109-680: Old Crow Medicine Show is an Americana string band based in Nashville, Tennessee, that has been recording since 1998. They were inducted into the Grand Ole Opry on September 17, 2013. Their ninth album, Remedy , released in 2014, won the Grammy Award for Best Folk Album . The group's music has been called old-time , folk , and alternative country . Along with original songs, the band performs many pre-World War II blues and folk songs. Bluegrass musician Doc Watson discovered
218-529: A Bob Dylan bootleg from a family trip to London containing a rough outtake called "Rock Me, Mama", passing it to Secor. Not "so much a song as a sketch," Secor would later say, "crudely recorded featuring most prominently a stomping boot, the candy-coated chorus and a mumbled verse that was hard to make out". But the tune kept going through his mind. A few months later, while attending Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire , and "feeling homesick for
327-726: A "young folksy kind of jam element acoustic band that was really popular in the southern tier region of New York State." Watson, he says, "was playing shows statewide by the time he was sixteen" with "this group that had some congas and some clawhammer banjo ." Watson met future co-founder of Old Crow Medicine Show Ketch Secor after the latter finished high school in New Hampshire , his band broke up in Virginia , and he enrolled in Ithaca College . Secor brought friend and former bandmate Chris "Critter" Fuqua up to New York State from Virginia. Watson dissolved The Funnest Game while
436-411: A 2024 tour across North America , performing as a trio with fiddler/violinist Sami Braman and original Old Crow Medicine Show bass player Ben Gould. Watson started with his father's record collection, which included artists like Bob Dylan and Neil Young , as well as Lead Belly . He later discovered Harry Smith 's Anthology of American Folk Music – which helped trigger the folk music revival in
545-647: A Cayamo cruise—a "singer-songwriter, folk, rootsy festival on a ship around the Bahamas ." Sean "took the liberty" of putting Watson on the performance schedule. He subsequently would "go pretty often and ... sing a few songs" at "this little revue called the Watkins Family Hour at Largo" where the Watkins would encourage him to try appearing solo. In 2012–2013 Watson began appearing in venues in and around Venice Beach, California , making appearances with
654-448: A building in Nashville that has since been dubbed the band's "Hartland Studio," where they have been hard at work recording new music and producing their "Hartland Hootenanny" live stream variety shows. Carry Me Back was released July 17, 2012, on ATO Records . Recorded at Sound Emporium Studios in Nashville, produced by Ted Hutt , the name derives from " Carry Me Back to Old Virginny ", former official state song of Virginia. "Levi"
763-666: A co-authoring arrangement with Bob Dylan , was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America in April 2013 and has been covered by a number of acts, including Darius Rucker , who made the song a top 40 hit. The band was featured along with Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros and Mumford & Sons in the music documentary Big Easy Express , which won a Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video in 2013. They performed on
872-448: A collaboration with Bob Dylan, "Sweet Amarillo", and ballads "Dearly Departed Friend" and "Firewater", the latter written by Fuqua. Remedy won the Grammy Award for Best Folk Album in 2015. This award—created in 2012 to address "challenges in distinguishing between" previous category Best Contemporary Folk Album and Best Traditional Folk Album musical genres—was won by Guy Clark the previous year and Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn
981-407: A driving rhythm that propels a song forward. The mandolin is a small, stringed instrument that is commonly used in folk and bluegrass music. Its bright, high-pitched sound adds a distinctive flavor to Americana music, and its fast, intricate playing can create a lively and upbeat feel. Mandolins are often played using a technique called tremolo , which involves rapidly picking the strings to create
1090-459: A good place with that. In 2018, Willie made his film debut as "The Kid" in the Coen brothers film The Ballad of Buster Scruggs . He also performed "When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs For Wings" on the film's soundtrack with Tim Blake Nelson – a performance that resulted in an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song . In 2020 Watson appeared as a guest vocalist on the song "Fly Around" by
1199-582: A group. The album was recorded at Nashville's "historic" RCA Studio A with Americana "super-producer" Dave Cobb , known for his work with Jason Isbell and Chris Stapleton . The album features electric guitar for the first time since 2004—when David Rawlings added his Telecaster to "Wagon Wheel". Joe Jackson Andrews plays pedal steel guitar . As quoted in Billboard , Secor says of the album's sound: Because we were working with Dave, we wanted to pull out some of our more, I guess, rockin' sounds and do less of
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#17327940903701308-399: A group. They released 50 Years of Blonde on Blonde on April 28, 2017 (their first album on Columbia Nashville). Previous studio albums were Eutaw (2002), O.C.M.S. (2004), Big Iron World (2006), Tennessee Pusher (2008), Carry Me Back (2012), Remedy (2014), and Volunteer (2017). Their song " Wagon Wheel ", a more or less traditional song written by Ketch Secor through
1417-726: A guy like me question every musical thing I've ever done. It's one of those songs I wouldn't have thought I could pull off, but thankfully I had the Fairfield Four to help me out. Watson makes his first appearance on an Old Crow Medicine Show track since leaving the group on "Miles Away", lead single on Jubilee (released August 2023 through ATO Records ). Little Operation Records releases Watson's first "fully original solo album" self-titled Willie Watson on September 13, 2024. On this record, he renews "musical bonds" with Paul Kowert and Gabe Witcher of Punch Brothers , not to mention "keyboard legend" Benmont Tench . Watson released
