EASTON, Pa. — It’s been a quarter century since Old Crow Medicine Show came together.
And after 25 years that took it from busking in front of pharmacies to playing the Grand Ole Opry, it’s time to celebrate a Jubilee.
The band will bring its 2024 Jubilee Tour in support of its Grammy-nominated album of the same name to Easton’s State Theatre at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 13, offering up classic country, folk and traditional Americana with a touch of punk rock energy.
Tickets remain available at $49-$69 at the State Theatre website.
"We kind of bring it full circle with the most traditional of elements, and then the most modern."Old Crow Medicine Show frontman Ketch Secor
Old Crow frontman and multi-instrumentalist Ketch Secor, in a recent phone call, said the album "Jubilee," released in August as its seventh studio album, is an amalgamation of years of history and experimentation that embodies the essence of the group.
“It's kind of a retrospective of all of the sounds that have become kind of the mainstay offering of Old Crow Medicine Show for these 25 years," Secor said.
"We kind of bring it full circle with the most traditional of elements, and then the most modern, so there's electric guitar and juice harp, and somewhere in between those two outer peripheries lay the whole sound of Old Crow."
'Don't let the past hold the reins'
"Jubilee" was co-produced with Matt Ross-Spang and features special guests including Mavis Staples, Sierra Ferrell and Willie Watson, who recorded with the band for the first time in more than 10 years on the single “Miles Away.”
The song spent nine weeks in the Top 10 at Americana Radio during an 18-week chart run.
"So we love being able to, to show our audience our roots in the Empire State, and just ask Keystoners not hold it against us."Old Crow Medicine Show frontman Ketch Secor
And while the band — which also includes Mike Harris, Morgan Jahning, Mason Via, Dante Pope, PJ George and Cory Younts — states in “Miles Away” that they “Don’t let the past hold the reins,” it has most certainly played a pivotal role in the thematic ties of "Jubilee."
“I think we were most of all interested in putting a record out in our 25th year that could have some retrospective value and features some of the original architects of Old Crow Medicine Show, like Willie Watson, who's from the Finger Lakes of New York State, just up the road from you guys," Secor said.
"So we love being able to, to show our audience our roots in the Empire State, and just ask Keystoners not hold it against us."
'The job of music like ours'
From the high-energy hootenanny of “Keel Over and Die” to the solemn and eerie soliloquy of a dead-end town shown in “Allegheny Lullaby” — a tune that easily could be about the Lehigh Valley in the wake of Bethlehem Steel’s demise — "Jubilee" manages to expertly navigate a diverse spectrum of American music with a feel all its own.
“I think that that's the job of music like ours — it’s to sing for work and people and sing about class," Secor said. "It’s something that guys with fiddles have been doing since probably the 16th century.
"It's why we don't play classical music. It's because we're populists, we speak for the people, the proletariats. When you’ve got a violin bow dragging, that's the archers bow, and that's your arrow.”Old Crow Medicine Show frontman Ketch Secor
"It's why we don't play classical music. It's because we're populists, we speak for the people, the proletariats. When you’ve got a violin bow dragging, that's the archers bow, and that's your arrow.”
Secor said tales such as “Allegheny Lullaby” hit so hard because it’s a feeling to which many can relate — include his own family in the South, who witnessed the death of the textile industry so many years ago.
Secor said one of the best elements of putting together "Jubilee" was getting back into the studio and taking out a banjo, a fiddle, a jug, a harmonica and even his old favorite, the juice harp, and crafting a piece of art.
“You know, this is the instrumentation that I picked for my avatar, and I love getting to play these instruments,” Secor said.
“They always felt like a power chord on an electric guitar did to me when I was about 13. And, you know, I just like rocking out, man. I just choose to do it with some less sophisticated equipment.”
'Draw them together with a fiddle bow'
Old Crow Medicine Show band kicked off in 1998 in New York State, where it played street corners for tips, up and throughout Canada.
While in Boone, North Carolina, they caught the attention of folk icon Doc Watson while busking in front of a pharmacy.
After playing Watson’s MerleFest, Old Crow took off, working with American music legends, being inducted into the Grand Ole Opry, winning a Best Folk Album Grammy Award for 2014’s "Remedy" and a Best Long Form Music Video Grammy for 2013’s “Big Easy Express.”
"If I can get them into the same room, then I've done my job.”Old Crow Medicine Show frontman Ketch Secor
And, of course, having the band's classic single “Wagon Wheel” earn double-platinum certification in 2019.
Music fans and critics alike have always noted Old Crow Medicine Show’s special touch, a spark of energy which has set them apart from classic performers and contemporaries alike.
It’s a talent that plays into what Secor called “the unity business,” where Old Crow can bring together those on opposite ends of genres and geography.
“I keep trying to draw them together with a fiddle bow,” Secor said.
“And whether I can get them dancing together or screwing, that's kind of up to them, but if I can get them into the same room, then I've done my job.”
According to Secor, the Jubilee Tour has drawn out a diverse crowd of the band's own fans, fans of bands inspired by Old Crow and fans of Old Crow’s muses, which led it to its place in American music history.
'The legacy of 'Wagon Wheel'
And yes, if you’re wondering, Old Crow Medicine Show hasn’t yet grown tired of playing “Wagon Wheel,” its biggest hit.
The song evolved over 85 years from an Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup piece to a bit of a Bob Dylan ditty before Secor put the finishes touches on it to make a complete song.
“I feel really humbled by my footnote in Bob Dylan's sprawling novel of the century. I'm just such a student of his that just to be part of the annotated version, it's a hell of a feat."Old Crow Medicine Show frontman Ketch Secor
“I feel really humbled by my footnote in Bob Dylan's sprawling novel of the century," Secor said. "I'm just such a student of his that just to be part of the annotated version, it's a hell of a feat.
"And I couldn't be happier with the outcome of sharing the song that's been around the world and has set a sign post up in so many people's yards saying, ‘Go listen to the master.'"
Even after travelling the world and telling the evolving tale of Americana over so many years, Secor said he and his team still love “kicking ass and taking names.”
And even after playing “Wagon Wheel” a thousand times, “When you do it in front of people in a town you’ve never played in before, it might as well be the first time,” he said.
“It just feels like a real privilege to get to have a career in the music business. It's what I set out to do. It's hard work, but I love it and I love getting to play for real people and real towns and try and connect with them.
“Music has a role to play and music from a music hub like Nashville has a responsibility to pay, you know, country music owes it to a steel town in Pennsylvania.
"To come up there and put on a great show, make everybody want to get drunk and dance.”
