Old Crow Medicine Show
Old Crow Medicine Show is fantastic. They are a country/old time band from New York, and they are the only contemporary country band out there that has some mainstream popularity while still playing authentic country music. I’m sure there are hundreds of small-town, informal groups in Appalachia and the south playing some incredibly cool old-time music, but nobody ever hears it because that’s not what the average American wants to listen to. OCMS somehow bridges that gap and is popular (moderately, at least) while still being awesome. The chorus of their most popular song, “Wagon Wheel,” was written by Bob Dylan, and the verses were written later by OCMS. I think it was Willie Nelson who said that they are the only modern country music group to do country music right. Ketch Secor, founder of the group, said this about Nashville: ”This town is shitty. This town is everything that the mountain is not. This town is full of money. This town has no kinship. This town has no brotherly love. But this town is where we are, and we have never been in the wrong place.” Just an awesome group all around.
March 31st, 2008 at 3:48 am
I’m from Appalachia, so I’m happy to learn about OCMS–thanks for blogging this. There was a brief resurgence of popularity for mountain music when “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” came out. Ralph Stanley finally made some money and got the attention he’d deserved all along. Other than that, though, you’re right: good mountain music is not a mainstream genre, and most country music is too slick to have any soul.