Proving that they are not your average country band, Old Dominion lends old-fashioned country charm, lyrical wit, and rock ‘n’ roll grit into radio-friendly, hook-heavy pop nuggets. Old Dominion has emerged as one of the hottest breaking bands in country music, fusing clever lyrics and an infectious sound. The band released their first full-length album Meat and Candy, which Entertainment Weekly called a “deceptively smart, occasionally cheeky, stellar debut.”
While on the road again for Kenny Chesney’s “Spread the Love Tour,” Old Dominion has seen their platinum two-week No.1,“Break Up with Him,” and RIAA-certified gold hit “Snapback” reach the top of the charts. Their third single “Song for Another Time” is out now. The ACM and ACCA Breakthrough Duo/Group of the Year consists of lead singer Matthew Ramsey, lead guitarist Brad Tursi, multi-instrumentalist Trevor Rosen, bassist Geoff Sprung, and drummer Whit Sellers. The band has spent eight years honing their craft, each making a name for themselves in Nashville by penning songs for the likes of Keith Urban, Luke Bryan, Kenny Chesney, and more. Now is nothing less than the country rock outfit’s defining moment.
In anticipation of their headlining performance at the Big Sky Country State Fair on Friday, July 22nd at 7pm, the Rolling Zone was able to get frontman Matthew Ramsey on the phone to talk national touring and exposure, working with Nashville’s elite, and making music for all parties concerned.
RZ: Hey Matthew. How are you doing? MR: I’m good! How are you? RZ: Good. Very well. Thanks for taking the time to talk with me today. MR: Sure thing.
RZ: How’s the tour going so far? I believe you’re in Ohio at the moment. MR: Yeah. It’s great, man. A lot of dates, but it’s going really well. Night after night, we’re surprised by these crowds that know our music and show up to see us play. It’s great.
RZ: Awesome. Looking over the tour schedule, you’ve got a number of lone dates and then of course those with Kenny Chesney on his “Spread the Love Tour.” How do you compare playing your own shows to opening up for someone like Chesney? MR: It’s just very different. It’s kind of nice to have both. In one world, we’re playing for an unfamiliar audience—I always enjoy the chance to surprise people who don’t know who we are. We can go out there and win some new fans, and that’s what we’re getting with the Kenny crowd. There’s definitely a fair amount of people who are showing up early to watch us play—which feels really good, but there’s a lot of people showing up to just check us out because they’ve heard our name but don’t really know who we are. It’s fun to play for them. RZ: I can imagine. How about playing your own shows? MR: Switching gears to go to the smaller shows, [with] our crowd who paid money to come see us, means they probably know all of our music. Those can get rowdy. It’s fun and feels like you’re with your crew. Both [lone and opening shows are] really fun to have.
RZ: Very cool. And this’ll be your second time opening for Chesney. MR: We did it last year for, I think it was like 16 or 18 stadium shows with him. This year, we’re on the full tour so we get to do the smaller shows. I say smaller—they’re still huge, they’re just not NFL football stadiums.
RZ: Well, you must’ve made an impression then. MR: We must have, we must have. I’m glad we did. Every night on that tour is a blast. His crew, his band, he himself—they treat us like gold. We have a good little comradery going on.
RZ: Old Dominion has steadily made a name for itself in the country music community since its debut. You’ve been nominated for and won several awards, and appeared on national morning and late night programming like Today and Jimmy Kimmel Live! How has the band reacted to its new reality? MR: In a lot of ways, we just kind of hang on. It happens so fast and you’re so busy. We always say we can’t imagine being a solo artist, going through all of this. We have each other. We’re friends, and we’ve been friends a long time before we were ever a band. We’re out here with our buddies, and we get to do this together. We keep our egos in check and things like that. We definitely have people to bounce these decisions off of. To be a solo artist out here doing this, I don’t know how people do it. So we’re very lucky to have each other to go through this with.