1526-406: A little more volume behind it." All of these influences informed the style and substance he brings to traditional and old-time music. As Watson himself says of his songs: More than two-thirds of the songs I'm doing, no one knows where those things come from. So the guys that I heard them doing were essentially borrowing and reworking it themselves, and that's the beauty of it. Watson performs on
1635-680: A lot of the people we met there, like Richie Stearns, the Red Hots and Mac Benford. All those old-time banjo players brought the music from the South back up to New York, and it was kind of a hotbed. – Critter Fuqua The group left Ithaca for their Trans:mission tour in October 1998, busking west across Canada. They circled back east in Spring of 1999 and moved into a farmhouse on Beech Mountain , near Boone, North Carolina . They were embraced by
1744-489: A lot of times we'd just play songs and let Dave sort it out. Tour stops to promote the album release included dates at Nashville area's Music City Roots at the Loveless Café , New York City's Mercury Lounge , Philadelphia 's World Café Live, and Berkeley 's Freight & Salvage. Rolling Stone named the album one of The 26 Albums of 2014 You Probably Didn't But Really Should Hear , stating, "Watson's voice carries
1853-540: A major shift in youthful attitudes toward ownership, authenticity and what it means to feel included in a musical experience: lyrics don't have to be strict autobiography to connect; songs don't have to be entirely original to showcase originality; and younger generations need not turn up their noses at music that doesn't treat them like they're at the center of the universe. —Jewly Hight, American Songwriter When Secor, Fuqua, and company first got together "old-timey pickers their age were few and far between. Modern rock
1962-475: A new style of Americana music that blended elements of rock, folk, country, and blues. Rolling Stone notes that "Americana" first came to fashion as a descriptive musical phrase in the mid-Nineties, when a group of radio promoters and industry outsiders dispersed throughout Nashville, California and Texas sought to carve out a distinct marketplace for a wave of traditionally minded songwriters like Guy Clark, Darrell Scott and Jim Lauderdale, artists whose work
2071-472: A pivotal turning point as Old Crow Medicine Show," says Secor. He and Fuqua wrote a song "About being on the corner in Boone and [Watson] discovering us. It honors Doc and the high country blues sound." The big busking break led to the act's relocation to Nashville in October 2000. At MerleFest, Secor explains, Sally Williams "from the Grand Ole Opry . . invited us to participate in some summer music events at
2180-577: A popular and commercial phenomenon begins with the career of The Weavers , formed in November 1948 by Pete Seeger , Lee Hays , Fred Hellerman , and Ronnie Gilbert of People's Songs , of which Seeger had been president and Hays executive secretary. The Kingston Trio , a group originating on the West Coast, were directly inspired by the Weavers in their style and presentation and covered some of
2289-644: A result of the financial success of high-profile commercial folk artists, record companies began to produce and distribute records by a new generation of folk revival and singer-songwriters Phil Ochs , Tom Paxton , Eric von Schmidt , Buffy Sainte-Marie , Dave Van Ronk , Judy Collins , Tom Rush , Fred Neil , Gordon Lightfoot , Billy Ed Wheeler , John Denver , John Stewart , Arlo Guthrie , Harry Chapin , and John Hartford , among others. Some of this wave had emerged from family singing and playing traditions, and some had not. These singers frequently prided themselves on performing traditional material in imitations of
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#17327940903702398-610: A roots music or old-time acoustic record. We wanted to have it be a little bigger. We were in a big room, RCA Studio A as opposed to Studio B, and a lot of times the music kind of matches the space. "Look Away" is a "Rolling Stones-inspired tribute to the history of the American South," while "A World Away" is an "upbeat homage to refugees." "Dixie Avenue" is a wistful tribute to the place in Virginia where Secor and Fuqua first "fell in love with music." The closing song "Whirlwind"
2507-637: A sense of nostalgia and longing. Despite the genre's most common name, it is not practiced solely by artists from the United States, as numerous artists from Canada are also prominent in the genre. Canadian bands in the genre will sometimes be referred to as Canadiana rather than Americana in Canadian media, although this is not a widely recognized synonym elsewhere. A Norwegian scene is often referred to as Nordicana . Willie Watson (musician) William Currie Watson (born September 23, 1979)
2616-494: A sustained, shimmering sound. The fiddle is a traditional stringed instrument that is often used in Americana music. Its versatile sound can create both slow, mournful melodies and fast, lively rhythms. Fiddles are often played using a technique called "sawing," which involves rapidly moving the bow back and forth across the strings to create a driving rhythm. Fiddles can add a haunting quality to Americana music and can create
2725-421: A variety of non commercial radio stations. The acoustic guitar is perhaps the most essential instrument in Americana music. It is often used to provide the rhythmic foundation of a song, as well as to accompany vocals and other instruments. In Americana music, the acoustic guitar is often played fingerstyle , which produces a warm and organic sound that is perfect for the genre's earthy, rootsy feel. The banjo
2834-533: Is "about a soldier who grew up in the wild hillbilly woods of Virginia," First Lieutenant Leevi Barnard from Ararat, Virginia who was "killed by a suicide bomber" in Baghdad 's Dora Market in 2009. In the NPR broadcast where Secor heard the story, the late lieutenant's friends "broke into Barnard's favorite song" . . "Wagon Wheel" at his funeral. The album sold over 17,000 copies its debut week, "landing at No. 22 on
2943-761: Is KFAT in Gilroy, California, active from mid-1975 to January 1983, as described in the book Fat Chance , authored by Gilbert Klein in 2016 and published by MainFramePress.com. KFAT was succeeded by KHIP in Hollister CA, KPIG in Freedom CA, and Fat 99 KPHT-LP in Laytonville CA. Though some say Americana as a radio format had its origins in 1984 on KCSN ("college radio") in Northridge, California, but that did not happen until after KFAT, Gilroy went off
