ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Matthew Ramsey, lead singer for Old Dominion, the reigning Country Music Association Vocal Group of the Year, said his group has always tried to make a personal connection to fans.
“That’s a concerted effort that we have made throughout our career," Ramsey said in a phone call from his Nashville home before starting a tour that at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 4, stops at Allentown's PPL Center.
Tickets, at $49.70-$187.95, remain available at the PPL Center website or the box office at 701 Hamilton St., Allentown.PPLCenter.com
Tickets, at $49.70-$187.95, remain available at the PPL Center websiteor the box office at 701 Hamilton St., Allentown.
"We have always introduced ourselves at the end of our shows, ever since we were a small old band playing a club, I introduce every member of the band [the others are rhythm guitarist Trevor Rosen, drummer Whit Sellers, bassist Geoff Sprung and lead guitarist Brad Tursi].
"And then I say, ‘We are Old Dominion.’
“As we grew, we wanted everyone to feel that they were Old Dominion. We wanted our crew to feel like they were a part of it, we wanted our fans to feel like they were part of it.
"So we go out every night with that intention — to make people feel like this is for them as much as it is for us.”
That's also true for Old Dominion's music, and especially for the group's new album, "Barbara," released Aug. 22, Ramsey said.
Ramsey said the disc "in a lot of ways is more deeply personal than any other project that we’ve been a part of.”
Looking to grow, it gets personal
"Barbara," is the group's sixth studio album in a career that has seen Old Dominion achieve three platinum discs and put four in the Top 10 — two that hit No. 1.
“We never set out with any sort of concept or anything," Ramsey said. "We just start compiling new songs as we can.
"We usually write for a couple of years for a project ["Barbara" comes nearly two years after Old Dominion's last disc, 2023's "Memory Lane"], and then it’s a process of sifting through those songs.
“If there is any objective, it’s just ‘How can we grow?’ What it means to be ultimate and how can we stretch the boundaries. We happen to be in a pretty specific lane in our genre, so how can we widen that lane a little bit and sonically explore different things and different subject matters.
“So we tried to do that, and what we wound up with is a project" more personal than ever.
That comes, Ramsey said, because of "all of our states of life that we’re in and also the stage of our careers that we’re in as songwriters."
"I think we were just a little more comfortable with who we are and knowing how to navigate putting something personal into a song and also make it relatable to other people," he said.
“So we’re just a little bit more comfortable in our own skin, as people and as musicians, I think.
"For some reason, I think when you’re starting out a songwriter or at least when you’re trying to, you know, for lack of a better term appeal to the masses — we make no bones about it; we wanted to be a hit band — you kind of get it in your head that going too personal might alienate some audience members.
"But it’s funny how you discover the more internal you get, the more relatable it is.”
Tribute to a friend
Perhaps the best example of that, Ramsey said, is the new single, "Miss You," released July 25.
The vulnerable song is a tribute to Andrew Dorff, a songwriter who died in 2016 at age 40.
“That is one of the most personal songs on the album," Ramsey said. "He was a great friend of ours, songwriting partner. We play a lot of songs in our set that he was a part of writing, and he’d come on the road with us a lot and we would write with him in town.
“And we lost him too soon, and this song is just sort of that grieving process for us. It’s the stage we’re in where we can look back on our relationship with him and think about how great it was. And we just wish he wish he was here.
“And that was a day in the writing room where we weren’t trying to write a hit song. We were just talking about our buddy.”
One reason Old Dominion's songwriting process comes so naturally is that the group includes several songwriters.
“It helps it," Ramsey said. "We all spent 10 years here in Nashville with the goal of being songwriters, not being a band. So we really hone our craft there in that decade of learning the craft of songwriting, and then falling in love with it, and the songwriting community.
“And so we’ve built this reputation as songwriters before we ever got to be a band. So now when we sit down together and we start looking at songs and writing songs together, we’re all after the same goal, and that’s writing the best song that we possibly can.
“So your ego kind of doesn’t enter the room. You have your buddies there to keep you in check.”
'Surreal' songwriting success
Old Dominion certainly has had songwriting success.
Since breaking through with the 2015 double-platinum, chart-topping hit "Break Up With Him," the group has had 12 gold and platinum hits, such as the triple-platinum hits "Snap Back" and "Written in the Sand"; 2019's eight-times platinum "One Man Band"; and 2023's double-platinum "Memory Lane."
That has led to seven consecutive Country Music Association Awards and a record eight consecutive Academy of Country Music Vocal Group of the Year Awards.
“It’s surreal," Ramsey said. "I think another thing about being an artist in this business is … that you always have that nagging voice in the back of your head that’s telling you you don’t belong.
"And we had that for a really long time, and once you start breaking records for things like that and you start seeing tens of thousands of people showing up every night for your tour, you can’t really believe that voice anymore," he said with a laugh.
“You have to own it a little bit. So it really does feel good to be part of the fabric of a genre of music that we absolutely adore.”
And in November, it will be 10 years since the release of Old Dominion's debut album, "Meat and Candy," which included "Break Up With Him," "Snapback" and another platinum hit, "Song for Another Time."
“That’s trippy. It flies past so fast, and at the same time feels like 50 years ago," Ramsey said with a laugh. "You look at all these pictures of all us when we were first starting and we look like babies.
“But we’ve also known each other for way, way longer than that. Whit Sellers, the drummer, and I went to middle school together. So we’ve played music together for most of our lives.”
Remembering a storm at Musikfest
That goes back to Ramsey's earlier statement about Old Dominion's concerted effort to connect with fans.
"We view this job as we’re in the service industry," he said. "We’re not here for people to do for us — we’re here for them.
"We want to go out on stage every night and make people feel seen and loved and celebrate it. And we want to be a sort of accent to their life."
An example of that is the main stage show Old Dominion played in 2024, headlining Bethlehem's Musikfest festival.
With a thunderstorm looming, Old Dominion took the stage early and under dark gray clouds, wasted no time getting to its hits, but ultimately was forced off stage after just 30 minutes.
Ramsey said with a laugh that he remembers it “very, very well."
"That’s always a bummer when weather comes into play, which is something that we have to take into account, especially in the summer, when we’re in these outdoor venues," he said.
“So we have meteorologists on call, we’re constantly watching and try to shift showtimes and then we have people in our ears telling us, ‘OK, the storm’s going to hit in 15 minutes, get what you can in.’
"So we’re adjusting the setlist around on the fly so people get to hear the songs that they really want to hear.”
