Old Dominion (band)

Origin

The band members of Old Dominion are lead singer Matthew Ramsey, Trevor Rosen on guitar and keyboard, Whit Sellers on drums, Geoff Sprung on bass, and Brad Tursi on guitar. "Old Dominion" was chosen as the name of the band because it is a nickname for the state of Virginia, and four members of the group have links to Virginia.

Ramsey and Sellers are both originally from the Roanoke Region of Virginia, and played on drumlines for their respective high schools, James River High School and Lord Botetourt High School. After high school, Ramsey went to Virginia Commonwealth University and moved to Nashville after graduation to become a songwriter. He was introduced to Rosen in 2003 and formed a songwriting partnership for some years while working as a solo artist. Sellers went to James Madison University in Virginia where he met Sprung and Tursi. Sellers and Sprung also ended up in Nashville where they joined force with Ramsey and formed Old Dominion. Tursi who was once a member of the rock band Army of Me joined the band in 2012.

Music career

The band was initially formed to showcase the songs that its individual band members had written. Members of the band had writing credits on many songs recorded by other artists – Matthew Ramsey co-wrote "Chainsaw" for The Band Perry, Trevor Rosen co-wrote Chris Young's "Neon" and The Band Perry's "Better Dig Two", while Tursi has written Tyler Farr's "A Guy Walks Into a Bar" as well as songs for Kenny Chesney, the Randy Rogers Band, and for the ABC musical drama, Nashville. Two songs written for the band by Ramsey and Rosen, "Wake Up Lovin' You" and "Say You Do", were covered by Craig Morgan's and Dierks Bentley respectively and became hits. Their song "Dirt on a Road" was their first song as a band that received significant airplay, and their single "Shut Me Up" further gained them some attention. The band had opened for Alabama, Jake Owen and Chase Rice.

2014–present: EP and Meat and Candy

On October 7, 2014, they released their first self-titled EP, produced by Shane McAnally. The EP debuted on the Top Country Albums chart at No. 33 with 1,000 copies sold. The lead single from the EP was "Shut Me Up", the music video features American country music singer and songwriter Whitney Duncan. A song from the EP "Break Up with Him" first received exposure on the satellite Sirius XM Radio's "The Highway" channel in late 2014 which boosted it popularity, and the song was then released as the second single to radio on January 20, 2015. The song would become their first hit song.

They signed a record deal with RCA Nashville in late February 2015. The band also opened for Kenny Chesney in his Big Revival Tour. In September, they announced that their debut studio album, titled Meat and Candy, would be released on November 6, 2015. Shortly before the album's release, "Break Up with Him" reached No. 1 on Country Airplay. The album's second single, "Snapback" released to country radio on January 11, 2016. It reached at number 2 on the Country Airplay in June 2016. The album's third single, "Song for Another Time" released to country radio on June 20, 2016.

On March 10, 2017, Old Dominion released "No Such Thing As A Broken Heart," the lead single from the band's sophomore album and follow-up to Meat and Candy.

Tours

Supporting