This past weekend, Old Crow Medicine Show rocked the Brown County Music Center like a wagon wheel.
The Americana string band, who famously penned the song “Wagon Wheel,” is brought their “Back in the Saddle Again” tour to the music center on Nov. 13.
Ketch Secor plays fiddle, harmonica and banjo and is a vocalist in the group. He said the tour “floodgates” opened in the middle of May, after not being in the concert circuit due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As for playing in Brown County for the first time, Secor said the group was “grateful for the opportunity.”
“We’ve spent some time going up to Bloomington, so it always meant we’d go through Nashville,” Secor said.
The group is based out of Nashville, Tennessee and Secor said that Nashville, Indiana is a place with which they share something.
“We’ve got a heartland appeal that’s kept a lower ceiling on our band,” he said. “(Nashville) feels comfortable. We’re the kind of band that knows our neighbors, talks to the old lady at the post office. We’re not interested in being on the ‘jumbotron,’ not having $350 VIP access.”
The music the group plays is the kind of music that must be passed on, Secor said. One of their goals is for their audience to leave a show with a newfound inspiration.
The hope is a concert-goer might call their brother in Vincennes after a show and say they want to get grandpa’s mandolin out of the attic, Secor said.
“Instruments and songs like ours and the traditions that we invoke are meant to be shared,” he said. “The next generation needs to pick them up or we didn’t do our job.”
Old Crow Medicine Show got their start busking on street corners in 1998.
They ended up in Boone, North Carolina where they caught the attention of folk icon Doc Watson while playing in front of a pharmacy. The band was invited to play at his festival, MerleFest.
The band went on to be inducted as members of the Grand Ole Opry. They also won two Grammy awards for Best Folk Album for “Remedy” in 2014 and Best Long Form Music Video for “Big Easy Express” in 2013.
Their single, “Wagon Wheel,” received the RIAA’s Double-Platinum certification in 2019 for selling more than 2 million copies. The band’s debut album “O.C.M.S.” has been certified Gold.
Patrons to OCMS’s show on Saturday can expect a “rip-roarin’ grand ol’ time,” Secor said.
“It’s a really good time,” he said. “It’s a spirited show.”
Secor said the group loves playing at Indiana venues in particular because of its “rich tradition” of music.
Gannett, one of the largest record companies on Earth, is in Richmond, Secor said.
Some of the “most seminal recordings” were produced in the Hoosier state, Secor said.
“Indiana was such a technology center,” he said.
“You had folks that couldn’t read or write take trains to Indiana to record music. It has to do with Indiana’s place in urban technology. … So many things that made the USA a worldwide phenomenon happened in Indiana.”
The band has a new record they’ll announce coming out in 2022 and they are “hot on the tails” of their 25th anniversary, Secor said.
The band is also promoting their New Year’s Eve show in Nashville, Tennesse at the Ryman Auditorium.
Secor said the group loves to “mix it up” at smaller venues, with folks who live in the country who may not attend five live concerts a month, but maybe one or two a year.
“I love being around ‘salt of the Earth’ people,” he said. “We live in the big city now, but when we stop, I love being in small towns, going to the public libraries and knowing the history (of the area).”
