It’s quite difficult for a band or artist to break into the country music world, but once you do, it’s something special. Ask Old Dominion. Just a year ago, they were opening up for Chase Rice with many fans not knowing who they were. But each night, the guys of Old Dominion would give the crowd every ounce of energy and effort they had, forcing fans to learn their name. Sure, the group is full of songwriters who have written countless hits for the likes of Dierks Bentley, Blake Shelton, Kenny Chesney and many more; but they also have kept many songs for themselves, ensuring their place in the cream of the crop in the country music community. While fans jammed to their version of ‘Chainsaw’ (The Band Perry) and ‘Say You Do’ (Dierks Bentley), they would also be dancing along to ‘Shut Me Up’ and what would become a smash hit, ‘Break Up With Him,’ despite not knowing the words.
And fans were not the only ones to notice what Old Dominion was doing. In late 2014, Kenny Chesney, who has been heralded as the ‘King of the Road,’ and is arguably the best entertainer in music, tapped the five-piece band for his 2015 Big Revival Tour. Just days before Old Dominion took the stage at Gillette Stadium, we sat down with the guys prior to their show at the Marshfield Fair, and they raved about the tour; everything from the catering to the friendliness of Chesney. It was a dream come true for these lifelong friends. And despite spending the majority of the summer playing stadiums with Chesney, Old Dominion’s Matthew Ramsey and Brad Tursi had not seen Chesney perform their song, ‘Save It For a Rainy Day,’ a song they co-wrote with Andrew Dorff, on the tour.
While Chesney had been hinting, throughout the summer, to Matthew and Brad that he would bring them on stage to perform the song with him, he did not do it… Until Gillette Stadium. Ramsey explained to us that on the morning of the show, he was at breakfast when Kenny approached him and said they were going to do it that night. Matthew found Brad and told him, “Here we go.” Later that night, both Matthew and Brad joined Kenny on stage to perform the No. 1 hit. “It was amazing, standing over on the side of the stage, watching him sing ‘Anything But Mine,’ knowing that our song was next. It was a little nerve wracking, but so exciting when he waved us out there. To feel the energy from that many people at a sold-out Gillette. It’s just one of those surreal moments where you’re like ‘I can’t believe I’m out here, singing a song I wrote for Kenny Chesney at Gillette Stadium,’” Ramsey describes.
As the Gillette shows came to an end, the guys were disappointed that their summer with Chesney was also coming to an end. But that disappointment did not last long as Kenny asked the guys to join him again in 2016 on his Spread the Love Tour– the ultimate compliment. That tour will once again play several stadiums throughout the country, including two at Gillette Stadium, and will also bring Miranda Lambert and the popular Sam Hunt. And in case you didn’t know, Matthew co-wrote Sam’s song, ‘Ex To See.’ So we had to know, could we see Sam Hunt and Matthew on stage at the same time? “I don’t know. Who knows what could happen. We’re good friends with Sam. That could be a lot of fun. But you never know what can happen. Hopefully we can get in there and sing some more songs with him too.”
When the Big Revival Tour came to an end, it meant that Old Dominion was closer to another accomplishment in their incredible year- their debut, full-length, studio album. And on November 6th, the band released that album, titled ‘Meat and Candy.’ Fans began to scoop up digital copies the second it became available while others went and got the physical copy as soon as the stores opened. Ramsey tells us, “It’s unreal. It’s hard to believe. The response has been amazing. You can already see that people are learning the songs as they are coming to shows singing the songs. We’re really proud of it.” Matthew even went to his local Wal-Mart and got a copy for himself, without even having the intention to do it. Before a bus call, he ran into the store to get some things and walked past it and thought, “Oh my gosh, there it is.”
Fans may be wondering where the title of the album came from, as there is not a song on the album titled ‘Meat and Candy,’ and there is no reference to the title in any lyrics. As the guys were planning the album, they realized that it was ‘light.’ “It was a lot of fun, sing along, ear candy songs. And somebody said, ‘we need some meat in there. We need some meat AND candy.’” And there it was, the title of their debut studio album.
The album has 11 tracks, including four from their 2014 self-titled EP. And every song on the album makes sense. It is perfectly balanced and has a song for every type of fan. There was one song that was noticeably not on the album- ‘Shut Me Up,’ a song that had been on the radio and was the only song on the aforementioned EP that didn’t make it on ‘Meat and Candy.’ Matthew explained, “It was tough but we felt that it had its chance to do something to be out there and fans already know it. And if we had a spot to put something new out, we wanted to take advantage of that. We figured that it was already on the radio and done it’s thing and people could still get it on iTunes.“ Another song that we noticed was not on the album was a song called ‘Can’t Get You’ – a song that Old Dominion fans have come to know and love from their live shows. But don’t worry, they have that one in mind for their next album.
One of our favorite songs on the album is ‘Song For Another Time,’ which is a song that almost didn’t make it on the album. The band had actually flown home the day before the show at the Marshfield Fair to record the song because they loved it that much and knew that it had to be on the album. “We really wanted to make sure we got home to record that song. We had written it after we thought we were done with the album. We came back on the road and wrote that song and fell in love with it and realized it needed to be on the album. So we flew home and recorded it.” While Old Dominion was successful in deciding which of their new material would make it onto the album, it does not mean that some of their older stuff has been overlooked. Their Gold-certified song, ‘Break Up With Him,’ finally reached the No. 1 on the Country Airplay chart on November 14th and stayed there for 2 weeks. Ramsey says, “It feels great just because we’re all part of it. It’s one thing to have a number one song as a writer, but now that it’s us that has the number one song, we can’t hardly believe it.”
As 2015 comes to an end, fans in New England will be able to see the guys one last time before we ring in the New Year. Old Dominion will be playing a show at Boston’s Royale on December 17th, making it the third time that they have played that venue just this year alone. They sold-out their first show there this spring and this show also sold out with fans rushing to get tickets as soon as they went on sale. “It’s the third time we’ve played there this year so we were a little bit worried about the attendance, but it sold out. Those are the two best words ever. Boston is just one of those places that really connects with us and we will always be appreciative of that and try to step up our game every time we come there.” So while 2015 was an incredible year for Old Dominion, there is so much to look forward to from this band of songwriters and friends. We’ve enjoyed witnessing this band come from a hardly-known opening act to a highly-touted band playing stadiums and selling out shows of their own.
You can purchase your copy of Old Dominion’s ‘Meat and Candy‘ on iTunes here.