Words and photos by Re:Create Magazine editor Caroline Schwarz
I’ve wanted to see Old Crow Medicine Show play in the south, in some of the towns around the hills and hollers and streets where they first started making music, to be close to places referenced in favorite songs like James River Blues, New Virginia Creeper and, of course, Wagon Wheel. Their just-released album, Volunteer, is also full of local flavor from Dixie Avenue to the Lee Highway, while achieving a scope of songwriting that is broad and universal. Couple the geographic connection with these being the debut shows for the new record, and the result is a trip that is meaningful, memorable, and of course very much fun.
Asheville, NC – 4/23/18 and 4/24/18
My week-long run kicks off with two sold out shows in Asheville, NC at the Orange Peel, a reputed venue in these parts and beyond. Springtime in the south and it’s windy and rainy; a few die-hard fans huddle in line pre-show, waiting to get in and listening to sound-check for a preview of what the night might bring. This first show of their new album tour is an enthralling, well-blended mix of old and new. It is long, consisting of about 30 songs total with roughly a third played in set one and the rest in what feels like a gloriously endless set two. One gets the feeling they are happy to be back out on the road in front of their fans, and don’t want to call it a night!
They are not shy with the new songs, playing all but one of them on the first night and only one less on a just slightly shorter night two. Though some of these songs have made it into performances over the last few years, these are their debuts as units of a recorded album and as building blocks in a full show. It’s fun to be around for that process of incorporation, to watch the songs open up and find their footing as part of a full live performance, and to experience them moved around to different parts of the set night to night. The thumping, pulsing start like a giant heartbeat to Child Of The Mississippi makes a great show opener; it’s a song that’s big and wide and muddy like its topic. Some of the best-played songs are the new rave-ups, including Shout Mountain Music which, over the course of the week, will be book-ended by different older songs on one side and Elzick’s Farewell – a traditional fiddle-heavy instrumental from Ireland via Appalachia, reworked on Volunteer – on the other. The first Orange Peel night it comes out of Brave Boys and then, for night two, out of the less often played Bootlegger’s Boy. This medley is especially fun, with Cory leading the call and response on Shout Mountain Music (“All night long! All night long!”) and Critter deftly singing at breakneck speed ,“Gonna fire up my fuse, I’m gonna boogaloo my blues, gonna cut a rug from Raleigh to Richmond!” It flows into Elzick’s and there’s some extra instrumental energy provided by roadie extraordinaire Bobby Price on a third fiddle alongside Ketch and Chance, tearing it up at the lip of the stage.
The new Flicker & Shine makes a great opener for the night’s second half, though I’ll also see it work well as a set closer as well as mid-set, on subsequent nights; they are trying out its energy in all different spots! And the song has a lot of energy. This is one of those ‘join-together-playing-in-the-band’ type songs, a song that breaks down barriers between performers and audience, both thematically and in its execution, as we all sing along at varying speeds slowed down and sped up throughout: “All together, we fall together, we ride together, we’re wild together, all together, we fall together, every little light will flicker and shiiiiiiinnnne!” It’s a message of unity and camaraderie and feels like nothing less than a giant hug between band and audience, a tribute to what we do together.
Aside the new tunes each night are the inevitable crowd-pleasing favorites and also some unexpected gems. We’re treated to Chance taking a rare lead slot on Down Home Girl, played and sung with a somewhat bluesier, dirtier twang than the original. Caroline, always a personal favorite to hear, is done with a slightly relaxed pace, more mellow and contemplative, bringing out the song’s bittersweet, nostalgic quality. A dark and brooding Tennessee Pusher flows into Neil Young’s Cortez the Killer – from out on the lonely highway to dancing across the water, a linking of melodies and mood that fit together so well they seem made for each other. The front porch feel of CC Rider is enhanced mid-song by Cory’s proficient whistling, at which Ketch feigns surprise and amazement each night, once even looking dramatically out at the audience and mouthing a humorously astonished “What the fuck?” Critter embellishes this one each night with different comical mid-verse commentary on the “She was standing in the kitchen” verse, always visibly egged on by Ketch (“eating thoughtfully sourced tempeh” for Asheville, or “pouring Ben’s Chili on my dog” for DC; she’s usually “drinking vodka” somewhere in there, too).
