Interview: ROSS COPPERMAN, CMA Songwriters Series, London

You might not know his name, but you'll know his songs - Dierks Bentley's Woman, Amen; Brett Eldredge's Wanna Be That Song; Keith Urban's John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16, Luke Bryan's Strip It Down, Florida Georgia Line's Confession - the list of Ross Copperman's hit songs go on and on! I caught up with the multi-talented songwriter at the CMA Songwriters Series in London (read about that here!) to discuss the secrets to writing number one songs, writing songs with a message, and how important his wife has been to his success - enjoy!

Ciara’s Country (CC): Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me today! If I’m correct, you actually started your career here in the UK – how did that happen?

Ross Copperman (RC): I got a record deal with a label called Photogenic, they worked with Natasha Bedingfield, and they signed me around the same time. They moved me to West Kensington when I was twenty-three years old, I made my record with Guy Chambers, and lived here for two years, touring around. I saw a lot of the UK and learned a lot from music here, and then it came time to go back to the US. I’ve always felt that country songs were the way I wrote songs and approached music, so I moved to Nashville.

CC: Around that time, you started writing for other people as well. I was astounded by the number of hit songs you’ve written, it’s actually ridiculous! What’s the secret to writing a hit song, because you’ve clearly got it down!

RC: I’m a student of the game. I’ve always studied it. I literally made charts and graphs to figure out what makes a good song, why one song is a hit and another might be, and there’s a lot of different variables but I think if you can figure out a few of those variables, you’re already halfway there.

CC: Have those ingredients changed over time?

RC: Definitely. It’s changing now even more so, but then again, it gets recycled a lot. Especially now, country radio is very recycled. I feel the songs that are hits right now haven’t evolved at the speed that the genre was. It’s almost like backstepping to be honest.

CC: Yeah, a lot of country songs seem to have the same backing track almost.

RC: Exactly. My life goal is always to be ahead of it and push the boundaries. Where it is right now, I feel is where it was four years ago.

CC: Do you have a favourite song that you’ve written?

RC: It changes, but I think Get Along is my favourite song because the message is really cool. To have a song become a hit that has a positive message is my favourite thing.

CC: How does it feel to have people like Kenny Chesney, Keith Urban, Brett Eldredge singing the songs you’ve written?

RC: You know, I’m so in it, head down that I never actually look up to see the big picture and realise how cool it is. I think one day I will sit back and realise, I’m just so in it right now. I’ve worked with Kenny on some new songs for his record, we actually wrote one with Ed Sheeran, it’s so good!

CC: Cool!

RC: I’ve been writing with Keith and Brett, it just never stops. I think I realise it when I see like Kenny play a stadium and sing Settin’ The World On Fire and people are there singing the words, and I think ‘that’s had an impact on their lives, they know this song, that’s crazy’

CC: Will you see any of the C2C performers?

RC: I’ll try and see Keith. We go to Paris during the day so hopefully we’ll be back in time.

CC: Wow! It sounds like there’s a lot more to come from you.

RC: Yeah, I really want to express my creativity in new ways, I’m conceptualising ways to do that, whether it’s making my own record with my favourite songs that haven’t been recorded or working with new artists to shape their careers.

CC: Any ones to watch?

RC: I just produced with this band called King Calloway. One of the boys is from Scotland, one’s from Gibraltar, and there are four others who are American. It’s the first time in country music that there’s been a band of six guys like this who play and sing. Their single comes out next month. I wrote this song with Josh Osborne called World For Two for them, so look out for that.

CC: I’ll keep my eyes open for them.

RC: They’re going to be huge.

CC: Maybe we’ll see them play C2C in a couple of years.

RC: Oh, they will. And when they do, remember you heard it here first.

CC: Of course! My final question for you is whether there’s a question you’ve never been asked in an interview but would love to be?

RC: Man… I’m never asked about my wife.

CC: Is she an inspiration for you?

RC: She is. I really only became successful when I met her.

CC: What clicked?

RC: It really is a team thing. I wasn’t as good as I am, not just creatively but as a person, without her. She makes me better in every way.

CC: That’s definitely something I didn’t see when I was reading online about you!

RC: Exactly! She doesn’t get the credit. She should get all the credit.

CC: What’s one song you’re particularly proud of that she helped with?

RC: I don’t know if you’ve heard of a song called Point At You, it was my first number one, recorded by Justin Moore. It’s such a creative song, when somebody asks you what’s your best side, the chorus is ‘I’ve got a rough side, a wild side / At least a country mile wide / A fightin’ side after a few / If they wanna see my sweet side / My soft side, my best side / I just point at you’

CC: I like that a lot. Well, I hope to hear more great songwriting thanks to your wife and you too!

RC: Thanks so much! 

I hope you enjoyed today's interview! Drop me a comment below if you're new to Ross' songwriting, and make sure to follow me on Twitter @CiarasCountry for more interviews and reviews coming soon - thanks for reading!