One Man Band

Album: Old Dominion (2019)
Charted: 20
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Songfacts®:

  • This love ballad finds Old Dominion comparing being without a romantic partner to playing music on your own.

    I don't wanna be a one man band
    I don't wanna be a rolling stone alone
    Putting miles on a run-down van
    Baby, we can take our own show on the road


    Lead singer Matthew Ramsey explained the song's concept. "One of the things we talk about the most in this band is how we can't imagine being on this crazy ride alone. We have each other to celebrate the highs and get through the challenges with. It's one of the best parts of being a BAND."

    "Sure, you can make music alone," he added. "But if you find people you have a chemistry with, a whole new world opens up."

    "I think it's the same with life and love," Ramsey continued. "You can go it alone. But sometimes there is another person out there that adds something to your 'music' that you would have never had on your own. That's the show you want to take on the road. That's what this song is about."
  • The song takes Old Dominion into new territory. The band have touched on matters of the heart before, in singles like "Hotel Key" and "Written in the Sand." but "One Man Band" is their first true love song.

    "I don't think our fans have heard us show the type of emotion that they will hear in 'One Man Band,'" Matthew Ramsey told People. "It's a straight-up love song with a certain desperation to it that seems to show up in quite a few of the other new songs we have yet to release."
  • Old Dominion won their first AMA Song of the Year award for "One Man Band" with Matthew Ramsey, Trevor Rosen and Brad Tursi each receiving an additional win as songwriters.

    Old Dominion also won the Group of the Year award for the third consecutive year at the ceremony, which took place in Nashville on September 16, 2020.
  • Matthew Ramsey explained to Katie Neal on Superstar Power Hour that the song was born on the tour bus. The group were talking to a radio person before a show, and he used the phrase "one man band." Old Dominion guitar player Brad Tursi was standing next to Ramsey, and the frontman nudged him and said, "Hey, we gotta write this song called 'One Man Band,'" and the ideas soon started flowing. Ramsey added, "Sometimes the idea just kind of hits you."

Comments: 1

  • Anonymouswhat kind of instruments do you guys use in this song?
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