MUSIC REVIEW | Old Crow Medicine Show plays that old-timey stuff at the State Theatre
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Old Crow Medicine Show should not play at a sit down venue. Ever. There just isn’t enough room for fans to dance, jump, hoot and holler between those tiny rows of seats. This was all evident from the get go when they opened last night with “Brushy Mountain Conjugal Trailer,” which is the first track on their new album Remedy.As quickly as Critter Fuqua’s (doubtful that’s his real first name) banjo strings were plucked and Ketch Secor’s harmonica spewed notes laced with passionate country love, the crowd was on its feet dancing as if it was barefoot at an outdoor music festival. Suddenly, any hint of Minnesota passive aggressive niceness was gone, replaced by a sweaty, gritty, twirling, hee-haw screaming frenzy mirroring the seven-man band on the stage before them.Ferocious in their playing style and polished and refined in their showmanship, OCMS balances their performance quite well by bringing hard-charging bluegrass and alt-country with songs such as “Alabama High Test” and “Bootlegger’s Boy,” but calms the mood with old-timey and somber sadness pieces such as “Dearly Departed Friend” and “The Warden.”When introducing “Tell That Woman” (Willie Dixon cover), which was followed by “The Warden,” Secor told the crowd, “We’re gonna do it like they originally did with one microphone.”A four-part harmony simply accompanied by an occasional single strum of the guitar by Chance McCoy and snapping by Secor, Fuqua, and Cory Younts, “Tell That Woman” displayed how well connected OCMS are as musicians. Continue Reading