Old Dominion, New Chapter

If you're a country music fan, you for sure have some Old Dominion in your playlist.  These guys have put out some of the most fun country music we've heard over the past few years.  They recently brought us a new song, "Coming Home," which was featured as an iHeartCountry World Premiere.  With new music on the way, non-stop summer touring, you'll never believe what other business venture they're taking on & how they plan to do it different than anyone before them.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Listen, is it awkward to haveyou ever thought of like kicking people out
of the band. So interviews,there weren't so many of you guys.
We already did that one guy.Yeah, what's gone was the answers.
So listen, I've been in aninterview with y' all. I know that
is bullshit. I got to startby Obviously, we keep up with what

(00:23):
you guys are up to with thebar and with your music. But every
now and again I will google anartists right before I'm gonna talk to him.
Case like, something spicy popped up, and as I type Old Dominion,
obviously I get the trucking line first. But you know, one of
the most googled Old Dominion things isMatthew Ramsey's height. Wow, he's actually

(00:47):
it's nuts. It's funny. Actually, people don't realize he's he's actually about
three five. Yeah, you gotyou put him on your lap. You're
like, I want to start.We were lucky enough to hear the song
early, but I want to rewinda week here. How was CMA Beest
for you guys? It was great? Yeah, yeah, it was awesome.

(01:11):
Yeah. It's always good to bepart of is it knowing that like
in the planning of things, becauseobviously you are on the road pretty NonStop,
especially this time of year. IsCMA best something that you plan for
as you're laying out the year,It usually is, so you know,
we sort of look at the calendarand as they're planning the whole thing,

(01:32):
and we always know it's around thattime, so we try not to,
you know, step on that.Sometimes tours get in the way, but
yeah, we try to account forit well. And speaking of tours,
we caught up with you guys.I think it was probably close to two
years ago and you were on Kenny'stour and you guys were were on his
tour so much that I think hegot to claim you as dependence on taxas

(01:57):
what when Kenny had an announced thetour and you guys weren't on it,
is that like did he give youa buffer? Like, hey, just
the heads up? Yeah, weknew, okay, I just wanted to
make sure that there wasn't like apost on social media. You're like,
uh, the hell no, Ithink it's funny. You know, we
have such a good relationship obviously withhim and the whole team, and it

(02:17):
was we were luckily part of thatdiscussion, you know, because we're working
on our own stuff, and youknow, it's it's such a like complicated
equation to put together tours and there'sradius, clauses and all that stuff you
got to look out for. Sowe were a part of the conversation with
them and as to whether or notwe were going to be a part of

(02:38):
it. So yeah, they didn'tjust surprise, you're not invited anymore like
we didn't like Kenny anyway. Yeah, kept making kept going on last year.
When it comes to the Nashville barscene, it's exploded, especially post
COVID. I mean, Lady Wilsontook over the spot over here, mirandas

(03:00):
Is behind us were sitting in Jason'sBar. Why did you guys pick the
spot where you're at because for anybodylistening, you're in Nashville, but you're
in more like a local focused partof Nashville. Yeah, it's right near
Music Row, you know, it'sit's really the spot in Nashville that we
spent a lot of time not onlyplaying music but also hanging out. So

(03:23):
it's a it's a really cool spot. It's not too far from Broadway,
but it's it's a little bit awayfrom the madness, and it's and it's
near such a historic spot. Youknow, we started as songwriters and so
it's it's right at the end ofmusic row. I think actually the first
conversation we had about it was afterlike a sound check I think at CMA
Fest last year. Yeah, atleast two. It might have been.

(03:47):
Yeah, we were in we werein a car. We all crammed and
Trevor's carr and got on a conferencecall to to talk about it. So
it's been in the works for quitea while. And why I mean,
I get it took we saw youat the iHeart Country Festival. And don't
judge my intelligence after I say this, but it took me saying the name

(04:08):
of the bar you to realize ODIsYeah, well that's perfect. That's what
we wanted. We didn't want itto be like Old Dominion. We didn't
want our name to be you know, it's not a tourist attraction necessarily,
it's not a museum or shrine tous. We wanted to make a cool
bar, but we wanted to likeinject our vibe and our feelings into it

(04:29):
and nod a little to us.So that was a way to sort of
hide our name in the name,so and all due respect to the legend
that was Toby Keith with his bar, it almost became like he put his
name on it and they kind ofran with what they wanted to do.
How hands on were you with notonly the design but how things were going

(04:50):
to look and feel inside. We'revery hands on. The guy that we're
doing it with, Ty Howder,he's done a lot of bars, some
of which we've played in, andso he has a lot of experience making
them. But from day one wekind of all said, like, we
don't want this is to be somethingwe license our name to. We want
to be you know, he wantedour input from the ground up, so

(05:11):
we've we're still in that in thatprocess. But yeah, we're very hands
on. And I heard that ifyou drop a band member's name at the
bar, there's like a running tabwhere like your first no, don't,
I'm getting to the music in asecond. One more thing about the bar
is you're probably gonna stay involved.Right, It's not like okay, it's

(05:34):
up, it's running back to themusic and you know, we'll just let
the mailbox money pop in like thisis going to be a part of you
guys, right, absolutely, yeah. I mean we're already talking about and
making moves about what's next. Sowe have plans beyond what this this first
phase is, So it's going tobe an ongoing thing for us. Dang.

