Old Dominion has been on fire since bursting onto the country music scene. These amazing five musicians (Matthew Ramsey, Geoff Sprung, Trevor Rosen, Brad Tursi and Whit Sellers) formed the band a few years back and found huge success with their debut full length album, ‘Meat and Candy.’ Most recently, the guys released their newest single, ‘No Such Thing As A Broken Heart.’ The single is the first off of their much anticipated sophomore album which is expected to arrive later this year. Matt Ramsey took some time to sit down with NECM and discuss the new single, how it’s great logo came about, the new album and their connection to New England fans.
‘No Such Thing As A Broken Heart’ draws you in from the first note and holds on tight for the duration. The song is extremely upbeat but also conveys a fantastic message through great lyrics that Old Dominion have easily established as their biggest strength. It’s always a tough decision when deciding what single to release to lead off a new project. Matt explained how this choice was made,
“This song checked off all the boxes as we were excited about this song from the moment we read it. It felt big and it was a fun sounding and up tempo sounding song and it also was a little bit different of a message for us. It was something new that people might not expect from us judging from what we put out previously. Felt like a new direction for us but still sounding like us at the same time. We wanted something to show people that we were growing as a band but we were still also Old Dominion.”
The band is full of songwriters who have written hits for some of the biggest artists in country music. This is what makes their own success story even that much greater as it’s always fun to hear where their songs come from. We had to know how the writing process went for this song and Ramsey was happy to oblige us with the story, “We were writing on the road that day…myself, Trevor, Brad and Jesse Frasure who was out on the road with us. Didn’t really have a title and we just started writing as we had a groove going. I said I wonder if Jack & Diane ever made it (a nod to the classic John Mellencamp song) and that kind got everyone excited to explore what that statement meant. We kept writing as we didn’t have a clear idea or direction for the song. Pretty much half the song was written when Trevor said ‘you gotta love like there’s no such thing as a broken heart’ and we all looked and said that’s the entire song right there.”
Leading off the song with a nod to ‘Jack and Diane,’ automatically draws the listener in as there aren’t many fans of music who don’t know the Mellencamp hit. It’s one of those songs that resonates throughout the years due to it’s sound and lyrics. ‘No Such Thing As A Broken Heart,’ rides right along those same rails with the message it conveys. Fans have been responding to it from the first time it was played in concert by the band. Not only do fans have favorite lines from songs but the artists do as well,
“People are really loving “chase after the dream, don’t chase after the money” line. I think it’s one of my favorite lines too because it’s something people don’t always hear. Everyone has to pay their bills so it’s hard to remember sometimes it’s more important to chase the dreams than the money. Plus, at the end of the song and now that it’s on the radio, where it’s just my voice saying “you gotta love like there’s no such thing as a broken heart” has become the whole crowd singing that.”
Most people in today’s society have that mentality to chase after the money so it’s great to see a different approach in this song. “We certainly would not be where we are if we chased after the money, ” Matt shared.
Not only has the song itself become a huge hit with fans but it’s the logo accompanying the song that has built a fan base of it’s own. The image of bigfoot walking with a broken heart leaves quite the impression. Fortunately, the story of how it came about is just a great as the image itself,
“It started with ‘Song For Another Time’ when Trevor was trying to design a t-shirt for the song. He drew this really terrible drawing on a napkin and we all laughed so hard at it and made fun of him for it. I actually still have it somewhere and then it came time to do the artwork for this and we weren’t happy with anything the label had sent us. We needed something by the next day and we were all in different places so I told Trevor to get out his napkin. So he gets out the napkin and he draws something on it. When I get back to the bus I ask him where it is and he says you won’t even know what it is as didn’t come out how I hoped it would. I looked at it and said… is this a sasquatch with a broken heart? Then I said this is exactly what we’re doing so we ended up getting a girl in Portland, OR to draw it up for us. She’s actually a tattoo artist and did a tattoo on my arm as well. So now we have a sasquatch out there!”
Old Dominion has been hard at work on their second album and some of the new songs were heard when the guys were out on tour with Miranda Lambert. They still have a few songs that need to be cut off as they have too many for one album. “Not really sure which songs are going to make it and which aren’t but the ones we played with Miranda are on there for sure,” Matt told us about the album. Their sophomore album will be entitled ‘Happy Endings’ and will be released on 8/25 which is the same day they play start of two shows at Gillette Stadium. Ramsey did give us a peek into what the vibe of the new album will be,
“I think ‘No Such Thing As A Broken Heart’ is a good indicator as it still sounds like us but maybe just a little bit more in-depth. We definitely have some heavier subject matter on this album but there are still the goofy guys in Old Dominion as we’re still us. You can’t play as many shows as we have and done as many songs as we have without growing and evolving as a band. This album definitely shows growth and I think it’s in a good way but it’s definitely Old Dominion still too. The last thing we want to do is try and repeat ‘Meat and Candy’. We’re so proud of that album and it’s time to make a different album.”
Lastly, we got to talking about how the band have now become adopted New Englanders. Ever since opening for Chase Rice in Boston a few years back it seems that country music fans in New England have a huge love and attachment for Old Dominion. This is evident at all their local shows, most notably when they open for Kenny Chesney at Gillette Stadium, which they will be doing for the third time this August,
“We definitely have a special fan base up there and we owe that in a big way to Kenny for bringing us up there. His fan base up there is insane and it’s where a lot of it started for him. For him to bring us along and share those fans with us was amazing. So now we have been sort of adopted up there and we do feel like that and feel a special connection to everyone up there. We hope to be able to foster that into something like Kenny did and have that kind of relationship he has in New England.”
We here at New England Country Music want to thank Matthew Ramsey for taking the time to speak with us. Old Dominion have always been amazing friends to us and can’t thank them enough for all of their support. Can’t wait to hear the new album but in the meantime you can head over to iTunes and download, ‘No Such Thing As A Broken Heart’ here. Also, make sure to catch the guys when they open for Kenny Chesney at Gillette Stadium on August 25th & 26th. The band will also play Foxwoods Casino in CT on September 1st and tickets are on-sale now, just click here.
This interview was conducted by NECM contributing writer, Mike Sullivan. You can follow me on Facebook and Twitter.