This past weekend, Auburn University hosted one of its only concerts in Jordan-Hare Stadium for the Music and Miracles cause.
With big names such as Kenny Chesney, Miranda Lambert and Sam Hunt playing in a packed stadium for nearly four hours, it could have been easy to forget the opening act of Old Dominion.
However, in the grand scheme of things, perhaps Old Dominion was overlooked by a number of concert attendees as they performed fresh off being named the Academy of Country Music’s best new duo/vocal group for 2016.
For lead singer Matthew Ramsey, it’s difficult to put into words the meaning of this award to the band, but the climb to the top has been a tumultuous one.
“It does kind of send you on this whirlwind that we’re all just trying to get through and enjoy,” Ramsey said. “We’re just trying to make sure we live up to it.”
For the singing and songwriting band, the adventure started nearly 10 years ago in a beat-up van as they toured the country playing in bars.
Having spent nearly every second of every day together, lead guitarist Brad Tursi said it’s easy to learn someone’s quirks, which he said makes the music more genuine.
“We spent a lot of time being us and figuring out what that was,” Tursi said. “It’s not fabricated.
As country music splits into a rainbow of subclasses to accommodate listeners, artists are given fresh leeway to experiment and with luck, elicit a reaction. In the midst of this momentum, Old Dominion found a niche.
With “Break Up With Him,” a half-serious attempt at winning back an already-gone ex-girlfriend, and a new debut album, “Meat and Candy,” Old Dominion is combining the dial-up-connected diversity of ‘90s pop culture with undeniable musical talent and a smirking sense of sarcasm.
For keyboardist and guitarist Trevor Rosen, that sense of sarcasm has partly become the band’s calling card, as he said they are known for having a good time while writing together.
“That wisecrack element is just who we are,” Rosen said. “We just have fun and whatever comes out, comes out, and that’s our personality and who we are.”
Opening for Chesney for his second summer tour in a row, Old Dominion is bound to hear songs they inked years ago and sold to Chesney.
Songs such as “Save It for a Rainy Day” were written by the band members years ago, and Chesney was responsible for taking it up all the way to No. 1 on the Billboard chart.
Now he plays it at nearly every concert on the tour, which Old Dominion will accompany him on this summer.
“Kenny Chesney is the man,” Ramsey said. “So to have a song on his album, and to get to watch him sing it every night, it just doesn’t get any better than that.”
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