3052-424: Is a "bittersweet love song that could easily describe Old Crow Medicine's rise to prominence from the ground up." The lead single "Flicker & Shine" was released January 19, 2018. The band released their seventh studio album, Paint This Town on April 22, 2022. It is their first to feature members Jerry Pentecost (drums/percussion), Mike Harris (banjo/guitar) and Mason Via (guitar/vocals) and their first since
3161-415: Is a distinctive and essential instrument in Americana music. Its bright, twangy sound is instantly recognizable and often associated with Appalachian and bluegrass music also. Banjos are often played using a technique called clawhammer , which involves striking the strings with the back of the fingernail. The banjo adds a unique texture to Americana music, and its intricate, fast-paced playing can create
3270-505: Is a long time for a place like Nashville, Tennessee. Time rolls on slowly around here like flotsam and jetsam in the muddy Cumberland River . But certain things have accelerated the pace of our city. And certain people have sent the hands of the clock spinning. Bob Dylan is the greatest of these time-bending, paradigm-shifting Nashville cats. Old Crow Medicine Show released their sixth studio album, Volunteer , through Columbia Nashville on April 20, 2018—coinciding with their 20th anniversary as
3379-595: Is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, banjo player, actor and founding member of Old Crow Medicine Show . His debut solo album Folk Singer, Vol. I , was released in May 2014; its follow-up Folksinger, Vol. 2 was released September 15, 2017 on Acony Records. He has appeared at the Newport Folk Festival and other major music festivals. He released a self-titled album of his first collection of self-penned songs on September 13, 2024. He currently resides in
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3488-697: Is still a great vehicle for songs, whether the song is about love, the Iraq War or anything else. The Dylan doorway led to the first recordings of the New Lost City Ramblers , the Jim Kweskin Jug Band , Canned Heat , The Lovin' Spoonful , Dylan and The Band in the basement, and the Grateful Dead . While it would be going a bit far to say Old Crow sparked a full-blown folk revival, these guys have contributed mightily to
3597-534: The 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' soundtrack . . That eventually led them to the Old Crow Medicine Show and then deep immersion in old-timey sounds from America's long-neglected past. You can't swing a cat these days without hitting a hipster with a banjo in his hands. At least part of the credit for this phenomenon goes to Old Crow Medicine Show. —Chrissie Dickinson, Chicago Tribune Marcus Mumford, front man of Mumford & Sons, credits
3706-1170: The Ben Affleck film Live by Night (2016). Watson regularly tours solo and with other acts. In Summer 2016, he toured Australia with Josh Hedley for "a string of joint-headline shows throughout the east coast" of that country, including the Bello Winter Music Festival in Bellingen . The tour included stops in the major cities of Brisbane , Melbourne , and Sydney where regional "support" acts opened for them—e.g., Imogen Clark, Matt Walker, Freya Josephine Hollick, and Elwood Myre. In Fall of 2016, Watson toured with Aiofe O'Donovan, "captivating" lead singer of Boston progressive string band Crooked Still —with stops in Ohio , North Carolina, and Virginia. Featured vocalist on The Goat Rodeo Sessions —a Grammy -winning album by Yo-Yo Ma , et al. – O'Donovan released her debut solo album Fossils in 2013. Watson appeared with Old Crow Medicine Show, as an opening act and with
3815-897: The Grand Ole Opry House doing our street act, our busking, and that's why we came to Nashville . ." Williams first booked them for "an Opryland Plaza outdoor show." In Nashville they were "embraced and mentored" by Marty Stuart , the president of the Grand Ole Opry, who first spied the group at the Nashville-area Uncle Dave Macon Days festival and added them to his "Electric Barnyard old-fashioned country variety package show bus tour" with acts like Merle Haggard , Connie Smith , and BR5-49 . Soon they were opening for "everyone from Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton to Ricky Skaggs and Del McCoury . ." The group made their Grand Ole Opry debut at
3924-539: The International Bluegrass Music Museum —who sponsors ROMP: Bluegrass Roots & Branches Festival, which Old Crow headlined one night in 2012—holds the group "is in the direction of progressive bluegrass ." Their live touring show has been described as a "folk-bluegrass-alt-country blend." "We just knew we wanted to combine the technical side of the old sound with the energy of a Nirvana ," states Fuqua. Starting from old-time music in
4033-522: The John C. Reilly band and John Prine , and opening for acts such as Punch Brothers , Sarah Jarosz , and Dawes . Initially he was performing original music, then realized he got more out of performing the old songs—and his audience seemed to enjoy them more. As he explains: Once I was on my own, I wasn't sure what my next move was–if I was going to have another band, or try to write a bunch of songs. At first, I did start writing songs, but I don't think I
4142-465: The Nashville -dominated industry for a more lo-fi sound, frequently infused with a strong punk and rock and roll aesthetic. Alternative country drew on traditional American country music, the music of working people, preserved and celebrated by practitioners such as Woody Guthrie , Hank Williams , and The Carter Family , often cited as major influences. Another major influence was country rock ,
4251-450: The Newport Folk Festival on July 25, 1965, where he was backed by an electric band , was also a pivotal moment in the development of the genre. In the 1990s the term alternative country, paralleling alternative rock, began to be used to describe a diverse group of musicians and singers operating outside the traditions and industry of mainstream country music. Many eschewed the increasingly polished production values and pop sensibilities of
4360-679: The Ryman Auditorium , "The Mother Church of Country Music", in January 2001. Given just four minutes on stage, they played "Tear It Down"—a "singing jug-band romp about punishing infidelity"—and received a "rare first-time-out standing ovation, and a call for an encore." In August 2013, Stuart unexpectedly appeared onstage at the Ohio Theatre in Cleveland , where the group was performing, to invite them to become official members of
