Old Dominion took home their seventh Vocal Group of the Year trophy at the 2024 CMA Awards, making history at the award show.

Matthew Ramsey exclusively told Us Weekly on the Wednesday, November 20, red carpet that the group still can’t believe how much success they’ve accrued. (Ramsey, 47, fronts the band alongside members Trevor Rosen, Whit Sellers, Geoff Sprung and Brad Tursi.)

“I mean, we worked really, really, really hard at this for a really long time, so in that aspect, yeah, we can believe it,” Ramsey told Us. “We feel a lot of love from our fans and from the community, it’s been a really amazing ride. The fact that we got that far is what is hard to believe.”

Old Dominion has been performing together since 2007, overcoming financial struggles and once facing difficulties paying their water bill.

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“Those were lean days,” Ramsey recalled. “We were all struggling just like every other artist that moves here [and] every other writer that moves to Nashville that just has to dig their heels in and do whatever it takes no matter how hard it gets because you just love it so much and that’s what we were doing.”

Brad Tursi, Matthew Ramsey, Trevor Rosen and Geoff Sprung Jason Kempin/Getty Images

Tursi, 45, chimed in to note that those hardships had been “some of the best times.”

“I mean, you’re just staying up all night, meeting people, playing songs. Everyone’s pushing each other,” Tursi explained. “It’s an important [and] a special time, you know?”

According to Tursi, the group’s enduring friendship has also shaped their journey as a musical group.

“I mean, luckily, we are friends, you know what I mean?” Tursi said. “It’s, like, we crack each other up. All we do is laugh and I don’t know why that is, but we just happen to get along.”

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Ramsey, for his part, added that they “were that way before the band,” too.

During Wednesday’s award ceremony in Nashville, the band beat out Lady A, Little Big Town, The Red Clay Strays and Zac Brown Band, respectively, to take home the honor for Vocal Group of the Year.

Speaking to Us in the press room after the victory, Ramsey further stressed that “not much has changed” for the group after the record-breaking win.

“We love everything we do. We love goofing off together,” Ramsey gushed. “We’re inspired by each other. It just doesn’t stop and that comes with being in a band. If you’re a solo artist, you don’t have that energy to feed off of. If I don’t have it that day, I know one of these guys is gonna have it, and then it’ll bring me up to that level. So really not much has changed, we just wear fancier suits.”

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Now, they want to pᴀss on their years of lessons to other up-and-coming artists.

“First of all, just be true to yourself and don’t chase the radio and don’t chase what you think you’re supposed to sound like,” Rosen, 49, advised Us on the red carpet. “Do things that excite you, because if you’re excited about it and you’re writing your favorite song, it’ll translate to somebody else.”

With reporting by Aria Parker