Old Dominion Balance Humor, Heart & Hard Truths With ‘Barbara’ [Interview]

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Old Dominion. Photo: Dove Shore

Old Dominion have always had a knack for pairing clever turns of phrase with irresistible hooks, but on their new album Barbara, the reigning CMA and ACM Group of the Year reveal a deeper side of themselves. Out now via Sony Music Nashville, the band’s sixth studio effort takes their familiar mix of country, rock and, pop and pushes it further, leaning into personal reflections and unexpected sounds without losing the easygoing charm that’s defined their career.

The name alone hints at the band’s headspace. “We just thought it would be funny,” the men explain of how Barbara rose from a running list of potential titles. “It’s like naming your dog Gary. You don’t know that many Barbaras out there. And then it just sort of took on a life of its own. It felt like a woman that’s been through a lot. She’s mature, she still knows how to party. Trash and sophisticated all at the same time — just like us.”

That mix of humor and depth carries through a record that the band’s Matthew Ramsey calls their most unified to date. Recorded in two sessions, the album spans playful country anthems and vulnerable meditations. “Making Good Time” kicks things off on an upbeat note, while “Me Most Nights” showcases their approach to crafting songs that are both clever and unexpected.

“It started with the title,” Ramsey recalls of “Me Most Nights.” “And then the way we continually kept turning that into a new phrase—that’s just how we think as songwriters. What screws can we turn here that are left unturned?”

“At the end of the session we basically deconstructed the whole thing,” Brad Tursi adds. “The chorus ended up being like the anti-chorus, and the way it breaks down at the end…”

“It just felt like this compelling, rock band moment,” Trevor Rosen says. “I picture it in a club, and it’s the kind of thing that draws you in without having to be a big banger.”

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Elsewhere, Barbara ventures into uncharted territory for the group. “What Doesn’t Kill A Memory” introduces a trap beat to their sound, something Ramsey says wasn’t an easy decision. “It took us a minute to commit,” he admits. “It wasn’t like that in the studio for the longest time, and I felt like a stick in the mud in that session. At some point we pulled the demo back up and said, ‘What elements are we not doing that maybe are a big part of this song?’ Once we embraced it, everybody was like, ‘Oh, this works.’”

“Water My Flowers” might be the album’s most striking moment, beginning as a simple, bluegrass-feeling idea and morphing into something much darker.

“That was a crazy day writing that one,” Ramsey says. “Our challenge as songwriters is to find a new way to write about the same things. This one was just a different way to approach, how do I find my forever person? What kind of legacy am I going to leave? And then in the studio it turned into this whole other thing—almost cinematic vibe.”

“It’s kind of Tarantino-ish in my mind for some reason,” Rosen says.

On “Man Or The Song,” they take an even more introspective turn, asking where the artist ends and the person begins.

“We actually recorded that in the same session as ‘Coming Home,’ and it just always stayed in the back of our mind,” Ramsey says. “We knew it was special because we hadn’t gone that internal in the past. We overthink everything in this business, so we did have the discussion if it was ‘too inside’ [the business for fans to relate to.]”

“You don’t have to be a band or a musician to relate to it,” Rosen says. “I think everybody can get lost in whatever their career is, or the caricature of themselves, and ask that question: am I what I do for a living, or am I this person separate from that?”

Ramsey adds, “If we’d put that on our first album, it wouldn’t have resonated as much. Now we have fans who are invested in who we are, so they can enjoy hearing that side of us.”

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The album closes with “Goodnight Music City,” a tribute to the town that launched their career, built around a simple but powerful idea.

“We made the choice to reference the children’s book Goodnight Moon,” Ramsey explains. “In that book they’re looking around, saying goodnight to all the different things. We thought, if we did that with the city of Nashville, what would we see?”

“This is a song I don’t think we could have written unless we’ve been around for a little while. It felt cool to pick out all those little details—like the recession special down at Roberts,” Tursi adds.

After a decade of chart-toppers, sold-out tours and industry accolades, Old Dominion could have easily stayed the course. Instead, Barbara finds them embracing growth and vulnerability as much as the feel-good spirit they’re known for.

“I don’t think we sat down and said, ‘Let’s make a personal album,’” Ramsey says. “I think we’re just less afraid to put more personal notes in now—and maybe even excited by that idea. Earlier we were like, let’s just make bangers and get on the radio. Now we’re just comfortable and can see the value in doing something more.”

It’s a reflection of a band hitting their stride creatively and personally. Barbara shows a band still aiming high, but doing it on their own terms.

LB Cantrell
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