4469-580: The UK Singles Chart . The single's success initiated the folk rock boom of 1965 and 1966, during which a number of Byrds-influenced acts had hits on the American and British charts. The term "folk rock" was itself coined by the American music press to describe the band's sound in June 1965, at roughly the same time as "Mr. Tambourine Man" peaked at number 1 in the U.S. The commercial success of
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4578-775: The Woodland Hills district of Los Angeles. Watson appears as The Kid in Joel and Ethan Coen 's 2018 film The Ballad of Buster Scruggs , also performing on the soundtrack. William Currie Watson was born in Watkins Glen, New York ( Schuyler County ), and raised there, in Upstate New York , around Ithaca . Growing up in the ‘80s and ‘90s, Watson listened to music on the radio – from Michael Jackson to Nirvana – but also his father's record albums, including The Rolling Stones and Neil Young . He recalls: I
4687-713: The old-time scene prominent in Tompkins and Schuyler County, New York , including The Horse Flies and The Highwoods Stringband. Performing locally, the young band earned the respect of local musicians and gained a following, appearing weekly at the Rongovian Embassy with Richie Stearns and annually at the Finger Lakes GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance in Trumansburg, New York . Future bandmate Ketch Secor described it as
4796-444: The 1950s and 1960s. The Ithaca-Tompkins County area played host to a number of old-time musicians, including banjo player Richie Stearns whose group The Horse Flies mixed old-time fiddle music with 1980s pop. They had a drum set and they all plugged in, and Richie Stearns was playing clawhammer banjo . Judy Hyman played the fiddle and would dance around the stage, doing this headbang-y thing with her eyes rolling back in her head. I
4905-405: The 1963 and 64 Newport Folk Festivals . For example, traditionalist Clarence Ashley introduced folk revivalists to the music of friends of his who still actively played the older music, such as Doc Watson and The Stanley Brothers . In the 1950s and 1960s, folk revival music began to evolve and incorporate elements of rock and roll and other popular music styles. Artists such as Bob Dylan and
5014-688: The 2013 Trailblazer Award from the Americana Music Association , performing at the Americana Honors & Awards Show . Ketch Secor and Chris "Critter" Fuqua met in the seventh grade in Harrisonburg, Virginia and began playing music together. They performed open mics at the Little Grill diner , as did Robert St. Ours who went on to found The Hackensaw Boys . Secor had been "driving up to Mt. Jackson, VA to
5123-557: The Appalachian community, and their repertoire of old-time songs grew as they played with local musicians." After being discovered busking in Boone, North Carolina by Doc Watson —while "playing on Doc's old corner" where he'd "started playing in the 1950s" on King Street —the famed folk-country legend said, "Boys, that was some of the most authentic old-time music I've heard in a long while. You almost got me crying." Doc invited
5232-573: The Appalachian hills, the group found themselves "making a foray into electric instruments and 'really knocking up the rock 'n' roll tree' on their 2008 release 'Tennessee Pusher'." On the documentary "Big Easy Express" about the Railroad Revival Tour with Mumford & Sons and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros they "practice(d) a complimentary variation of folk" bringing "a pleasingly smoky amalgam of country, bluegrass, and blues." With "Carry Me Back" (2012) they've "circled back to
5341-732: The Billboard Albums Chart", leading to both the band's best-ever sales week and their highest ever charting position. It attained #1 on both the Bluegrass and Folk charts and was the No. 4 Country album in the nation". Carry Me Back exploits a kaleidoscopic galaxy of joyous old-timey string sounds updated for the 21st century. The group's ninth album, Remedy , was released in July 2014 by ATO Records and produced by Ted Hutt—who produced their previous studio record. The album features
5450-533: The Byrds began blending traditional folk and country music with electric guitars and drums, creating a new sound that came to be known as folk rock . On January 20, 1965, the Byrds entered Columbia Studios in Hollywood to record Bob Dylan's acoustic tune "Mr. Tambourine Man" for release as their debut single on Columbia. The full, electric rock band treatment that the Byrds and producer Terry Melcher had given
5559-473: The Byrds' cover version of Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" and their debut album of the same name , along with Dylan's own recordings with rock instrumentation—on the albums Bringing It All Back Home (1965), Highway 61 Revisited (1965), and Blonde on Blonde (1966)—encouraged other folk acts, such as Simon & Garfunkel , to use electric backing on their records and new groups, such as Buffalo Springfield , to form. Dylan's controversial appearance at
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#17327940903705668-592: The Opry. They were formally inducted at a special ceremony at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, September 17, 2013. In 2020, the band released three tracks that all referenced contemporary events: "Nashville Rising," written after Nashville's Super Tuesday tornadoes and directly benefiting relief efforts; "Quarantined," a tongue-in-cheek, classic country-inspired number about not being able to kiss your lover while quarantined; and "Pray For America," which
5777-580: The Railroad Revival Tour across the U.S. in 2011. They appeared at the Stagecoach Festival 2013 and multiple times at other major festivals, e.g., Bonnaroo Music Festival , MerleFest , Telluride Bluegrass Festival , Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival , Newport Folk Festival . and Mariposa Folk Festival 2024. They have made frequent guest appearances on A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor . The group received
5886-786: The Scorchers , and in the 1980s Southern Californian cowpunk scene with bands like the Long Ryders and X , and the Minneapolis-based band the Jayhawks . X signed with major label Elektra in 1982 and released Under the Big Black Sun , which marked a departure from their trademark sound. While still fast and loud, with raw punk guitars, the album displayed evolving country leanings. The Scorchers released their debut, D.I.Y. EP, Reckless Country Soul , in 1982 on
