The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
‘Volunteer’ effort Americana ramblers Old Crow Medicine Show’s latest, ‘Volunteer,’ sees release of songs band mates have been carrying around
It’s been 20 years since Old Crow Medicine Show came pickin’ and grinnin’ out of Virginia, delivering an Americana good time that hasn’t stopped since. ¶ During the past two decades OCMS has released 11 albums and won a pair of Grammy Awards as well as a Trailblazer Award from the Americana Music Association. Its “Wagon Wheel,” co-written with Bob Dylan, went platinum, and the sextet has appeared at just about every festival you can name. ¶ OCMS is celebrating its two decades with new music — “Volunteer,” which came out during April -- and it’s on the road with a tour that brings the band to House of Blues Cleveland on July 13.
“Volunteer,” according to co-founder Ketch Secor, represents an accumulation of songs he and Critter Fuqua had in their respective stashes.
“We’re very much a live band, and I don’t know how impactful records really are -- they’re more just like some extra fuel in the tank, I think. We never feel pressured to make a record, but I write pretty constantly and keep a steady flow of ink in my pen, and that way when it comes time to record I got to the purple folder and see what I’ve got. It’s not like I sat down and wrote ‘Volunteer’.”
“Volunteer” has a slightly more rocking quality than some of its predecessors, which Secor credits to working with producer Dave Cobb (Sturgill Simpson, Zac Brown Band, Jason Isbell and more).
“Because we were working with Dave, we wanted to pull out some of our more, I guess, rockin’ sounds and do less of a roots music or old time acoustic record. We wanted to have it be a little bigger. We were in a big room, RCA Studio A as opposed to Studio B, and a lot of times the music kind of matches the space.”
As part of that, OCMS has put electric guitar back into the mix for the first time on record since 2004.
“There’s a little bit of that, and that feels really good,” says Secor, noting that Fuqua is the band’s designated “shredder.” “I’ve been playing electric guitar since I was a kid, so I always liked having that component. It was in Bob Wills’ band, so it’s good enough for me.”
OCMS’ last album, 2014’s “Remedy,” won a Grammy for Best Folk Album, which surprised Secor and his cohorts.
“I don’t know how we got a Grammy, really, I feel like Woody Guthrie’s out there and rooting for Old Crow, and there’s a couple other folks for whom Woody Guthrie is in their hearts and they vote for Old Crow. As long as there are people that still love Woody Guthrie in America, Old Crow will sell records.”
The group has been working with director Ken Burns on an upcoming documentary about country music, which is due to pre- miere on PBS during September of 2019. And earlier this year OCMS’ career took another odd turn via a “CMT Crossroads” episode with pop star Kesha.
“I had such a good time with that woman who is Kesha,” Secor says. “I don’t know a lot of pop people or women on the cover of Rolling Stone. She might be the only person on the cover of Rolling Stone who’s a pop singer who I ever ate ca- tering with. But if they’re all like Kesha it really increases my love and respect for the women at the top of pop music. I just found her to be a really great person and fun to be with. I’m kind of a natural skeptic about pop music, but Kesha showed me you really can get to the top of pop music and retain a sense of passion and an understanding of the craft. I’m a big fan now.”