At one time Country music’s image was of rugged, tanned drunks who loved their mothers and then went to prison.
Today’s Country is much fluffier—if hit-bound “Hotel Key” by Old Dominion, one of Nashville’s most popular, talented, and successful bands, was a color, it would be bubble gum pink.
Old Dominion is a multi-talented collective that melds country, pop and rock and includes some of Country’s finest singer/songwriters; they’ve had five major hits in the past three years and just last month won “Vocal Group Of The Year” at the Academy Of Country Music Awards.
“Hotel Key” is a high-energy, fun, summer song, the tale of a long ago romantic weekend that wasn’t meant to be.
And speaking of young love that became a sweet memory, “Hotel Key” brings to mind “Meet In The Middle” by Diamond Rio. It reached #1 in1991, with it’s unforgettable hook:
I‘d start walking your way
You’d start walking mine
We’d meet in the middle
‘Neath that old Georgia pine