5995-461: The South," he added verses about "hitchhiking his way home full of romantic notions put in his head by the Beat poets and, most of all, Dylan." Secor says he sang his amplification of the song "all around the country from about 17 to 26, before I ever even thought, 'oh I better look into this.'" When he sought copyright in 2003, to release the song on O.C.M.S. in (2004), he discovered Dylan credited
6104-557: The United Kingdom and Ireland takes him to Bristol , Glasgow, Manchester , Sheffield , London, and Dublin . He appears at the Americana Music Festival in Nashville during September. Of his transition to a solo career, Watson says: I don't have any regrets, but I'm really happy that I'm where I'm at now. I'm playing the music I want to play, and it's real simple, and I don't have a big light show–I'm in
6213-512: The Weavers' material, which was predominantly traditional. The Kingston Trio's popularity would be followed by that of Joan Baez , whose debut album Joan Baez reached the top ten in late 1960 and remained on the Billboard charts for over two years. It was not long before the folk-music category came to include less traditional material and more personal and poetic creations by individual performers, who called themselves "singer-songwriters". As
6322-549: The air when it was sold and the format changed. Mark Humphrey, a contributor to country/folk Frets magazine, hosted a weekly radio show called "Honky Tonk Amnesia" which played "country, folk, honky tonk, cajun, dawg, blues, and old-time music", a combination that the country music station KCSN advertised as "Americana". The format came into its own in the mid-1990s as a descriptive phrase used by radio promoters and music industry figures for traditionally-oriented songwriters and performers. Americana type radio shows can be heard on
6431-446: The band The Funnest Game. Their brand of electric/ old-time was heavily influenced by the old-time music scene prominent in Tompkins and Schuyler County, New York , including The Horse Flies and The Highwoods Stringband. Ithaca and that surrounding area were a big influence on us. We wouldn't be here without a lot of the people we met there, like Richie Stearns, the Red Hots and Mac Benford. All those old-time banjo players brought
6540-422: The band to participate in his annual MerleFest music festival, founded in 1988 in memory of Doc's son Eddy Merle Watson, who died in a farm tractor accident in 1985, as a fundraiser for Wilkes Community College and to celebrate "traditional plus" music. There they met Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings who introduced them to the Nashville music scene, where they promptly relocated. Watson performed with
6649-469: The band while its members were busking outside a pharmacy in Boone, North Carolina , in 2000. With an old-time string sound fueled by punk rock energy, it has influenced acts like Mumford & Sons and contributed to a revival of banjo-picking string bands playing Americana music—leading to variations on it. The group released their sixth studio album, Volunteer , through Columbia Nashville on April 20, 2018—coinciding with their 20th anniversary as
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#17327940903706758-514: The banjo after that;" and the first song he ever learned to play was Tom Paxton 's " Ramblin' Boy ". Guns N' Roses was Fuqua's "first influence": when they released Appetite for Destruction (1987), while he was in seventh grade, he knew he wanted to be a musician. He also claims AC/DC and Nirvana as influences "and then into blues and then into more obscure fiddlers. Some Conjunto from down in San Antonio ." "Take 'Em Away", written when he
6867-534: The banjo and start their now famous country nights in London ." Americana (music) Americana (also known as American roots music ) is an amalgam of American music formed by the confluence of the shared and varied traditions that make up the musical ethos of the United States of America, with particular emphasis on music historically developed in the American South . The term "Americana music"
6976-541: The best traditional music America has to offer with the intensity of a modern-day rock show. —Elizabeth Pandolfi, Charleston City Paper Variously described as old-time, Americana , bluegrass , alternative country , and " folk-country ", the group started out infusing old Appalachian sounds with new punk energy. Country Music Television notes their "tunes from jug bands and traveling shows, back porches and dance halls, southern Appalachian string music and Memphis blues ." Gabrielle Gray, executive director of
7085-515: The blind musician over for a listen. The group "struck up ' Oh My Little Darling ', a well-known old-time song they thought Doc would like." When they finished, he said: "Boys, that was some of the most authentic old-time music I've heard in a long while. You almost got me crying." Doc invited the band to participate in his annual MerleFest music festival in Wilkesboro, North Carolina (for 2000). "That gig changed our lives and we look to it as
7194-534: The bluegrass Saturday night in the summer, going up to Davis and Elkins College to participate in the Old-Time Music week there, and meeting guys like Richie Stearns." Secor formed the Route 11 Boys with St. Ours and his brothers, often performing at Little Grill. Willie Watson first met Ben Gould in high school in Watkins Glen, New York . After playing music together, both dropped out of school and formed
7303-400: The bluegrass band Water Tower . The song is the second track on their debut album by the same name. On July 7, 2024, Watson performed with other musical acts, e.g., Joe Walsh , Ben Harper , Stephen Stills , etc. at the 84th birthday celebration for Ringo Starr in Beverly Hills, California . Watson's debut solo album, Folk Singer Vol. 1 , was released May 6, 2014 by Acony records. It
7412-502: The cultural and social landscape of the United States, and it continues to reflect the diverse experiences and perspectives of the American people. In recent years, the genre has incorporated more influences from blues, R&B, and soul, in addition to the country and folk elements that have always been prominent. In 2017 Rolling Stone published an article claiming that Americana was having an "identity crisis," which focused on changing definitions and efforts to promote ethnic diversity in
