Old Dominion blends 'Time, Tequila & Therapy' on anticipated new album

What three ingredients fuel Old Dominion?  

If the band's new album gives listeners any indication, an Old Dominion cocktail consists of a pinch of time, a shot of tequila and a sprinkle of therapy. 

And that's why the chart-topping country-pop outfit named a new album "Time, Tequila & Therapy." 

"That title came from one of the songs, 'No Hard Feelings,'" said singer Matthew Ramsey. "That line encapsulates what we are as a band. Those three things are a big makeup of this band."  

More:CMA Nominations 2021: Eric Church, Chris Stapleton top a list with several newcomers

For the latest effort, the group retreated from Nashville to Asheville, North Carolina, for a three-week writing-recording session that yielded the 13-song release that tip-toes between the band's slick take on modern country-pop to '80s rock influence and one guest spot from a soul legend. 

The band releases "Time, Tequila & Therapy" Friday via Sony Music Nashville. The album follows a 2019 self-titled release that propelled the band to a pair of CMA Award wins and an ACM Award in 2020 for Song of the Year "One Man Band." 

"There's a lot of different vibes [on 'Time, Tequila & Therapy]," said multi-instrumentalist Trevor Rosen. "A lot of the songs don't sound anything like each other, but they all come cohesively into this album. I think that's what's pretty cool about it." 

In leaving Nashville, Old Dominion — featuring members Rosen, Ramsey, guitarist Brad Tursi, bassist Geoff Sprung drummer Whit Sellers — hoped to escape experiencing somewhat rushed recording sessions, Ramsey said. 

"The way we made this album has always been kind of a pipe dream for us, or so we thought," Ramsey said. "We wanted to have time to actually create in the studio." 

He continued, "[We could] just live in the same spot and be creative from the time we woke up to the time we went to bed. We went in there with no songs pre-written. We would wake up every morning, write a song and that afternoon, record it." 

Tursi added: "Whenever you first write a song you're pretty excited about it so you got to capitalize on that excitement and take it directly into the recording process. There was no time to think, 'Is this song gonna be good forever?'" 

Old Dominion hoped to return to Nashville with three to five songs, said bassist Geoff Sprung. Instead, they left North Carolina last fall with an album. 

"Once the ball got rolling in the first couple of days, we all lit up and realized this was going to be easily more than five songs," Sprung said. "And we ended up with a full album." 

'Time, Tequila & Therapy' shows lighthearted moments from Old Dominion, especially "I Wanna Live In A House With You Forever," a stripped-back track that teams the group's pop sensibilities with moments of whimsical Americana. 

In the song, Ramsey cheerfully sings, "A yard with a cat and a dog named 'Blue'/ A couple rug rats singing 'buckle my shoe'/ Don't need a window for a wonderful view/ I wanna live in a house with you forever." 

And the band created this moment of sincerity in-part out of satire, Sellers said. 

"I was satirizing some country song, I don't remember the name of it," Sellers said, adding: "I have a list of garbage, funny, non-useful titles and phrases and stuff. We were going down that list — laughing about it — and that title comes up. You know, songwriters, man. Can't turn it off." 

In a way, the process sounds therapeutic — one in a handful of essential ingredients for Old Dominion. 

"['Time, Tequila' & Therapy'] really is a snapshot of the creative space that we were in for that amount of time," Rosen said.