08-07-2025
Move over ‘Brat summer': Country band hopes to make 2025 a ‘Barbara summer'
Music lovers are welcome to channel their inner 'Barbara' this summer, especially if they have a strong attachment to Old Dominion.
The mega-popular country music band has broken records, topped the charts, sold millions of albums and headlined arenas and amphitheaters around the world for the past decade.
Now the band is on the precipice of achieving another major milestone: introducing the concept of 'Barbara Summer' in conjunction with their latest album, 'Barbara,' due Aug. 22.
The album's playful cover, which was officially revealed on June 2, depicts an older woman wearing white-framed sunglasses, a pink dress and a fuzzy jacket sitting in a salon chair with her hair wrapped in curlers and smoking a cigarette — fully embodying the essence of Barbara.
'We hand selected her because we knew that the album was going to be called 'Barbara,' and we just wanted this good representation of who that album is,' Old Dominion's frontman Matthew Ramsey told MassLive, adding that the band wanted someone to encaspulate 'the range of emotions' on the project.
'We picked this lady and we wanted her to be someone that looks like they have lived some life and could tell you crazy stories, that could probably drink you under the table and also take you to church,' Ramsey said.
'This album is sort of doing that. It's all over the place emotionally, and it's very vulnerable at times, but it has a lot of fun at the same time,' Ramsey continued. 'So it reflects our life experiences. So that's who we chose to represent the album.'
The idea behind 'Barbara' summer stems from last year's 'Brat Summer', which was a cultural trend inspired by Charli XCX's critically and commercially successful album, 'Brat.'
Fans of the British pop star adopted several elements from 'Brat' into their lives — such as adding the album's signature lime green into their wardrobes or being more unfiltered.
Old Dominion Fans already appear to be hopping on the 'Barbara Summer' trend, which carries some elements of 'Brat Summer' — namely the cigarette smoking and being unapologetically yourself.
A woman went to one of Old Dominion's shows in June wearing hair curlers, a pair of white-framed sunglasses and a pink dress while holding a fake cigarette.
The band posted a video of the woman on Instagram with the caption, 'Locked in for Barbara Summer.'
And it wasn't just one woman who committed to the bit.
'We had that one person show up, and then two days later, there were, like, four people that showed up,' Ramsey said. 'The next day, I saw some people up in the crowd — I could see them all the way up in the lawn — they were way in the back, but I could tell they were dressed like Barbara.'
Ramsey's Old Dominion bandmates include lead guitarist Brad Tursi, bassist Geof Sprung, drummer Whit Sellers and keyboardist Trevor Rosen.
The band's 2014 self-titled EP marked their first entry on the Billboard charts and paved the way for their future success as 'one of mainstream country music's most popular live groups,' as described by Rolling Stone in a 2021 article.
Old Dominion's first full-length album, 'Meat and Candy' arrived in 2015. Containing the hits 'Break Up with Him,' 'Snapback' and 'Song for Another Time,' the album peaked at No. 3 on the Country Albums chart and was eventually certified platinum by the RIAA.
The Nashville-formed band followed up with back-to-back No. 1 country albums: 'Happy Endings' in 2017 and 'Old Dominion' in 2019.
Old Dominion continued to rack up hits during this time, including the chart-topping singles 'No Such Thing As A Broken Heart,' 'Written In The Sand,' 'Hotel Key,' 'Make It Sweet' and 'One Man Band.'
The band nabbed a 2021 Grammy nomination for Best Country Duo/Group Performance for their song 'Some People Do.'
Old Dominion's fourth and fifth albums — 'Time, Tequila & Therapy' and 'Memory Lane' — were released in 2021 and 2023, respectively.
Meanwhile, the band earned two more platinum singles — 'I Was on a Boat That Day' and 'Memory Lane' — and one gold single, 'No Hard Feelings.'
Old Dominion has notched nine No. 1 singles at country radio, surpassed five billion streams and earned a dozen RIAA platinum and gold single certifications.
In May, Old Dominion took home their historic eighth consecutive 'Group of the Year' win at the 2025 Academy of Country Music Awards, breaking the records for both all-time and most consecutive wins in the category.
'It's been quite a ride,' Ramsey said in response to the monumental feat. 'It seems like yesterday when we won our first one, but when we were there, someone reminded us that we've been nominated for that award for a decade now. So it's been a pretty crazy run.'
The band released their greatest hits compilation, into in September 2024 before returning with new music at the start of 2025. Old Dominion has released four singles ahead of 'Barbara' — 'Man or the Song,' 'Making Good Time,' 'Me Most Nights' and 'Water My Flowers.'
Of the latter track, Ramsey said the song's inspiration came from the desire of not wanting to be lonely and thinking about 'who's going to be there for me throughout my life and after I die.'
'That's where that question came from,' the singer explained. 'Then it kind of took shape in the form of this kind of moody, bluegrass, twinged kind of Fleetwood Mac thing.'
'Water My Flowers' also has a more positive connotation related to one of the band's traditions. Ramsey said he and his bandmates always request fresh flowers in their dressing rooms before shows to help bring some joy into their lives.
'We just like it to feel a little happy in there,' he said.
Old Dominion is currently on the 'How Good Is That World Tour,' which runs through the middle of November. The tour includes two shows at BankNH Pavilion in Gilford, New Hampshire, on July 5 and July 6.
Old Dominion will also perform at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, on Sept. 5.
'We have a really strong connection with that region,' Ramsay said when asked about the band's relationship with New England.
'[It] is really our strongest market. We have a real, true connection with those fans up there, and the energy is unparalleled,' he said. 'We love it when we get to play up there.'
Fans can shop for tickets to Old Dominion's shows using reliable third-party ticket sellers such as StubHub, VividSeats and SeatGeek.
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Read the original article on MassLive.
