Alumni News Nashville connection JMU alumni are taking the country music industry by storm BY K A I T Y K I R W I N (’ 1 6)
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he road from Harrisonburg to Nashville is full of twists and turns, but some JMU alums have found their way to Music City and are staking their claim in country music. Ross Copperman (’04), the Academy of Country Music’s 2016 Songwriter of the Year, and three of the members of the band Old Dominion, winner of ACM’s New Duo/Group of the Year, began their careers as Dukes. “The music department drew me to JMU,” Copperman said. “I knew I wanted to do something in music, and JMU had the best program around. Then I came up with my parents and did a tour of the school and absolutely fell in love with the campus. I knew it was meant to be.” While at JMU, Copperman was focused on a career as a performer. “It’s where everything started for me,” he said. The talented music major was playing shows at Taylor Down Under and building a following when he got the opportunity to open for country music star Phil Vassar (’85), who was returning to his alma mater for a performance in October 2003 on the heels of an ACM award for Male Vocalist of the Year and a string of No. 1 hits. After the show, Vassar’s keyboard player, Clay Ryder, invited Copperman to come to Nashville to record an album. “I took him up on the offer and made my first record, ‘Believe,’ in the basement studio at EMI,” Copperman said.
(Above): Mike Meadows (’00) (far right, on the mandolin) is a member of Taylor Swift’s band, The Agency. The singer-songwriter released a five-song EP, “When You Need Someone, Volume One,” in 2015. (Right): Meadows performing in Harrisonburg in 2001 with Devin Malone (’01), another Nashville based musician alum, and future Old Dominion band members Geoff Sprung (’01), Brad Tursi (’02) and Whit Sellers (’00).
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Ross Copperman (’04) with Dierks Bentley (right) at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee.
Copperman joined the National Association for Campus Activities touring circuit, playing colleges all over the country. That led to a record deal with Sony UK. “After two years [living and recording] in London, I decided to make the move to Nashville.” Today Copperman is one of the most sought-after songwriters in country music, having written hits for such artists as Kenny Chesney, Keith Urban and Luke Bryan. Like Copperman, Old Dominion bassist Geoff Sprung (’01) chose JMU on the strength of its music program. “The largest part of preparing me for my career was putting me in an environment where I was surrounded by talented people,” Sprung said. “I learned a lot about music and the music business from my professors, but just as much from the people sitting next to me in the classes.”
(Above): Old Dominion band members (L to R) Trevor Rosen, Geoff Sprung (’01), Matthew Ramsey, Brad Tursi (’02) and Whit Sellers (’00) are touring the country in support of their debut album, “Meat and Candy.”
CO P P E R M A N P H OTO G R A P H BY R I C K D I A M O N D; M E A D OW S W I T H TAY LO R S W I F T A N D M E A D OW S W I T H D E V I N M A LO N E CO U R T E S Y O F S M A L LTOW N M I K E ; O L D D O M I N I O N B A N D B Y D AV I D M C C L I S T E R / E S S E N T I A L B R O A D C A S T M E D I A