As if all this weren’t more than enough to send a gal home happy, we get at least one jaw-dropper each night and first night of Asheville it’s Crazy Eyes. A simple circle of light illuminates Ketch as he steps forward for the acoustic guitar intro; we don’t get to hear him pick and strum alone very often and he takes the spotlight elegantly. I love the poetic cadence of this song. Then it builds and the drums and rest of the band comes in, and it swings so well!
Charlottesville, VA – 4/26/18
There is nothing I don’t like about my day and night in Charlottesville. The weather, the town, the people, running into and conversing about the tour and the trip so far with the sweet and talented Joe Andrews (‘the newest Old Crow,’ as Ketch will refer to him tonight). The venue, the show, the AFTER-show… everything is just top-notch. It’s the first outdoor show of the year on a warm spring night under the expansive canopy of the Sprint Pavilion, like a schooner or a big-top tent, with immaculate sound. Ketch alludes to the city’s recent troubles that sickened anyone of conscience last summer, saying, “You’ve been on our minds, Charlottesville” and likens his and the band’s connection to and concern about the city as how one would feel toward “a kid sister.” It’s a perfect intro to a particularly poignantly performed medley of songs that speak for unity and love over separation and hatred, Ain’t It Enough / We’re All In This Together.
No song feels more apt or echos more eloquently Ketch’s sentiments on what’s been in the news about Charlottesville this past year as the new song Look Away. This ballad to the South declares repeatedly, “I keep loving you down through the years, even on the darkest day” and captures movingly the inherent tension in a love for this region with such a powerfully dark past that still looms. With references to hidden lynching trees (“a secret place that everybody knows what it looks like but can’t nobody say”) and the boss-man’s scale, the song nonetheless speaks with a deep reverence for a place that is home, where the lights are trimmed and burning ’til day. Tonight it is unbelievably heartfelt, full of both pride and profound sorrow, as Ketch closes his eyes and sings with such care; he seems taken away by the words and melody and we go with him, cradled on the notes of a mournful violin.
We get a special guest tonight, Leons Cabongo, “From Harrisonburg by way of the Democratic Republic of Congo.” He is a former Shepherd University student and football player, now a community activist around issues of resources, poverty and agriculture, and tonight he is conga player on A World Away, which Ketch introduces as a new and “an open-armed kind of tune.” I’ve been familiar with this song since they debuted it live last summer. Never before tonight has it begun to strike me what it is actually about. I wade in the river and I march through the sand, now I’m standing at the gates of the promised land. This is a song about refugees and immigration into our country. Leons adds a smooth beat and and groove and the song opens up with a middle jam that is jubilant and joyful. Ketch thanks him at the end and calls him “the true embodiment of that song.”
For a lucky few hundred of us the party continues at The Southern, a local bar a few blocks away, where members of Old Crow show up and play with the band Chamomile and Whiskey for a few choice covers (“These guys don’t know any Old Crow songs” one of the musicians quips), including U.S. Blues, Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down, Tangled Up In Blue, and American Girl. I squeeze myself in stage-front just as they take the stage. They’re all dressed down now from stage clothes to street clothes, and Ketch turning to spit dip into a plastic cup placed on an amp behind him; it’s a down-home after-party wind-down event that is intimately informal with a looseness to it that only this type of thing can bring, but killer tight performances nonetheless. It’s a blast and an incredibly cool way to end what’s been a perfect day. I feel very lucky to be there.
Washington, DC – 4/28/18
Onto the last night of my spring run (also their last night for a few days), and I’m ready for a big time. The Anthem is about a year-old venue in the newly designed Wharf District of DC, with several tiers of balconies and a large standing-room floor; it’s a big place and they’ve sold it out for this configuration (it can be expanded to hold as many as 6,000; tonight it’s closer to 3,000). It’s not always entirely evident what makes a night have IT – some combination of the crowd, the setting, the mood the band is in, and who can say what else will create an ineffable energy that will take over and make it sparkle that extra bit.