RZ: That you are. You’ve recently released your third single, “Song for Another Time,” off of your debut album Meat and Candy. Why did you write and record this song and how does it fit into this first collection of Old Dominion music? MR: That song almost didn’t make the album because we thought we were done recording. We had pretty much said, “Ok, we’re done. We’ve got our album, it’s ready to go.” We got back out on the road, and our buddy Matt Jenkins was with us—he’s a writer on a lot of the songs on the album. He was out with us writing, and we wrote “Song for Another Time.” It was pretty clear it was a special song the more we listened to it. We played it at a sound check one day and we just all kind of looked at each other and said, “Man, we’re making a mistake if we don’t put this on the album,” because it’s such a big song. It definitely filled a spot that we didn’t have on the album and we needed it. We actually had to fly home, book a special day in the studio, get everybody together, record it, and then fly back out on the road. I’m very proud of that song, and it’s definitely one of my favorite moments in the set.
RZ: Speaking of recording… When you were putting together this album, what was it like working with producer Shane McAnally? MR: Shane’s great. He’s one of these guys [who’s] our friend. We’ve known him since before any of us, including him, had success. We were writing songs and hanging out with Shane when we were all just broke as can be, trying to break through. He’s obviously an amazing talent. [He] has this amazing ear for what’s new and fresh, a new twist on things. He was the first in our little class to break through in Nashville. To see your buddy’s success like that, we’re very proud of him. It only made sense to include him, and ask him to be a part of this album. He’s been there from the beginning. He knew us as a band, as people, and as songwriters. It made perfect sense to have him be a part of it.
RZ: Do you think you’ll continue to work with him on future projects? MR: Oh definitely. We’re writing with him all the time and already talking about what we can do for the next album. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
RZ: Exactly. A number of publications called Old Dominion a “Band to Watch” in 2015. What uniqueness do you bring to this industry? MR: I think it’s pretty unique to have a band of songwriters. We definitely have had success individually as songwriters. To put that in one band is pretty uncommon, I think. We have that going for us. And we are a true band. We’re not just studio musicians, we’re actually a band with our own set of strengths and limitations that kind of lend to our sound. Whatever chemistry we have together, creates a different sound. It’s not a sound we chase. It just happens to be who we are. I think that’s something unique, too.
RZ: Can you pinpoint one outstanding memory from your own career as a musician? MR: We were talking about this the other day. For me personally, the first concert I ever went to was Huey Lewis and the News. The Easter Bunny left me tickets in my basket. When we went to that show, I was hooked, and said, “This is what I want to do with my life.” It completely got me. We were listening to some old, live Huey Lewis stuff the other day and I just remembered that feeling. That was definitely a turning point for me, as a kid, to make that decision and chase after this.
RZ: Perfect. What might we be surprised to hear you listen to or are inspired by when writing or creating music? MR: We listen to everything, but I don’t know if that’s that surprising. I feel like you can hear that in our music. I think some people might actually be surprised to know we do listen to classic country. I love 90s country and classic country. I’m a huge Don Williams fan, I’m a huge Elvis Presley fan. I think people might be surprised we actually do listen to that stuff.
RZ: You certainly draw inspiration from multiple genres. MR: Yes. [laughs]
RZ: Where do you go from here? What do you and the guys hope will come in the future? MR: It’s pretty hard to be on tour with Kenny Chesney and not stand there and look at a stadium full of people and go, “Man, we could do this. Let’s do this.” When you see those crowds he draws in, and the kind of atmosphere that he creates—that one night of escapism for an entire city. That’s where we want to be. We make no bones about it, we’re shooting for the biggest we can make this thing. We’re trying to write music that everybody wants to hear. We know not everybody is going to, but as many people as possible. We want to get it out there and fill the biggest rooms we can. Music has changed our lives, we just want to get out there and see what we can do with it.
RZ: Well we’re looking forward to seeing you here in Bozeman for your very own show in the coming weeks. MR: We are too! I love Montana. Every time I’m in Montana, I never wanna leave. Come check out Old Dominion at the Big Sky Country State Fair on Friday, July 22nd at 7pm.
This concert is FREE with fair admission. Visit 406statefair.com/ to buy tickets and for additional information on this year’s festivities. •
