The origins of Old Dominion began in 2007 when a group of seasoned songwriters—Matthew Ramsey, Trevor Rosen, Brad Tursi, Geoff Sprung and Whit Sellers—pooled their talents in Nashville to bring their own music to life, naming the band after Virginia’s historic nickname. The guys had already authored chart-toppers for country’s biggest acts—from Kenny Chesney’s ‘Save It for a Rainy Day' to The Band Perry's biggest hits to Chris Young’s ‘Neon'—before the band’s breakout hit ‘Break Up with Him' in 2015 catapulted Old Dominion into the spotlight. Since then, they’ve amassed multiple No. 1 singles, garnered consecutive ACM and CMA ‘Group of the Year' awards and become known for blending rich lyricism, pop-rock sensibility, and country storytelling into a sound that’s unmistakably their own.
Over a decade into their career, Old Dominion has continued to evolve—infusing heartfelt narratives with melodic hooks that transcend genre boundaries. Their new album ‘Barbara' (our review here) stands as their most refined work yet, delivering standout songs like ‘Goodnight Music City,' a Nashville lullaby rich with imagery and emotion, alongside genre-blending tracks like ‘Crying in a Beach Bar,' ‘One of Us' and ‘Late Great Heartbreak' that weave rock, country, piano, reggae and vintage pop into themes of heartbreak and healing. This album reaffirms why Old Dominion remains one of country music’s most versatile and emotionally resonant acts, showcasing their growth not just as musicians, but as storytellers at the top of their game. We caught up with them recently to talk all about it.
Thanks for your time today guys, we're excited about the new album. To my ears it's your most consistent project you've released since ‘Happy Endings' – you're also in the middle of the tour right now! Hows that going?
Amazing! People have been showing up in big numbers and singing every song! They're bringing signs with requests on too! It's been one big party so far.
Do the requests ever take you by surprise and you look at each other and think ‘Man, we haven't done that one in a while!'
Oh, for sure. Sometimes people will hold up signs that have a multiple choice aspect to them which means we have the right to veto the harder or rustier ones that they might be asking for! (laughing)
Once in a while we get people asking for a song that is not out yet and we're like, ‘Not yet, dude, not yet!' (laughing)
Let's dive into the title and cover of new album, ‘Barbara.' Who is she and what the concept of ‘Barbara'.
When we named the album we had a running list of titles and we were entertaining ourselves at the idea of calling the album after a person's name – we thought it would be funny! We threw out ‘Barbara' and it just kinda stuck.
You've called ‘Barbara' your most personal album to date. Can you tell me why you felt it was time to go deeper and more vulnerable with your writing after a decade since ‘Meat and Candy'?
A lot of it is just where we're at in life right now. Songs like ‘Man or the Song' reflect where we are in our lives and in the industry right now. We probably couldn't have written that song 10-15 years ago. We've got more experience now than we did back then.
Then there's a song like ‘Miss You Man' which is about our friend Andrew Dorff. It's been about 8 years since he died but we feel like he's still with us all the time and we wanted to express that – we thought he was with us in the day we wrote that song.
It wasn't necessarily a choice we made with this album, to be more raw and vulnerable, it just kinda happened naturally in the writing process.
You touched on ‘Man or the Song.' Has it made you see your own lives or careers through a different perspective writing that song?
I don't think it has changed anything but we think it was probably nice to get it out there – it's kinda an underlying feeling that we've all had at one time or another. After a certain point of success and all the ups and downs we've been through, both professionally and personally, it feels really good to have that song out there and to be able to express our feelings and get those thoughts off of our chests a little bit.
Tracks like ‘Water My Flowers' and ‘Me Most Nights' find you leaning into this kind of 80s AOR / synth driven sound, which really suits your style. What drew you to that palette for these album and how do you balance that against the expectations of your fans?
Our influences are pretty wide and what we grew up listening to and what we listen to now always seems to find its way into our music. What we do in the studio is to take each particular song and add a colour palette to it that moves us and inspires us. That 80s sound is always on the table because it was such a huge influence on us – even as far back as ‘Snapback' – that song plays in the same sandbox as some of the new ones, sonically.
