The five guys that makeup Old Dominion have won awards before. But never like this.
After they picked up their ACM Award for vocal group of the year on Sunday (April 15), they came backstage to share how it felt to be able to sprint up to the show’s main stage.
“To stand there at the little microphone is a different thing,” explained the band’s frontman Matt Ramsey. The band has won before, but in a category that wasn’t televised.
“And then to see all our peers out there smiling, it means a lot,” he said. “It’s gonna take a little bit to sink in.”
Ramsey said that everything is different now because they are no longer the new guys. “We’re in a big boy category now. And we always sort of had a fire under us — and now we’re looking at a big headlining tour in the fall — so we are not a bar band anymore.
“We know that. We have to step up a little bit. That’s something that excites us as a band, as musicians, as performers and as songwriters,” he said. “We welcome that fire.”
And when he talked about staying #VegasStrong, Ramsey said that Old Dominion is happy to play a part in the healing for those affected by the tragedy at the Route 91 Harvest festival.
“The smallest step toward healing something through our music is much heavier than this (trophy) will ever be.”
An all-new CMT Hot 20 Countdown, airing Saturday and Sunday (April 21-22) at 9 a.m. ET, will have more on all the action from the ACMs in Las Vegas.