7521-444: The first single, "Real Love", with a Joseph Wasilewski -directed video starring Watson himself with his wife, Mindy. Watson owns one of the most distinctive voices in modern Americana; high and melodic, it can also be piercing, plaintive, and downright otherworldly, an echo from the time “old weird America” was amassing its treasury of song. – The Guardian *based on Sterling A. Brown ’s poem, “Slim Greer in Hell”. Six of
7630-588: The genre (which was somewhat of a niche, in the shadow of country and rock) and made it mainstream. In 2011, the genre was officially inducted into the Merriam-Webster dictionary. In modern times, Americana music continues to evolve and expand, as new generations of artists continue to draw inspiration from the rich history and cultural traditions of the United States. The instrumentation of Americana music continues to be characterized by acoustic guitars, fiddles, banjos, mandolins, and harmonicas, as well as electric guitars and drums. The genre remains deeply rooted in
7739-423: The genre. In 2014, traditional country musician Dale Watson formed the Ameripolitan Music Awards, focused on the genres of honky tonk , outlaw , Western swing , and rockabilly , on the premise that these genres can no longer be properly categorized as country or Americana, thus necessitating the creation of a new term, "Ameripolitan". The radio station laying the best claim to the Americana radio format origins
7848-491: The genres upon which it may draw. While acoustic instruments are often present and vital, Americana also often uses a full electric band." The origins of Americana music can be traced back to the early 20th century, when rural American musicians began incorporating elements of folk, blues, and country music into their songs. Americana musicians often played acoustic instruments such as the guitar , banjo , fiddle , and upright bass , and their songs typically told stories about
7957-502: The group's influence: "I first heard Old Crow's music when I was, like, 16, 17, and that really got me into, like, folk music, bluegrass. I mean, I'd listened to a lot of Dylan, but I hadn't really ventured into the country world so much. So Old Crow was the band that made me fall in love with country music." Mumford acknowledges in "Big Easy Express", Emmett Malloy's "moving documentary" about the vintage train tour they'd invited Old Crow to join them on, that "the band inspired them to pick up
8066-586: The group's re-creation of it at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville in May 2016. The project doubles as the group's first release for the Columbia label, which also released Blonde on Blonde . They announced their addition to the roster with an impromptu performance of " Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 " from the Dylan album. In support of the album release, Secor states: Fifty years
8175-426: The group, at tour stops in 2023 — including their annual New Year's Eve show at the Ryman Auditorium . He performs on "select shows" of the group's 2024 North American tour, designed to commemorate in part the 25th anniversary of Old Crow's founding. As co-founder Ketch Secor said of the reunion, "we’re just so psyched to get back together with an architect of Old Crow in this anniversary year." Watson embarked on
8284-399: The group, writing and singing many of their more notable songs. He left to embark on a solo career in the autumn of 2011, a couple months before Fuqua rejoined the group, citing time on the road, new parenthood, and direction the band was headed as reasons for the split. Watson's transition to solo appearances began slowly with an invitation from siblings Sean and Sara Watkins to join them on
8393-423: The high harmony. Additionally, Richie Unterberger has stated that the song's abstract lyrics took rock and pop songwriting to new heights; never before had such intellectual and literary wordplay been combined with rock instrumentation by a popular music group. Within three months " Mr. Tambourine Man " had become the first folk rock smash hit , reaching number one on both the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and
8502-607: The independent Praxis label. But these styles merged fully in Uncle Tupelo 's 1990 LP No Depression , which is widely credited as being the first "alt-country" album, and gave its name to the online notice board and eventually magazine that underpinned the movement. In the 1990s and 2000s, Americana music underwent a resurgence in popularity, as a new generation of artists began incorporating elements of traditional American music into their songs. Artists such as Wilco , Lucinda Williams , and Gillian Welch helped to popularise
8611-510: The music from the South back up to New York, and it was kind of a hotbed. Critter Fuqua After the breakup of the Route 11 Boys, Secor attended Ithaca College . He brought Fuqua up to New York State, where they met Watson. Watson dissolved The Funnest Game and together they assembled players all around Ithaca, New York "where there is a very lively old-time music scene." This included Kevin Hayes. They recorded an album that they could sell on
8720-523: The next. Also nominated in 2015 were Mike Auldridge , Jerry Douglas and Rob Ickes for Three Bells , Alice Gerrard for Follow the Music , Eliza Gilkyson for The Nocturne Diaries , and Jesse Winchester (1944–2014) for A Reasonable Amount of Trouble . The group released 50 Years of Blonde on Blonde on April 28, 2017 on their new label Columbia Nashville . The album pays tribute to Dylan's 1966 masterpiece Blonde on Blonde with live recordings of
8829-761: The original sound that so excited (Secor) and Fuqua as kids . . full of old-timey string sounds updated for the 21st century— sing-a-longs that lift the soul, ballads that rend the heart and a few moments of pure exhilaration." "Our performance comes out of all those years spent cutting our teeth on the street corner," claims Secor. The earliest beginnings of the group involved busking in the Northeast U.S., attracting fresh talent. Guitjo player Kevin Hayes—originally from Haverhill, Massachusetts —was in Bar Harbor, Maine raking blueberries when he encountered Secor "on