(05:57):
So there's a second bar coming soonto Chicago with I'm just making up
rumors to touch on. We gotto hear this new song early coming home.
You guys do a phenomenal job.And I say this every time I
had the chance to catch up withyou. You are great at putting out
an Old Dominion song that doesn't soundlike the last Old Dominion song, if
that makes sense, right? Yeah, how did you know and what was

(06:21):
the creation process behind this song?How did you know that this would kind
of fit what what Old Dominion isknown for. I don't know we thought
about I don't think we ever thinkabout what I mean, you know,
we don't think too far ahead.We literally wrote that song in the studio,
uh, and we kind of actuallyrushed through the end of it because

(06:42):
we had to record it. Sowe were like, all right, we
got to finish the lyrics in likethe next forty five minutes. So you
know, we worked real hard onit, and it just I think it
just comes out because we're we haveso many different influences that you know,
we can kind of for like achameleon, the old Dominion chameleon. You
know. So you said you wroteit in the studio. Is this the

(07:04):
fastest song that you guys have beenable to put together that kind of fell
into place? Well, we've hada little bit of a history of that,
you know, make it sweet.We wrote in the studio and recorded
that day, and then you know, in our fourth album, every day,
every song was a song that wewrote in the morning and then recorded
that night. So we do havea history of being able to do that,

(07:25):
and it adds a freshness to itwhen you just it's fresh off the
press writing it and you walk rightinto the studio, it's just every aspect
of the song is fresh in yourmind. You guys have worked together for
so long that you probably kind ofknow where each other are going mentally when
it comes to writing, right,But let's say you're in the studio and

(07:46):
an idea pops up and you createit like that. For a lack of
a better phrase, what's a songthat fell together that way that you literally
got in the car to drive homeand thought, holy shit, yeah,
I mean, I think make itswee. Actually we would probably be the
one for me that we kind ofit was our first, like Trevor was
saying, it was our first reallyattempt at just writing and recording in the

(08:09):
same day. And it felt sogood. You know. Even in the
writing of it, we were justlike, yeah, go keep going,
let's keep going. It was likepushing each other to go. And then
you know, you're listening in thecontrol room at the end of the day
going did we just really do this? We just really write our next single?
This is crazy how fast that happened. If you think about it too

(08:31):
much, it can be a littlescary when a song falls together that quick.
How do you determine Because music isconsumed faster than ever. I mean,
as soon as someone's in love withsomething, you better have two more
songs ready to go, right,So when a song like that comes out,
like obviously coming Home, we knowit's a song we're getting. We
know it's a song country radio,it's gonna turn up all summer. But

(08:54):
what's the plan after that? Isthis? Was this just a one off
or is the plan to put itwith with grouping of songs, EP or
album. There is a plan.I'm not so sure how much we're allowed
to talk about it, but thereis more coming for sure, and we're
continually working on even what's next afterthat. So it's kind of a twofold

(09:15):
thing that we got going on.Speaking of what's next, is there any
bar owner inspired songs coming? Oh, you know, it's been a it's
been such a slow process and it'sthe really the unromantic part of it right
now. So probably not because it'slike unless you want to talk about,
you know, digging up new sewerlines in the city of Nashville, and

(09:37):
it's you know, it's really nothingaroundthroom code code violations. You know,
it's not a great rock You couldwrite a song about fighting in your bar
and call it take it to TinRoof. When when it comes to the

(09:58):
music and and the touring and obviouslythe bar the bar portion of your guys
career, Now, what are themost surprising aspects like that you sit back
and go, dude, we werejust writing songs one day. I mean,
the bar definitely was one of thoseI feel like it's just it's almost
like the whole time, it's felta little bit too good to be true.
Like Tie was such a great dude, and and it's just been so

(10:22):
easy working with him. And youknow, he's really kind of as much
as we're in putting it, youknow, into the feel of it.
You know, he's definitely sort ofhe's he's driving the carriage or horse bus,
driving the bush. And it's justbeen so great every time. And

(10:43):
yeah, and it's it's just Inever would have thought that that we that
we'd be looking at a you know, almost built building in Midtown that's going
to have our name on it.Yeah, it's like kind of that and
everything. It's you know, playingc Mayfest in the stadium, and it's
like it is kind of like oneof the things you look up and go
if a bar or headline in thisand you know, and uh, it's

(11:05):
just one of you know, itmakes you stop and go, Wow,
we've really done it. Because withthe bar is across the street from a
bar that's no longer there that weused to play for free. We would
ask the guy if we could sound, we could play just so we could
rehearse. So it's we've come along way. And that bar merg looks
awesome. I put this hat onreal quick. Oh wait, they're available

(11:33):
listen and you'all got bills of pace, so let me know. Last thing
I want to ask is you havethe opportunity to celebrate your music all the
time. You meet fans, youdo these radio interviews, and it's all
like, this song is great,you guys are great, you did this.
I'm gonna ask you to call yourselvesout at one point. There has
to be a line in a songthat you're like, I can't believe we
put this in here and it worked, and it's a line that you still

(11:56):
are not a fan of, butit's it's there now. I don't know
if it's not a fan of.But I can't believe we put drunkens and
skunking lunch with a crosside bear.I can't believe that that made it into
a song. And like, that'san insane, stupid line that we put
in there and made ourselves laugh withand I absolutely love it. But it's

(12:18):
pretty crazy that that's us. That'san actual song lyric. Hey, we
are excited for you guys for thenew song whatever is after that song,
and we will be in line forthe grand opening of the spot in Midtown.
Man, I'm excited for you.Yeah, thank you, Take care,
We'll see all later.