Old Dominion returns to the Maui Arts & Cultural Center on Saturday, opening the 2024 Maui Songwriters Festival. Mason Allen photo
One of the hottest bands in country music, Old Dominion has dominated country radio and award shows since the release of their debut album in 2015. Acclaimed for memorable hits like “No Such Thing as a Broken Heart,” “Break Up with Him,” “Written in the Sand” and “Song for Another Time,” Old Dominion returns to the Maui Arts & Cultural Center on Saturday, opening the 2024 Maui Songwriters Festival.
The band has scored once again with their latest album, “Memory Lane.” Packed with instantly catchy songs, the title song feels reminiscent of the Eagles. “They’re a huge influence on us,” said lead vocalist Mathew Ramsey. “The way they collaborate together was something that was always very inspiring to us, and we’ve tried to emulate as much as we could.”
Guests singing on the album included country star Blake Shelton on one track. “He had mentioned to us that he would like to work with us at some point, which was a surprise to us,” Ramsey explained. “That was an amazing thing to hear from one of our idols. We had a few songs that we felt like he would be good on.”
Old Dominion adopted a novel approach to marketing their recording, releasing in stages a single, a four-song sampler, an eight-song EP, and finally an 18-track album in October. It was prompted by “the ever-changing landscape of the music industry and how people listen to music,” said Ramsey. “You spend two years pouring your heart and soul into an album and you release it and everybody listens to it, and a month later, they’re going, ‘okay, what’s next?’ So we just kind of slow released it.”
Before helping form the Grammy-nominated band, Ramsey had focused on composing. “That was the goal when I moved to Nashville,” he recalled. “My goal was I want to learn how to write a great song and hopefully make a living writing country music for other people.”
He had grown up in Virginia, absorbing a variety of musical influences. “I was a huge Bruce Springsteen fan, and I grew up listening to a lot of grunge, like Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, and of course, country music was on all the time at my house. My parents have a radio in the kitchen still to this day and it’s constantly playing country music. I really got into the old school kind of Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson type of artists. Then into my 20s, I started focusing more on the songwriters in Nashville than the artists themselves.”
Old Dominion’s other members were also Nashville song writers or studio musicians. “We all had known each other for years and we were writing songs together,” he said. “Just as a way to play music together, we started playing in bars, and we started having hits as writers.”
Besides Ramsey, Old Dominion comprises lead guitarist Brad Tursi, multi-instrumentalist Trevor Rosen, bassist Geoff Sprung, and drummer Whit Sellers.
With their acclaimed debut album, “Meat and Candy,” they were suddenly stars in the country firmament, scoring three hit singles and winning the AMC Awards New Vocal Duo or Group of the Year in 2016.
“We had success as songwriters and we got the record deal and we thought, okay, let’s float one out there, see what happens,” Ramsey recalled. “Then when it went to the top, we were shocked. Then we had the fortunate success following that where it was just everything we put out for a while was hitting, and that was the true shock to us.”
Among the famous guest artists who have graced their albums, having soul legend Gladys Knight on their album “Time, Tequila & Therapy,” was quite a coup.
“What a really cool experience that was,” he enthused. “Talking to her in the studio, she was very adamant about how, if you listen to her music, she told us, ‘my music at its core is country music.’ That’s the way she looks at it, as country music as far as the songs that she sings.”
With six billion streams and nine No. 1 songs, Old Dominion has impacted many lives.
“That’s the most gratifying thing to witness firsthand, how it does impact people’s lives,” he said. “Maybe they’re going through something difficult and they need a little help, or they’re celebrating something and we’re the soundtrack. Whatever it is they need, we’re happy to be there for them.”
One thing is for sure, you can’t help smiling listening to many of their songs. “It makes us happy and we like to make music that makes us smile. So whenever we are in the room together and we’re making something, and we all look at each other grinning, we know we might have something.”
Old Dominion performs on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the MACC’s Yokouchi Pavilion and A&B Amphitheater. Gates open at 5. Mishka will open the show. Tickets are $59 general admission with no seats, $69, $79, $99, and a limited number of $139 Gold Circle seats. There is also a $249 “Written in the Sand” VIP Package. Tickets are available online at mauiarts.org.
Old Dominion returns to the Maui Arts & Cultural Center on Saturday, opening the 2024 Maui Songwriters Festival. Mason Allen photoToday's breaking news and more in your inbox
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