Old Crow Medicine Show – Remedy (ALBUM REVIEW)

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oldcrowDespite a lack of what would be perceived as “commercial success” (ten years has passed since the release of the band’s timeless single “Wagon Wheel”) Old Crow Medicine Show continues to create original, unique music.  Their eclectic sound has been described as everything from blues to folk to country to roots rock to hillbilly honk.  The band is all of that and then some.  However, neither the lack of classification nor financial reward seems to matter much to the Nashville based band.

Old Crow Medicine Show’s eighth release “Remedy” kicks off with the twentieth century, prison hymnal, “Bushy Mountain Conjugal Trailer.”  The banjo and dobro intro transports you to a porch jam session deep in the Appalachian Mountains Deliverance style.

With the recording tape as a canvas, Old Crow Medicine Show utilizes a multitude of instruments to paint a picture.  Sometimes it’s a sparse acoustic guitar on the moving eulogy “Dear Departed Friend.”  Other times the guitars, banjos, mandolins and four part harmonies are stacked for full effect as in the Charlie Daniels-esque, “Shit Creek” and “8 Dogs and 8 Banjos.”

Old Crow’s Americana brand is most effective on the lush single “Sweet Amarillo” which was co-written with Bob Dylan.  The mandolin line is used to lead the listener through the story while the layered guitars and vocals provide the hook.  In “Mean Enough World” the harmonica, banjo, guitjo (banjo with guitar neck) do the driving.

Lyrically the imagery is what you would expect based on the sound; these are stories about living in the “Deep Gap” of Tennessee drinking corn whiskey and smoking dirt weed.  The old-timey, “Tennessee Bound” and the swamp-bluesy “O Cumberland River” focus on the band’s roots.  Even with the varied musical styles, tempos and arrangements the album’s one drawback is the sound can develop  repetitiveness.  This may be due to the band’s commitment to its sound as opposed to any musical shortcomings.

Old Crow Medicine Show is a musician’s band, as evidenced both by the universal acceptance of their musical peers and their recent request to become the newest member’s of the Grand Ole Opry.

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