Before they were country stars, these musicians were Nashville's most prolific secret songwriters
In short: Long before Old Dominion topped the charts, its members were the industry's go-to penmen. Matthew Ramsey, Trevor Rosen, and Brad Tursi built their reputation crafting hits for stars like Blake Shelton and Kelsea Ballerini. The band eventually formed in 2007 to showcase their own songwriting, blending rock energy with country storytelling.
The band's origin story is rooted in a shared ambition to perform the songs they had written for others. Matthew Ramsey and Whit Sellers, both from Virginia's Roanoke region, connected through their high school drumlines before eventually reuniting in Nashville. There, they joined forces with Geoff Sprung, Brad Tursi, and Trevor Rosen. While Rosen is the only member without a Virginia connection, the group chose the name Old Dominion as a nod to the state where four of them have deep ties.
Before their rise as a headlining act, the members were already established figures in the Nashville songwriting community. Ramsey co-wrote hits like The Band Perry's 'Chainsaw', while Rosen contributed to tracks for artists including Blake Shelton and Kelsea Ballerini. Tursi, who previously performed with a Washington, D.C. rock group, added his own catalog of hits for artists like Luke Bryan and Kenny Chesney. This background in songwriting defined their early trajectory, leading to the release of their first EP, 'It Was Always Yours', in 2012.
The band's commercial breakthrough arrived with their 2015 debut album, 'Meat and Candy', which featured the chart-topping single 'Break Up with Him'. Since then, they have maintained a steady output of albums, including 'Happy Endings' in 2017 and their self-titled third record in 2019. Their evolution has seen them navigate the shifting landscape of country music, moving through various label imprints like RCA Nashville and Columbia Records Nashville. By the time they released 'Odies But Goodies' in 2024 and 'Barbara' in 2025, they had solidified their status as a staple of contemporary country radio, even as they continued to experiment with their sound and project scale.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: Old Dominion (band)
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