[ad_2]
Courtesy photo
Old Dominion, the Nashville country band with the Virginia name, helps kick off the big name entertainment at the West Virginia State Fair. The band performs Friday night with Jake Owen.
Old Dominion Location: WV State Fair
When: -
15 Jake Owen with Old Dominion WV State Fair False DD/MM/YYYY
The idea for Old Dominion’s latest hit, “Song for Another Time,” came from something people say all the time: “That’s a story for another time.”
Songwriter and lead vocalist for the band, Matthew Ramsey, said the title of the song was just something he wrote down.
Ramsey, who performs Friday as a member of the group Old Dominion, along with Jake Owen, at the West Virginia State Fair in Fairlea, said, “I didn’t know what it meant. I just brought it to the guys and said, what could this mean?”
They wound up making the song about a couple talking about their relationship, which appeared to be ending. The band used song titles from country, rock and pop music to describe what they’d been to each other and where they were headed.
“It was really a challenge to do that,” Ramsey said. “But I’m really proud of it.”
“Song for Another Time” is on the country charts and another certifiable hit of the band’s debut album, “Meat and Candy.”
The record isn’t Old Dominion’s first release. The band has been around for awhile, but for a long time, the Nashville-based country group was just some friends who got together to play, write songs and make music demos they hoped other, established country artists would take an interest in and record.
Most of them knew each other before they ever came to Nashville.
Ramsey and drummer Whit Sellers grew up near Roanoke, Virginia and were already friends. Sellers met bassist Geoff Sprung and guitarist Brad Tursi while studying at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
“We all moved to Nashville, but separately,” Ramsey said.
In Nashville, they met keyboardist Trevor Rosen, from Michigan, and eventually started playing together as they tried to make their way writing songs.
Success didn’t come overnight, or even in the first couple of years.
Ramsey said he worked a lot of crappy jobs while trying to make it as a songwriter. He struggled with bills. He struggled with everything.
“I don’t think it’s easy for anyone,” Ramsey said. “If it was easier, a lot more people would be successful.”
He said he certainly wasn’t doing fantastic, but after about a dozen years, things started to go his way. In fact, things started going better for all of them.
Some of the songs the members of Old Dominion wrote were picked up by other country artists. The Band Perry covered “Chainsaw,” a song Ramsey co-wrote and recorded with Old Dominion.
Dierks Bentley covered “Say You Do,” a song Ramsey and Rosen wrote for their band.
Things got better.
Success breeds success in the music industry. More artists began recording their songs.
“Once you crack the door, hopefully in a few more steps, you can go in,” he said.
Record companies began to take an interest in the band behind the songs.
“People started to come hear the band play and it all snowballed.” He laughed. “Then it was, wow, I guess we should start taking this stuff seriously.”
They are still working at it, still writing new songs, but now they are touring hard.
“We’ll be going right up to Christmas,” Ramsey said.
For part of the fall, they’ll be on their own headlining tour, playing smaller venues and trying to acquire more fans.
Somewhere in there, the band also wants to work on their next record.
The writing never really stops. But that would be a song for another time.
Reach Bill Lynch at lynch@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-5195 or follow @LostHwys on Twitter. Follow Bill’s One Month at a Time progress on his blog at blogs.wvgazettemail.com/onemonth/.
Let's block ads! (Why?)
[ad_1]
Source link
No comments:
Post a Comment