Songfacts®:

• The expression "Old Hat," meaning outworn or passé, is thought to arise from the fact that hats tend to fall out of fashion long before they are worn out. The phrase is generally used in a derogatorily sense, but Pardi is indicating on this song he is a lover of old-school, gentlemanly manners.
  
  These days they call you crazy
  If you hold the door for a lady
  If you don't call her 'girl' 'stead of 'baby
  You're out of style, obsolete
• The song was written by Jeff Hyde, Matt Jenkins and Ryan Tyndell. Pardi first heard "Old Hat" on Jeff Hyde's 2018 album Norman Rockwell World. One of the main reasons he decided to record the tune is that his girlfriend Summer loves it. He explained on an Apple Music track by track that it reminds her of how many bad dates she's been on. "The ladies love a gentleman," he said.
• The song features many old-school country music elements, including a down-home fiddle; the instrumentation maintains the song's theme of keeping traditions alive. Pardi described the track in a video as "not really a honky-tonk song," adding that it has "a lot of soul."