Old Dominion has had plenty of hits over the year. The group began in 2015 with "Break Up With Him" their debut single. In the decade since then, Old Dominion has had more than a dozen hit singles at radio. So it is a bit surprising that, of all of their success, the group says that "One Man Band" is their favorite, and their most successful.
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"That song is just the gift that keeps on giving," lead singer Matt Ramsey tells Audacy of the song, which went nine times Platinum. "It's really a beautiful thing that has happened to us. You can't predict that kind of thing, and we're grateful for that song every single night."
What makes the success of "One Man Band" so interesting is that it is not at all like any of their other singles. The song, from their 2019 self-titled third record, features mostly Ramsey on the song. Ramsey and fellow band members Brad Tursi and Trevor Rosen wrote the song with Josh Osborne.
"We were on the road, as we always are," Ranmsey tells American Songwriter. "And there was someone on the bus, I think he was like a radio person. We're just talking. It was before the show, and I forget what exactly he said, but he said 'one man band' in his sentence. It was like a lightning bolt to me. Whatever he was saying, I no longer remembered except for 'one man band.'"
How "One Man Band" Led To Another Old Dominion Song
Old Dominion recently released a new album, Barbara. Included on the record is a song called "Man or the Song," a track Ramsey says they may have never released, if not for "One Man Band."
"We actually wrote that and recorded it on the same session that we recorded 'Coming Home,'" Ramsey reveals, referring to their most recent hit single. "That song was for the collection that we put out of a lot of our hits and stuff. But we knew that that song was really important to us, and so we didn't put it on there because we just felt like it would get lost, so we saved it.
"Lots of times as songwriters, we just move on to the next thing pretty quickly," he adds. "And we don't look back too too much, but that one stuck around. ... There was no burn to it. We just loved it so we knew that that one was definitely gonna make it on there."
