Old Crow Medicine Show Albums (3)
What The Critics Say
Calling Old Crow Medicine Show a bluegrass band is really a bit of a stretch, since they actually sound more like a prewar jug and string band filtered through Uncle Tupelo than they do, say, Bill Monroe, and the group's attitude and themes are all rock & roll, which gives the band, when it's at its best, a wonderfully fresh vitality with a little bit of wounded cowboy angel pathos tossed in for good measure. Old Crow Medicine Show's previous two albums for Nettwerk Records, 2004's Old Crow Medicine Show and 2006's Big Iron World, were both produced by Gillian Welch's creative partner, David Rawlings, who had an instinctive feel for the group's ragged glory take on what a string band whose members listen to Nirvana could sound like in the 21st century. For Old Crow Medicine Show's third Nettwerk album, Tennessee Pusher, they've elected to go with producer Don Was, who, although he follows the same basic sound template as Rawlings, manages to take the edgy energy of the band down a slight notch, which isn't a good thing at all. Not that Tennessee Pusher is a huge fall off from Big Iron World, it's just not a great leap forward and upward, although there are plenty of striking tracks, including the perfectly voiced "Methamphetamine" (co-written by Rawlings and the band's lead singer, Ketcham Secor); the haunting and eerie "Motel in Memphis"; and the bright, radio-ready first single, "Caroline." The one cover here, an effective version of Blind Alfred Reed's "Lift Him Up," is also well worth noting. The drop in energy from Big Iron World is so slight that most fans of the group either won't care or won't notice, but one can't help but wonder what this set of songs (and there are some really good ones here) would have sounded like with Rawlings producing. Old Crow Medicine Show have the musicianship, songwriting chops, and creative vision and attitude to be something really special, and truthfully, they already are, as long as they don't paint themselves into a corner. ~ Steve Leggett, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Similar to their first album, Big Iron World sees Old Crow Medicine Show draw upon the spirit of old-timey American string band music, adding a surprisingly refreshing and youthful flair that breathes new life into what's traditional as well as harnessing a sound of their own. The group once again teamed up with David Rawlings who produced and performed on the album, co-writing five of its 12 songs. Rawlings musical other half, Gillian Welch also appears here, trading in her guitar and signature vocals for a pair of drum sticks. The first single from Big Iron Worldis an upright bass and harmonica-heavy, moaning ballad called "Down Home Girl" -- written by Arthur Butler and Jerry Leiber (the latter being responsible for such hits as "Yakety Yak," "Hound Dog," and "Jailhouse Rock"). Of course, Old Crow Medicine Show makes the tune their own, with slide guitar and Willie Watson's nasally mountain-style vocals, accentuated perfectly by the close harmony range of his bandmates. Big Iron World is a flourishing a mixture of backwoods crooners, bluegrass-tinged rockers, and crooning backwoods bluegrass-tinged rockers. There's the Highway 61 Revisited-era Dylanesque "Bobcat Tracks" and the jumping "James River Blues" both with irresistible fiddle breakdowns and perfectly executed vocal harmonies. Just as the songs "CC Rider" and "Poor Man" from Old Crow Medicine Show's debut showcased their unique vocal abilities, here they exhibit an ability to kidnap their listeners from the hustle and bustle of modern life and take them back to the good old days that neither they, nor the band, were born early enough to know. Big Iron World has its fair share of songs that offer bleak and bittersweet atmospheres. The ominous yet weary "Don't Ride That Horse," and the spiritually reverent "God's Got It," could carry themselves even if they were sung a cappella. The album's overall rainy autumn day feel isn't without its upbeat moments and humor, though. "Cocaine Habit," much like the debut album's "Tell It to Me," is a catchy harmonica-driven ode to cocaine abuse. It's followed by the rollicking "Minglewood Blues" which shows the genius achieved from melding bluegrass and blues -- not to mention the genius of Watson's distinctive howl that sets it apart. What it proves is that Big Iron World is no less worthy of praise than their debut,and furthers the band's position as one of the better neo-traditionalist string bands of the early years of the 2000s. ~ Megan Frye, All Music Guide
'Old Crow Medicine Show'
Release Date 1/1/2004
Tracks 11
Label Nettwerk
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Old Crow Medicine Show is an all-acoustic quintet from four states whose members met in New York City and currently reside in Nash Vegas. Their storied beginnings include a North American cross-continent ramble while they learned their instruments and how to play together, eventually ending up playing on the street in front of the Grand Ole Opry before being asked to the stage some weeks later. Their self-titled debut album is equal parts Woody Guthrie's dust bowl weariness and Cisco Houston's rambling code of the road, Phil Ochs' view of a passing America, the Kingston Trio's wide-eyed enthusiastic earnestness, the New Christy Minstrels' sense of community, Doc and Merle Watson's home-grown blues as informed by Bill Monroe, Beat Generation lamentations, forlorn 1960s idealism, and the musical mindset that fueled America's original folk revival from the 1950s as it moved toward rockabilly. In other words, this record is informed by ghosts but executed in flesh, blood, sweat, and laughter. Whether the tunes are covers from antiquity ("CC Rider," "Poor Man," "Tell It to Me") or originals by fiddler and vocalist Ketch Secor and his songwriting and singing partner, Willie Watson ("Trials & Troubles," "Hard to Tell," "We're in This Together"), the feel is the same: passion, humor, and relentless drive to get to the heart of the tune and put it across. There is so much enthusiasm here, so much willingness and fire, that it would be hard to do anything but want to sing along. Thoroughly enjoyable, wonderfully raw and sinewy, Old Crow Medicine Show may be evoking the sounds of the old string bands, but they do it with a crackling rock & roll energy. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
