24 Countryweekly.Com Countryweekly.Com 25

fiery sound in the studio, working on its fifth studio album, the follow-up to last year’s Carry Me Back (which contains “Levi,” a poignant but no less rollicking tribute to a fan of Old Crow who was killed while deployed in Iraq). Critter says the group’s signature sound is as organic as its instruments. “We don’t even try to write in the old- time vein anymore. We just write and it “There has never been a better is an urgency to the sound that we’re Show. “I think more people know about tends to come out that way,” he says. time to be in a band with banjos and making, that says, ‘Hey, this is where that song than the band.” The secret, according to Ketch, lies in fiddles since 1927,” says Ketch Secor, fid- country music comes from. Respect The success of “Wagon Wheel,” and studying the legends. dle player and vocalist for modern-day your elders. This is the real deal.’” its ability to keep on rolling from its OCMs is formally inducted “You have to be a great songwriter into the Grand Ole Opry troubadours Old Crow Medicine Show. More than a few fans recognized that origins during a 1972 Dylan session to by Dierks bentley and listen to the great songwriters, and And he should know: The bluegrass about Old Crow Medicine Show—who today, isn’t lost on Ketch. “It’s a really (second from left) hope that your songs can match up,” string band he founded nearly 16 years won the Trailblazer Award at this year’s interesting phenomenon in country mu- and Marty stuart. he says, citing artists like Dylan, Kris ago is at the forefront of the organic Americana Music Honors & Awards sic that the song has been able to exist Kristofferson and, most importantly, instrument revival, along with such on- ceremony—when the now-seven-piece without any radio support,” he says. “I career come full circle this past August And they haven’t had much of a place Roy Acuff, OCMS’ muse. the-edge-of-country acts as Mumford & group released its first full-length really like this idea that it’s been propa- when they were invited by Marty Stuart on that stage in a long time. Things “It’s important that we remember that Sons and The Lumineers. studio album, O.C.M.S., in 2004. That gated one campfire at a time. This is a to become the newest members of the change and it’s important that they do, we’re here because of Roy,” Ketch states. “People want the real thing. There project included “Wagon Wheel,” song that has moved across the country Nashville institution. and the Opry has grown, but for the “When I walk into that Opry house, I see is a need for honesty in music and the ubiquitous singalong originally by young pickers and bluegrassers.” “It’s pretty wild that it happened,” Opry to recognize its roots by bring- Roy Acuff’s picture with his fiddle and there is nothing more honest than sketched out by Bob Dylan, finished by Naturally, the song has become a says Critter, still clearly awed by the ing a string band back, I just think it’s his smile, and I always say, ‘Hello, Roy, old-time music. This is the founda- Ketch and later taken to No. 1 on the staple of Old Crow Medicine Show’s induction. “It was surreal.” wonderful. When Roy Acuff came in thanks for letting us walk through these tion on which all of country is built,” country charts by Darius Rucker. sets, especially when the band— “For someone who plays full-time 1937 he brought his fiddle with him gates, play the fiddle and the banjo, and says Ketch. “In an era where country “That song has been great for us. rounded out by Kevin Hayes, Cory string band music like me and Old and a ragtag bunch of boys from East raise a ruckus on the Grand Ole Opry.” might sound like pop, in an era where Ketch and I have been playing it since Younts, Chance McCoy, Gill Landry and Crow Medicine Show does, there is Tennessee. Just like we did. We came We’d bet ol’ Roy is offering a hearty it’s hard to pick the country from the we were like 17,” says banjo player and Morgan Jahnig—performs at its new no higher level of recognition,” says down that same mountain that Roy “You’re welcome.” CW rock ’n’ roll, there just happens to vocalist Critter Fuqua, who, with Ketch, home, the Grand Ole Opry. After years Ketch. “It’s all about the fiddle. It’s all Acuff came down, with banjos a-blazin’ be a number of bands that . put in would busk on street corners in an of entertaining tourists outside on the about that banjo. These are the instru- and fiddles full of fire.” early formation of Old Crow Medicine Opry House plaza, the guys saw their ments that made Americans listen. Currently, the band is harnessing its check where country music is. There CRACKERFARMCHRISOCMSHOLLO/HOLLOBY BY OPRYEYESLOWE/ALL MEDIA;PHOTOGRAPHICS/GRAND OCMSAT OPRYOLE (From left) Kevin hayes, Chance McCoy, Morgan Jahnig, Ketch secor, Critter Fuqua, Cory Younts and Gill Landry 24 COUNTRYWEEKLY.COM COUNTRYWEEKLY.COM 25.

Load more