“A Song For Another Time,” the newest release by “Old Dominion,” a slick, corporate sounding Country band, follows a long history of “songs that make reference to other songs,” like 1974’s “Life Is A Rock (But The Radio Rolled Me).”
“A Song For Another Time” is y’all-y and drawl-y and mentions mostly Country songs like “So Lonesome I Could Cry” and “Sunday Morning Coming Down,” unlike “Life Is A Rock (But The Radio Rolled Me)” which is so hyper-paced you can’t really make out all the references, which range from Peter, Paul, and Mary to Wilson Pickett to Randy Newman to both Kings, Albert and B.B.
In a way, both Old Dominion and Reunion are “fronts”–Old Dominion is a group of five of Nashville’s top tunesmiths with day jobs writing hits for big stars like Kenny Chesney, The Band Perry, Dierks Bentley, Chris Young and more. No doubt they’ll keep writing for others, however, as a group, they are impressive, coming off two back to back number one songs.
Reunion, too, was the title of a group of musicians, who were just having fun, apparently trying to fit the title of almost every hit song that ever charted into a 3.33 minute record.
This format, which pops up every couple of years, mainlines nostalgia, flooding Boomers heads and hearts with memories.