Guitarist Duane Denison favored the location as its cheaper studio costs allowed for longer periods of song-writing.

[2] The album was recorded over six days in Easy Eye Sound Studios in Nashville, Tennessee, and produced by Collin Dupuis and the band.

Dupuis had previously worked with the band The Black Keys, whose singer Dan Auerbach owns Easy Eye Sound.

[5] The band planned to meet and rehearse for a week before recording the album, but upon getting together again, Patton experienced a death in the family which resulted in him leaving for several days.

[1] Spin magazine's Christopher R. Weingarten has described the record as featuring a mix of genres, including "groany, smoky, Morricone-jazz" and "the types of epic, majestic choruses that Patton diehards might remember from the final Faith No More LP, Album of the Year".

[18] Drowned in Sound's Kev Eddy scored Oddfellows eight out of ten, comparing it favorably to the work of Patton's earlier band Faith No More.

[24] Spin magazine's Grayson Currin rated Oddfellows seven out of ten, finding that it "presents a tide of ideas, information, and intrigue".

[19] Comaratta felt that the album rewarded patient listeners but did not provide memorable hooks or melodies, and compared its "laid back" sound to that of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

[23] Pitchfork Media's Paul Thompson scored Oddfellows 6.8 out of ten, considering it "Tomahawk's most straightforward, stripped-down release to date".

[22] Thompson considered the group's main dynamic to consist of Denison's compositions and Patton's vocals, finding that bass player Dunn "hangs back here, ably holding down the low end without overasserting himself".