One of the things I love about you guys and your music is that you've always taken risks. You've always pushed the envelope with expectations and sonics. One of those to me is ‘Late Great Heartbreak' which I think could have been lifted from a Billy Joel album from the 70s.
(laughing) That's one of those influences that we have. Along with Huey Lewis and the News, Billy Joel was a big influence for us. We grew up in that era so that sound and style is part of the DNA of this band. It's fun to get in there when you feel like you have a song and you start pulling your influences in and see if you can get close to what they created.
My favourite part of the album is that mid-section double whammy of ‘Talk Country' and ‘Late Great Heartbreak' and you couldn't find two different songs sitting next to each other on an album!
(laughing) That is true!!! We are very fortune that we have had a fan base that has allowed us to do that with our style right from the very beginning. We've always pushed from one end of the spectrum to the other on our albums and a lot of that was born from us just trying to bring the song to life in the best way that we can and keep it interesting because we don't ever want to repeat ourselves with lyrics or sonically.
Was there one song on the album that surprised you with where it ended up or one song that really took a long time to get it to where you wanted it to be?
‘Break Your Mamma's Heart' definitely changed a lot over the course of putting this album together. We kinda started with a demo that we weren't crazy about but we liked the core of the song and we knew that there was something there. We stripped it down and actually wrote a whole other section to it in the studio. We worked hard to get that song to where we wanted it to be.
When you were in the studio and writing for the project, how many songs would you say were in contention for the finished version?
You know, we are always writing, we write so much. Before we go into the studio we play songs for each other to work out which ones to take in there with us. There's usually a handful that we feel really sure of upfront and then there are a number that emerges in the studio. Sometimes we try something for a minute but realise it's not working and so then we switch to something else. Other times songs come out of nowhere and surprise us too – it's not an exact science.
Sometimes we even write a song in the studio. That does happen from time to time.
When you are choosing songs for an album like ‘Barbara' what do you do if a couple of you really like the song but then there's some dissenting voices from other members of the band? What if Whit loves a song but the other four of you hate it – or even the other way around?
(laughing) If Whit hates it we know it's right!!!! (laughing) Conversely, if Whit loves it we know it's wrong! (laughing)
It's a balancing act. There's usually a handful of songs that we are all united on and then it becomes a process of long discussions. If someone is really passionate or attached to one particular song they might decide to really fight for it but if you bring it up for a third time and it still gets shot down you've got to accept that that particular song might not make it onto the album this time around.
The album closes with ‘Goodnight Music City' which is one of the most beautiful songs you've ever written. Nashville is a character in its own right within that song. How has your relationship with Nashville changed from 2015 to now?
It's changed drastically. The city, itself, has also changed a lot over that decade too. We spent such a long time, even before 2015, grinding it out in the songwriting community and in the club scene just trying to make a name for ourselves and then a few years slip by and you find you have made quite a name for yourselves!!! (laughing)
Now we even have our own bar that fans can go to which is very different to not being able to afford to go to a bar a few years ago!
When ‘Barbara' is released mid tour – will it change your setlist at all because, obviously, there are going to be songs from the album that you will want to play.
Yeah! We can't wait to start playing ‘Goodnight Music City.' We're ready to play the new songs and have pretty much learned how to play every song on the album so that when it's out we'll be ready to take requests – I'm sure the fans will let us know which songs from the album they want to hear, for sure.
‘Meat and Candy' is 10 years old now. What is the most significant way that you think you've grown as writers and performers over the past decade?
In the beginning, we were just so focused on just trying to get on the radio so we really tried to load the debut album up with hits. As we've grown and time has passed, we still want to do that and still have that commercial side to us, but we've been able to explore and expand our sound and we've been able to get a little more personal with our lyrics too.
We have a fan base that allows us stretch our sound and doesn't baulk when we try new or more experimental things, which is great for us as musicians.
If Nasa blasted a rocket off into space and wanted you to choose one song from ‘Barbara' to be on that rocket – broadcasting out into the galaxy – which song would you want to be on that ship?
(laughing) That's a tough choice! Wow! Dang. That's a good question. We feel like ‘Man or the Song' would be a cool choice for that. It encompasses everything we are as a band and it would shoot some humanity and emotion out into the universe at the same time.
Old Dominion's new album ‘Barbara' is out in all the usual places now. You can read our review of it right here at this link.