8938-572: The other people that really influenced me, tend to be the same people who influenced Bob Dylan." Fuqua concurs on Dylan's influence: He's a link to Woody Guthrie, who's a link to an even earlier form of American music history. He's... a great doorway for all sorts of artists because he's not just folk or just rock ... I think bands like us, Mumford and Sons, and Gillian Welch and David Rawlings are sort of doing what he has done before, in that we take our own experiences and observations and put them into songs made of traditional, American roots form. That form
9047-411: The phrase "Rock me, mama" to bluesman Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup (who likely got it from a Big Bill Broonzy recording) "In a way, it's taken something like 85 years to get completed," Secor says. Secor and Dylan signed a co-writing agreement, and share copyright on the song, agreeing to a "50–50 split in authorship." Officially released twice, on an early EP and their second album ("O.C.M.S." in 2004),
9156-481: The result of fusing country music with a rock & roll sound. The artist most commonly thought to have originated country rock is Gram Parsons (who referred to his sound as "Cosmic American Music"), although Michael Nesmith , Steve Earle and Gene Clark are frequently identified as important innovators. The third factor was punk rock , which supplied an energy and DIY attitude . Attempts to combine punk and country had been pioneered by Nashville 's Jason and
9265-426: The road—a cassette of ten songs called Trans:mission . The group embarked on their Trans: mission tour in October 1998, busking across Canada . Circling back east in Spring 1999, they moved into a farmhouse on Beech Mountain , near Boone, North Carolina , where they were embraced by the Appalachian community. Their repertoire of old-time songs grew as they played with local musicians." Fuqua first brought home
9374-535: The second departure of founding member Fuqua at the end of 2019. In March 2023, Old Crow played at C2C: Country to Country , Europe's largest country music festival, performing at 3Arena in Dublin , OVO Hydro in Glasgow and The O2 Arena in London . The sound is invigorating on their recordings, but at a live show the fiddle, banjo, and harmonica are practically on fire, creating a crazy, addictive mix of some of
9483-461: The song came about in an interesting way, as Welch explains: There was just a really basic conversation [with producer-director Joel Coen ]. He was like, "Look, there's the singing cowboy – he's been around for a while. Now here comes the new guy. He's cuter, he's faster and he sings better. He's just better. It's the new model. He's coming for him." And, of course, it made it really special for us that onscreen, that younger, better, faster gunslinger
9592-483: The song effectively created the template for the musical subgenre of folk rock . McGuinn's melodic, jangling 12-string Rickenbacker guitar playing—which was heavily compressed to produce an extremely bright and sustained tone—was immediately influential and has remained so to the present day. The single also featured another major characteristic of the band's sound: their clear harmony singing , which usually featured McGuinn and Clark in unison , with Crosby providing
9701-410: The song would become the group's signature song — going gold in 2011 and platinum in 2013. One day the group were busking outside a pharmacy called Boone Drug—"playing on Doc's old corner" where he'd "started playing in the 1950s" on King Street in Boone, North Carolina —when the daughter of folk-country legend Doc Watson (died May 29, 2012) heard them. Certain her father would be impressed, she led
9810-590: The street in front of a jewelry store playing the banjo." Bassist Morgan Jahnig joined the group as a result of a "random" encounter with early Old Crow performing on the streets of Nashville in 2000. Guitarist Gill Landry first met the group in 2000 while both were street performing during Mardi Gras in New Orleans , joining full-time in 2007. An early Secor influence was John Hartford who performed for his first grade class in Missouri , making him want "to play
9919-485: The struggles and hardships of everyday life. The American folk music revival began during the 1940s and peaked in popularity in the mid-1960s. The folk revival in New York City was rooted in the resurgent interest in square dancing and folk dancing there in the 1940s as espoused by instructors such as Margot Mayo , which gave musicians such as Pete Seeger popular exposure. The folk revival more generally as
10028-476: The style of the source singers whom they had discovered, frequently by listening to Harry Smith 's celebrated LP compilation of forgotten or obscure commercial 78rpm "race" and "hillbilly" recordings of the 1920s and 30s, the Folkways Anthology of American Folk Music (1951). A number of the artists who had made these old recordings were still very much alive and had been "rediscovered" and brought to
10137-463: The three assembled musicians around Ithaca, New York "where there is a very lively old-time music scene." According to Mac Benford, Ithaca had for 40 years "been a center of old time music, nationally," including Kevin Hayes They recorded Trans:mission , a cassette of ten songs they could sell on the road. Ithaca and that surrounding area was a big influence on us. We wouldn't be here without
10246-546: The tracks are originals, co-written (largely) with Morgan Nagler. Kenneth Pattengale and Gabe Witcher produced the album with a studio band that included Dylan Day on guitar, Paul Kowert on bass, Sami Braman on fiddle, and Jason Boesel on drums. Watson appeared as The Kid in the Coen brothers' The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018), performing in "When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings." Written by his personal friends and professional colleagues Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings,
10355-452: The weight of generations past, but on Folk Singer , it's still appropriate for the one we live in, right now." Rawlings, who produced the album, said: "Willie is the only one of his generation who can make me forget these songs were ever sung before." While at work on the second volume of Folk Singer , Watson stated: "Volume two will be a continuation of Volume one, and consist of old songs." Released September 15, 2017, Folk Singer Vol. 2
10464-512: The world, was formed in 1999. It is a network for Americana artists, radio stations, record labels, publishers, and others with the goal of developing an infrastructure that will boost visibility and economic viability. The 2010s saw several musical groups connected with Americana music finding their way on to the Billboard charts. Bands like Mumford and Sons , The Lumineers and The Avett Brothers helped bring contemporary Americana to more people than ever before. Their popularity as artists took
