrote and produced. In 2016 he received Songwriter of the Year honors from both the Academy of Country Music and BMI, while further hits arrived via Jake Owen’s “American Country Love Song” and another Keith Urban single, “John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16.” Production credits during this period included projects for Darius Rucker, Brett Eldredge, and CCM artist Chris Tomlin, the last of which earned him a 2017 GMA Dove Award. The following year he co-wrote nearly half of Dierks Bentley’s The Mountain and contributed a single for Kenny Chesney and Eli Young Band. Copperman resumed his solo output in 2019 with the folk-pop tracks “All We Have Is Now,” “We Should Plant a Tree,” and “Stars Are on Your Side.” In 2021 he released the EP Somewhere There’s a Light On; the seasonal cuts “Christmas Day” and “New Year” appeared on the 2022 Holiday EP.