Old Dominion is gearing up to hit the road for their 2023 headlining tour and are sharing how their tour name came to be.
In a recent conversation with Audacy’s Katie Neal, the band shared how Kenny Chesney came up with their tour name, their new collaboration with him, and the time one of the “No Shoes Nation” singer’s guitar techs made out with band member Matt Ramsey’s mom.
In discussing the tour name, Ramsey recalled how the band was selling flags with the phrase, “No Bad Vibes” written on them. The phrase is derived from the chorus of the band’s song, “No Hard Feelings” from their 2021 album, Time, Tequila & Therapy.
“[Kenny] knew we were trying to come up with a tour name,” Ramsey told Neal backstage at Audacy’s Stars and Strings concert event. “He called Brad first,” he added, gesturing toward his bandmate, Brad Tursi.
“He was like, walking towards me in the hallway, and he was like, ‘you guys got a name for your tour?,” Tursi said. “I was like, ‘no,’ and he didn’t say anything. I was like, ‘do you have any ideas?’ He was like, ‘yeah.’ [I said] ‘what is it?’”
Tursi then revealed Chesney suggested the band call the tour No Bad Vibes. “I was like, ‘that’s actually a good idea,’” he shared.
“Once Kenny says, ‘this is what you should call it,’ you don’t really have a choice after that,” Neal agreed.
The band also discussed their new collaboration with Chesney called “Beer With My Friends,” which appears on his 2022 album of the same name.
“How did this go? Was this a similar thing in the hallway where Kenny went, ‘I got a song, [for you guys]?,’ Neal asked.
“Yeah,” Ramsey said. “He was kinda like, ‘hey, I’m going to send you guys a song and I think it’d be fun to do. I don’t really know what I’m gonna do with it yet, I just think it’d be fun to have you guys on it,’ So we were like, ‘yeah, sure,” he explained. “The next thing we know it’s a single.”
Besides talking about music, Ramsey told a story about how one of Chesney’s guitar techs made out with his mom on the Here And Now Tour.
“Their guitar tech made out with my Mom, in front of me. He was giving me a hard time for not introducing him to my parents… so on the way back I was like, ‘Zeke, this is my Mom and he just grabbed her. I was laughing, and so was my dad. And then it was like, it’s still going!,” Ramsey recalled.
Although the moment was awkward for him and his dad, Ramsey clarified that his parents are still together.
“My mom is still happily married to my dad, but he [the guitar tech] decided to grab my mom and make us all uncomfortable. My mom said, ‘That was more exciting than watching [her] son play a stadium full of people.’ Thanks, mom!,’” he added, laughing.
Old Dominion served as support on Chesney’s Here And Now Tour this past summer alongside Dan + Shay and Carly Pearce. The band’s No Bad Vibes Tour kicks off on Jan. 19 in Evansville, Indiana, and wraps on Jun. 30 in Lake Tahoe, Nevada.
The tour will include stops in both the U.S. and Canada and features support from Frank Ray, Kassi Ashton, Greylan James, Steven Lee Olsen, and Shawn Austin on select dates. Fans who are interested in buying tickets can click HERE.