Old Crow Medicine Show

Old Crow
Medicine Show Old Crow Medicine Show (Nettwerk Records;
2004)

I first came across this band while stoking an early morning
fire at a friend’s home a few miles north of Big Sur. It was late
summer, but the air was crisp and urgent a couple miles up Palo
Colorado. Looking for a bit of a soundtrack to my
pre-breakfast duties, I hit play on the CD player and a perfectly
balanced ensemble of banjos, fiddles, a harmonica, and a stand-up
bass rolled out of the speakers, their sweet-as-sunshine harmonies
an almost too perfect compliment to the sea of redwoods rolling
down the canyon before me.

I let the music play all morning long. From boiling water for
fresh coffee on into peanut butter toast and bananas, the
five-member Nashville-based bluegrass band was more than up to the
challenge of kick-starting my day. The musical equivalent of an “old
soul,” the Old Crow Medicine Show’s self-titled album
played two full times before breakfast was over, their sound
simultaneously reflective — reminiscent of what puts the blues in
blue grass — and ear-to-ear grinning, foot-stomping fun that
borders on punk rock.

After my attempts to steal the CD were thwarted by my
absent-minded nature, I was thrilled earlier this week to
“re-discover” this gem of an album sitting on another
acquaintance’s coffee table here in Santa Barbara. Less than 20
minutes later, I had the boys blasting out of my truck speakers,
singing along happily to their caustic tale of cocaine abuse in
“Tell It To Me.” From there, I eagerly skipped ahead to the
soulful, almost gospel-inspired “Trails and Troubles” before then
hitting forward button all the way to album’s crown jewel “Wagon
Wheel.”

I have since learned that O.C.M.S. released a new album this
past fall called Big Iron World, but have yet to find one in a friend’s
house, let alone hear it. However, if it’s even half as enjoyable
as their earlier efforts, I reckon it is more than mandatory for
people who like moonshine, walkin’ barefoot, and laughing on the
back porch.