Old Dominion will perform at 7 p.m. Saturday at Les Schwab Amphitheater in Bend.

In the waning weeks of 2019, Old Dominion was preparing for launch. The Nashville-based country band had just released its third album (which was self-titled), and it was riding high on the performance of its single “One Man Band,” which not only topped out at No. 2 on Billboard’s country chart, but also reached No. 20 on the U.S. pop chart.

With a growing legion of fans and a busy tour schedule on the books, Old Dominion was in position to make the leap from mega-popular country act to crossover superstars.

And then … well, you know what happened in 2020.

“It felt like we were firing on all cylinders and ready to go,” said lead vocalist Matthew Ramsey in a phone interview. “And then we hit that big ol’ roadblock.”

Looking back, though, the pandemic really didn’t slow Old Dominion’s momentum much. Over the past year or so, the band racked up wins at the CMT Music Awards, the Academy of Country Music Awards and the Country Music Association Awards. And behind the scenes, Ramsey and his mates decided to approach writing and recording new songs in an entirely new way.

“We were like, look, we have an opportunity here to spend a few weeks in a studio together in another town and just live together and write music every day and see what we can come up with,” he said.

“That’s not how we normally do it because we’ve always been too busy, but it’s always been a dream of ours,” he continued. “So this time we went in with no songs on purpose and said, ‘Let’s try to create them from the ground up all together.”

To be clear, there is no lack of songwriting talent in Old Dominion. Before the band got big, Ramsey wrote hits for superstars like Luke Bryan, Dierks Bentley and Kenny Chesney. Multi-instrumentalist Josh Rosen’s songs were cut by Keith Urban and Blake Shelton. And guitarist Brad Tursi wrote the No. 2 song on the country chart right now, Dan + Shay’s “Glad You Exist.”

Put ’em all in a room together and magic happens, as evidenced by the band’s new song “I Was On a Boat That Day,” a breezy party anthem featuring a heavy Zydeco vibe. It’s the first single from Old Dominion’s next album, which hasn’t yet been announced.

It will be at some point, but first, Old Dominion is picking up where it left off: on the road, on stage, playing for the people.

“It feels almost bigger, you know? I think people are just so ready,” he said. “They’ve been deprived of live music for so long, I think they’re just so happy to be back at it. It’s been wild out there so far.”

What: Old Dominion:

When: 7 p.m. Saturday

Where: Les Schwab Amphitheater, 344 SW Shevlin Hixon Drive, Bend

Cost: $59

Contact: bendconcerts.com