Early on Ketch declares that they will not burden this DC audience with politics because he’s sure we get enough of that, but challenges us to discern the subliminal messages in the songs. All the songs have hidden meanings, he says with a sly grin. A few tunes in he humorously introduces this next one as having “no political message whatsoever” with a tongue-in-cheek tone that’s impossible to miss, and they launch into a scathing and incredibly high-octane version of Mean Enough World. By the time they get to Levi late in the first set there is an enthusiastic connection between band and audience and Ketch takes an extra minute to go into the story behind the song, of Lieutenant Levi Barnard, a country boy from Virginia who enlisted and was sent to Iraq, to die in an explosion within weeks. He was an Old Crow fan and had Wagon Wheel played at his funeral – the ultimate tribute, says Ketch, to have your song played as someone is laid to rest. Levi was written for him and tonight, as every night but it feels especially so tonight, it is sung for him. And it seems that everyone in the place is singing, on the verses and the soaring chorus that speaks his name, up to the heavens. The combination of being near where Levi came from and in this place where wars are conceived and orchestrated makes the song a potent tribute to the man and what happened and what should never happen. Ketch ends it with a peace sign held high and “Bring them home!”
For oldies we get Mississippi Saturday Night (“It’s Saturday night in D.C., but it’s also Saturday night in Mississippi!”) and Tennessee Bound, both of which satisfy the stompin’, shit-kickin’, hillbilly rave-up needs of any Old Crow fan, and a second outing for the tour of the deep and mysterious Highway Halo, which Ketch introduces as a road song. This song is gorgeously complex and not that well known and certainly, while I dearly wished to hear it live, couldn’t really have anticipated it. The twangy dobro kicks it off and Ketch’s singing is spectacular, lifting up to the heavens on the ‘shine like goooollld’ lines and creating a shimmering musical space.
A World Away is introduced as a song with which “Old Crow hopes to open the gates” and Ketch sends it out to the Department of Homeland Security. I listen with newly opened ears to the ‘hidden meaning’ of this one, referencing the big ol’ party we’re having in these United States and standing at a locked door. At one point Ketch beams, “They like the new songs in D.C.!” and it’s true, we do. There is a familiarity with these songs off Volunteer that is surprising since it only came out a week ago, with people grooving and singing along as if the tunes are already old friends.
As a result of the warm welcome tonight and the abundant flow of energy back and forth, we get a couple of extra songs. One is during the stripped down part of the set, when the guys gather around one mic at the lip of the stage. This segment kicks off with a first for the run, Bob Dylan’s Blowin’ In The Wind. It feels magical tonight, taking on big meaning and importance here in our nation’s capital where it has played such a significant role in marches and movements for over 50 years; a simple song that still needs to be sung. I get the same feeling a few songs later as This Land Is Your Land is sung out of I Hear Them All; I’m not necessarily one to get all misty-eyed and patriotic, but this is the kind of patriotism I can get behind. Next in this acoustic set comes Poor Man and, while they’ve been doing just a pair of songs in this configuration, they must be digging the up close and personal tonight (and Ketch has declared with a laugh, “They like my ukulele in D.C.!”) so I see Ketch call Stealin’ and I’m a happy camper as I always love their rendition of this song, with the clapping and the wonderfully shared singing, and can certainly stand to have them all about three feet away from me for an extra tune!
The other bonus song comes after they’ve left and come back. We’ve been getting their fabulous and stratospheric cover of Spirit In The Sky to wrap things up nightly and, while this will again come tonight, the encore kicks off with an unmistakable intro riff that heralds a huge performance of the Grateful Dead’s U.S. Blues. Cory sings his heart out on this one, Chance shreds electric on the leads, and it’s all accompanied by a red, white and blue light show that is pure rock ‘n roll.
It is a gigantically celebratory ending to this extra-special night of music in D.C., and it strikes me as a powerful testament to the artistry, versatility and sheer entertainment prowess of Old Crow Medicine Show. That they can take you on a ride that includes songs of theirs that are barely a week old but everyone already knows and loves; other songs of theirs that we’ve heard for years but are somehow still exciting and new each night; through traditional songs that are decades old that they infuse with relevance and freshness all their own; and then into a powerhouse knock-down Grateful Dead jam… well, that about says anything else that I’d be able to say about them. Except, of course, go see ’em for yourself the next chance you get!
