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NEW HANOVER COUNTY — We never ran out of topics to discuss. Ketch Secor, a founding member of the Old Crow Medicine Show, called in for an interview when he stopped by Tulsa in late March.
The tour has just started, a new Old Crow album is in the works and two new band members have joined in time for the tour. The band will stop by Live Oak Bank his pavilion in downtown Wilmington during next week’s Azalea Festival.
READ MORE: Coming through the fire: Lucas Nelson discusses new album ahead of Wilmington concert
Perhaps most important to Secor was the tragic shooting at Nashville’s Covenant School on March 27th. Three 9-year-old children and three adults died.
“Right now I’m just thinking about my beloved Nashville with two school-age kids,” he said. “My children are the same age as the three children who were killed.”
He further explained that the children had had active shooting training at school earlier in the week. The answer was chilling.
“She said, ‘Well, it was pretty scary, especially when I was behind the desk, because my butt was sticking out. came out. I would probably have been killed.”
Secor called out to adults, especially members of parliament, who do nothing in the face of tragedy. He called it “the black mark of society”.
“I’m never going to talk about it,” Secord added. they are military. These are weapons of war. ”
Old Crow’s lead singer, fiddler and banjo player and chief songwriter has been performing for 25 years. Secor has seen the Old Crow Medicine Show become an influential force in roots music and lead a string of his band’s resurgence on the music scene.
The band regrouped with Mike Harris (banjo/guitar), Mason Veer (guitar), and drummer Jerry Pentecost replacing Chance McCoy, Joe Andrews, and Charlie Wersham. I’m back from the pandemic. They also have a newly equipped studio just north of Nashville, where Old Crow’s latest has produced his critically acclaimed 2022 album, Paint This Town, and is ready for release. It is also the place where the new album was completed.
revitalized the band.
“I just think [the new energy] It had more to do with COVID and being able to work again,” Secor said. “And the new line-up, the new producer, Matt Ross Spann, the studio we were in, what we’re working on now is something we own and a big factor in the band’s collective ethos. It’s been… a lot of updates from our experience with COVID.”
Secor said the new blood reminded him of the early days when Old Crow were busking and raving for shows.
“The unknown nature of ‘Okay, what next?’ I’m sure you will understand,” he said.
Secor and the band members cut their teeth and began shaping their sound on the streets. Playing in communities across the country solidified his band’s mix of folk, bluegrass, country, and other traditional roots with his sound mixed with rock.
During an improvisation in Boone, North Carolina, folk/bluegrass legend Doc Watson saw Old Crow and invited the group to Merlefest. Wilkesboro, North Carolina, hosts a popular music festival each spring named after his late son, Merle Watson (the 2023 event is scheduled for the last weekend of the month).
Its arrival gave Old Crow momentum and began building a tour base, which later landed them a record deal and released their debut album, OCMS, in 2004. 1973 movie “Pat Garrett and Bill the Kid”. But Dylan never finished it.
Secor heard the song on Dylan’s bootleg and decided to give it a try.
“Wagon Wheel” became Old Crow’s signature song, steadily increasing in sales and downloads to surpass 1 million views in 2013. That year, Darius Rucker covered the song, which made it even more popular as it shot to the top of the country charts. It raised awareness for The Old Crow Medicine Show and brought in a welcome income for the band.
6 albums in a row since ‘OCMS’
“Paint This Town” topped the Americana and Bluegrass charts and leans heavily toward hilarious, catchy material. “Bombs Away” and “Deford Rides Again” are bluegrass-infused, while “Lord Willing and the Creek Don’t Rise” and the title track show the band’s rock influences. It has been hailed as the band’s best effort to date.
Old Crow now has another album due for release in August or September. Secor says the sound envelops his Old Crow to find his current stride.
“‘Paint This Town’ was kind of an adventure. Think about what this is like,” Secor said of the new band’s iteration.
Future releases were written together.
“Mike and Mason and Jerry are all the writers on the new album in a way that they weren’t as good as they were on the first album,” he said. “And it’s also produced by ourselves with Matt Ross Spann, so it’s a little more acoustic and a little more banjoy than an Old Crow rocking record.”
Still, Old Crow have further reorganized the band’s line-up since recording their latest album. Pentecost moved on and was replaced by Dante Pope, joined by multi-instrumentalist PJ George III, who included Secor, Morgan Janig (bass), Corey Janz (keyboards), Harris and Via. I created a lineup of 7 people.
Live, the band maintains the same sound, the same energy. For their latest tour, the group plans to stock the show with new and old original material alike. Sometimes there is even one or two of his songs related to the city the band is playing in.
“As long as the singing canon is Old Crow music and I’ve been on a consistent line for the past 25 years, it’s an Old Crow medicine show,” said Secor. “Whatever it is, as long as there’s a fiddle and a banjo and I’m there and Morgan’s there and the other guys at the Old Crow Medicine Show are there, and (if) the bones are played and the mandolin and With harmony singing and lots of smiles in front of you, you can get a show of medicine.
The Old Crow Medicine Show takes place at Riverfort Park in downtown Wilmington on Friday, April 14th. Tickets range from $40 to $110 and are available here.
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