10573-403: Was 17, is "loosely based on Mance Lipscomb , a blues singer and sharecropper from Navasota County " who he says "was a big influence on me." Naming his major influences, Secor states: "Certainly, Bob Dylan... Bob Dylan... Bob Dylan. More than anything else. More than any book or song or story or play. The work and the recorded work of Bob Dylan. It's the most profound influence on me. And then
10682-518: Was about thirteen, and I would see this stuff and thought it was the coolest thing I'd ever seen. It was dance music, and it really moved me in a big way. That was my introduction to old-time music. Nirvana 's Unplugged includes a take on Lead Belly songs " In the Pines / Where Did You Sleep Last Night ." Knowing his father had a Lead Belly record in the basement, Watson went and got it out. He says: "Really, that changed everything for me right there. It
10791-669: Was all coming together at the same time." After which followed the " alternative scene ", like the Pixies and They Might Be Giants . Vocally, his first influence was Roy Orbison – when he "was, like, 9" – when Orbison had the comeback with " You Got It " and joined the Traveling Wilburys . And he was really into Neil Young, sitting up in his room singing Young songs in "that higher register ." When he eventually started listening to old-time and "mountain music," he found that "singing up there, that high lonesome sound, sort of put
10900-413: Was being played, some of it by banjo player Richie Stearns and the group Donna The Buffalo . Watson was exposed to old-time music firsthand at a weekly old-time jam. Both Watson and Gould dropped out of school and formed the band The Funnest Game, which like Richie Stearns' group The Horse Flies had "clawhammer banjo, electric guitar, drums." Their brand of electric/ old-time was heavily influenced by
11009-399: Was commissioned by NPR as an inspirational piece for listeners coming out of COVID. They also appeared on a duet with Keb' Mo' titled "The Medicine Man" as well as teaming up with filmmaker Julia Golonka to create a video for the 2008 track "Motel In Memphis" raising funds for Nashville's community-based grassroots organization Gideon's Army. Later that year, Old Crow Medicine Show purchased
11118-478: Was defined by the Americana Music Association (AMA) in 2020 as "…the rich threads of country , folk , blues , soul , bluegrass , gospel , and rock in our tapestry." A previous 2016 AMA definition of the genre included rhythm and blues , with additional comments that Americana music results "in a distinctive roots-oriented sound that lives in a world apart from the pure forms of
11227-445: Was gonna be our dear friend Willie Watson. Coen also said, "They have to be able to sing it together. They have to be able to sing it once [the other character] has been shot and is dead and is floating up to heaven." So it was meant to be a duet between singing cowboys, one of whom is dead. Watson performed on "Lazy Old Moon" for another Coen film, Hail, Caesar! , from 2016. He performed in "We'll Understand It Better By and By" for
11336-500: Was just exposed to all kinds of stuff and . . . it could have been anything, and I would still be playing music because I could sing like anybody or anything I wanted to. I guess I still can . . . That's why I feel so fortunate – a lot of people don't have that, and I never take it for granted. I found a direction in life at a very young age. He first met Ben Gould in high school and they began playing music together. Around Ithaca and next-door Tompkins County "a lot of old-time fiddle music"
11445-403: Was no longer being served by a country music industry riding high on Garth Brooks and Shania Twain. This new style of music reflected a renewed interest in traditional American music forms, and it helped to establish Americana music as a distinct and important genre in its own right. The Americana Music Association, a not-for-profit trade organization advocating for American Roots Music around
11554-448: Was produced by David Rawlings , producer of Old Crow Medicine Show albums. The release features ten songs, from folk standards to "obscure gems." As Watson himself describes it, [The album] happened naturally ... as soon as I was playing solo, I started remembering all these old tunes which led me to dig through my 78's for more. When we got in the studio, I just played everything a couple times. It reminded me of making O.C.M.S. , where
11663-541: Was produced by David Rawlings and featured collaborations with Gillian Welch, The Fairfield Four , Morgan Jahnig of Old Crow Medicine Show, and Paul Kowert of Punch Brothers . In its review of the new album, The Guardian states nobody makes "the old songs sound fresher" than Watson, "thanks to a voice that's young but weathered, strong but eerie, and comes backed by intricate banjo and guitar picking." Watson says of "Samson and Delilah" by Reverend Gary Davis : When you hear him play, it stops you in your tracks and makes
11772-918: Was satisfied with what I was writing. I was starting to do some solo shows, and I had a few songs I'd written, and I would do a mix of those with old traditional songs, at those early shows. I was a lot happier doing those old folk songs, and I think the crowd was a lot happier, too. I thought those were great songs that people should be hearing, and that I wanted to be singing. In 2014, he performed at SXSW in Austin , Stagecoach Music Festival in Indio, California , Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island , Pickathon Music Festival in Oregon , Fayetteville Roots Festival in Arkansas , and Steelfest in Missouri . A tour of
11881-604: Was still a force to be reckoned with. Now hard-driving string bands are where it's at." To Americana Music Association (AMA) President Jed Hilly, the historic path of Americana music passes through the group: "The baton is passed from Emmylou Harris to Gillian Welch and David Rawlings to Old Crow Medicine Show to the Avett Brothers." Emmylou Harris was, in fact . . ... among the gateway artists who helped Mumford and bandmates Ben Lovett, Ted Dwane and Winston Marshall discover their love for American roots music. It started with
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