Old Crow Medicine Show is:
Ketch Secor: Fiddle, Banjo, Guitar, Ukulele, Harmonica, Vocals
Critter Fuqua: Guitar, Slide Guitar, Banjo, Drums, Vocals
Morgan Jahnig: Upright Bass
Cory Younts: Mandolin, Keyboards, Drums, Vocals
Chance McCoy: Fiddle, Guitar, Electric Guitar, Dobro, Banjo, Vocals
Joe Andrews: Guitar, Pedal Steel, Banjo, Dobro
Old Crow Medicine Show April 2018 Set Lists:
Asheville, NC 4/23/18
Child of the Mississippi
Alabama High Test
Take Em Away
Brave Boys / Shout Mountain Music / Elzick’s Farewell
James River Blues
Dixie Avenue
Old Hickory
Sweet Amarillo
Crazy Eyes
CC Rider
Tell It To Me
Flicker & Shine
Caroline
Firewater
A World Away
Down Home Girl
The Good Stuff
Cumberland River
Look Away
Mean Enough World
Tennessee Pusher / Cortez The Killer
Poor Man
Stealin’
Brushy Mountain Conjugal Trailer
Absolutely Sweet Marie
Whirlwind
I Hear Them All / This Land Is Your Land
Wagon Wheel
8 Dogs 8 Banjos
E: Spirit In The Sky
Asheville NC 4/24/18
Tell It To Me
Alabama High Test
Big Time in the Jungle
Bootlegger’s Boy / Shout Mountain Music / Elzick’s Farewell
Child of the Mississippi
Ain’t It Enough
Shit Creek
We Don’t Grow Tobacco Round Here No More
CC Rider
Flicker & Shine
Carry Me Back
New Virginia Creeper / 16 Tons
A World Away
Down Home Girl
Doc’s Day
The Good Stuff
Highway Halo
Methamphetamine
Look Away
River Of Jordan
Poor Man
Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine)
Old Hickory
I Hear Them All / This Land Is Your Land
Wagon Wheel
8 Dogs 8 Banjos
E: Spirit In The Sky
Charleston WV 4/25/18
Child of the Mississippi
Alabama High Test
Take Em Away
Bootlegger’s Boy / Shout Mountain Music / Elzick’s Farewell
Tell It To Me
Dixie Avenue
Ain’t It Enough / We’re All In This Together
Shit Creek
Levi
CC Rider
Flicker & Shine
Carry Me Back
New Virginia Creeper / 16 Tons
Cumberland River
Down Home Girl
The Good Stuff
A World Away
Methamphetamine
Homecoming Party
Old Hickory
River Of Jordan
Poor Man
Look Away
I Hear Them All / Country Roads
Wagon Wheel
8 Dogs 8 Banjos
E: Spirit In The Sky
Charlottesville VA 4/26/18
Child of the Mississippi
Alabama High Test
Firewater
My Bones Gonna Rise / Shout Mountain Music / Elzick’s Farewell
Cumberland River
Ain’t It Enough / We’re All In This Together
Flicker & Shine
James River Blues
The Good Stuff
CC Rider
Tell It To Me
Sweet Amarillo
Dixie Avenue
Fall On My Knees / Tear It Down
A World Away
Old Hickory
Methamphetamine
River Of Jordan
Poor Man
Brushy Mountain Conjugal Trailer
Whirlwind
Look Away
I Hear Them All / Country Roads
Wagon Wheel
8 Dogs 8 Banjos
E: Spirit In The Sky
Washington DC 4/28/18
Child of the Mississippi
Alabama High Test
Take Em Away
Brave Boys / Shout Mountain Music / Elzick’s Farewell
Ain’t It Enough / We’re All In This Together
Mean Enough World
Flicker & Shine
The Good Stuff
Levi
CC Rider
Tell It To Me
Sweet Amarillo
Dixie Avenue
Caroline
Mississippi Saturday Night
Old Hickory
A World Away
Highway Halo
Methamphetamine
Blowin’ In The Wind
Poor Man
Stealin’
Tennessee Bound
Homecoming Party
Look Away
I Hear Them All / This Land Is Your Land
Wagon Wheel
8 Dogs 8 Banjos
E1: U.S. Blues
E2: Spirit In The Sky
For Old Crow Medicine Show Upcoming Tour Dates, visit:
http://www.crowmedicine.com/tour/
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