Old Dominion Delves Into Love, Loss and Mortality on New Album

Before country music group Old Dominion launched its debut 2015 album Meat and Candy and went on to earn seven No. 1 Billboard Country Airplay hits, the group’s members were already proving themselves to be a not-so-secret weapon in Nashville music industry circles, as song crafters behind hits including Kenny Chesney’s “Save It for a Rainy Day” and Dierks Bentley’s “Say You Do.”

On Old Dominion’s sixth studio album Barbara, out Friday (Aug. 22), the five-member outfit brings fans back to the center of that songwriting nucleus — and after a decade of touring, writing and recording, it seems they are writing more personal songs than ever.

“That’s one of those ones that we couldn’t have written until this album,” says Old Dominion lead singer Matthew Ramsey. “We would’ve never had that perspective on the first record or second record, or even third record. It’s just a matter of continually surprising ourselves with how we can grow and explore our influences.”

Ramsey and his OD bandmates, bassist Geoff Sprung, drummer Whit Sellers and guitarists Trevor Rosen and Brad Tursi have become known for leaning into various sounds, from country to pop to R&B, on their records. This time, they spent two years blending rock, R&B and pop-tilted country to create the 13 songs that fill the new album. The project has light-hearted moments such as “Talk Country,” but it’s also rife with reflections on love, death and living.

“Miss You Man,” written by Ramsey and Rosen with songwriters Ross Copperman and Matt Jenkins, is an ode to the late country music songwriter Andrew Dorff, who died in 2016 at age 40. Dorff is known for writing songs such as Blake Shelton’s “Neon Light” and Tim McGraw’s “Love Runs,” but he also wrote songs including “So You Go” from Old Dominion’s second album, Happy Endings, and “Midnight Mess Around,” from the group’s self-titled third album.

“Our friend Matt Jenkins had the title, and it immediately made us think of Andrew,” Rosen says of “Miss You Man.” “It was one of those writing sessions where we didn’t think we were writing it for anyone other than ourselves. We were telling stories and talking about our friend, and it came out in this beautiful song. It’s hard to get through every single time we’ve played it. It’s kind of a gut punch, but leaves us with a smile at this point in our journey with that grief.”

That topic of mortality is also the bedrock of another of the album’s songs, “Water My Flowers.”

“It’s just this concept of not wanting to be lonely,” says Ramsey. “It’s the same sentiment as ‘One Man Band.’ It sounds drastically different, and it’s told in a completely different way. It’s just more of that feeling of ‘Who am I going to find that’s my forever partner in life and is going to mourn my loss?’”

While the songs are heartfelt, the album’s cover keeps in the tradition of the group’s history of left-of-center, quirky album artwork — this time featuring an older woman, wearing a white fur jacket, white sunglasses and her hair in rollers, leisurely puffing a cigarette.

“It represents the silliness that we have as a band, as just friends,” Ramsey says. “We’re just kind of joking and laughing all the time, but when we start looking at the body of work we created and how we are going to represent that on this album, Barbara, if you look at her, she looks trashy — and at the same time, she’s got some stories to tell for sure. She’s kind of been through the good and the bad and that’s what the music is.”

Beyond honoring their fellow songwriter Dorff, the album also includes “Man or the Song,” an unflinching look at the pitfalls of an artist’s life, the uncertainties surrounding relationships in an industry where fame can bring hangers on.

“It’s just you go through these peaks and valleys, and you achieve your dreams and realize that that might not be bringing you happiness, or that isn’t who you are,” Ramsey says, adding, “Being on the road so much, it’s almost like you live dual lives. You get out there and when you’re on the road, you’re in front of these fans and people that sort of hold you up on this pedestal. You get home, and you just almost switch into a different mentality. You’re taking out the trash and taking kids to school. Sometimes it gets difficult because you’re gone a long time and then sometimes, you’re home a long time. I think you question yourself as much as you question other people that are around you—you start to look at yourself in the mirror and go, ‘Wait a minute, who am I? Am I losing myself in this industry and how do I stay grounded?’”

That reflection on years spent both in the trenches and the winner’s circle of Nashville’s music industry — last year, the group made history by winning a seventh consecutive CMA vocal group of the year title, breaking the record for consecutive wins in that category — continues on the new album with “Good Night Music City,” inspired by the children’s book Good Night Moon. It’s an ode to the numerous “tip jar troubadours” that fill the city’s honkytonks and music venues, looking for a career break, even as the music industry has undergone massive change in the last decade or so with TikTok, other social media platforms and streaming dominating the industry.

“We count ourselves lucky to have made it when we did because I don’t know that we would’ve been able to make it in today’s climate,” Ramsey says. “But just watching the city change around you and being grateful for the life that we have and all that, that’s community and the songwriting community and the music industry has given us, but also the challenges that it’s put us through. It’s a very reflective look at the place we call home.”

In April, the group’s love for the songwriting community inspired their Music City bar and music venue Odie’s, near Nashville’s Music Row area. Unlike glitzier star bars located right on Nashville’s tourist-packed Lower Broadway, Odie’s is meant to be a tribute to the smaller clubs and bars the group’s members hung out as songwriters new to Nashville, places such as Corner Pub and Losers Bar and Grill. As some celebrity bars such as Ole Red and Whiskey Row have added new locations beyond Nashville, the band says new Odie’s locations could potentially be an option.

“We’re always spitballing ideas,” Ramsey says. “We have a meeting coming up soon with our partner to talk about what else we can do. We have our eye on what else could do.”