(left to right) Mike Harris, Mason Via, Morgan Jahnig, Cory Younts, Ketch Secor, Dante’ Pope and PJ George make up string band Old Crow Medicine Show. Credit: Courtesy of Bryan Ros
Two-time Grammy Award-winning group Old Crow Medicine Show will perform at KEMBA Live! Thursday.
The seven-person string band’s August 2023 record “Jubilee” is nominated for Best Folk Album at this year’s Grammy Awards, Bryan Ros, a Missing Piece Group publicist who represents Old Crow Medicine Show, said in an email.
“The new album is a wildly expansive body of work showcasing the dazzling musicality and poetic yet powerful storytelling that has made Old Crow Medicine Show one of the most potent and influential forces in American roots music for more than two decades,” Ros said.
According to a Nov. 10, 2023, press release, “Jubilee” — a follow-up to the band’s 2022 album, titled “Paint This Town” — was co-produced with Matt Ross-Spang and features guest artists like Mavis Staples, Sierra Ferrell and Willie Watson.
Ketch Secor, Old Crow Medicine’s frontman as well as a multi-instrumentalist, said “Jubilee” tries to capture the ups and downs of ordinary American life.
“This kind of work, you’re just always trying to reflect the beauty of the world around you and the hardships that people face because music is supposed to be a reflection of society,” Secor said.
Secor said the album is titled “Jubilee” for a specific reason. The word’s triumphant connotation is a testament to the band’s 25-year run.
“Our voices are jubilant at making music together and we have a really dynamic set that is always changing,” Secor said.
One of the album’s singles, titled “Miles Away,” spent nine weeks in the “Top 10 at Americana Radio” and features Watson, a former Old Crow Medicine Show member whose presence on the track marks her first recording with the band in over 10 years, the press release states.
Most of the songwriting featured in “Jubilee” was spontaneous in nature, Secor said.
“There’s a freshness to the music that I think only comes from having your material be newly conceived of,” Secor said. “We wrote a lot of this music at 2 o’clock in the morning. Then we were making the record at 10 a.m.”
Secor said the band only slept a few hours each night while recording “Jubilee,” leading many of its songs to have a “coffee buzz” type of feel.
“I think maybe the song ‘Keel Over and Die’ might have the most caffeine,” Secor said.
Old Crow Medicine Show aims to bring this caffeine-like, buoyant energy off the album and straight to their shows, Secor said.
“It’s a high-energy show,” Secor said. “It really feels like a rock show, honestly, but on acoustic instruments.”
Secor said coming back to Columbus feels like a homecoming for the band’s members, as they have consistently performed in the city throughout their respective careers.
“Folks in Columbus know the Old Crow from our many years of playing everything from the Ohio Theatre to the hockey arena, local festivals in Franklin County and just us hanging out at the downtown farmer’s market,” Secor said.
Secor said one of his more meaningful Ohio-related memories is taking a hitchhiking trip to see his hospitalized grandfather in Knox County. He was about 19 years old at the time, catching rides with empathetic strangers and spending nights in various trailer parks.
Such nostalgia has Secor excited to return to Ohio for the band’s upcoming show.
“I met all kinds of wonderful people who reminded me that all across the country is goodness, joy, kindness and kinship,” said Secor. “Music, like the kind we make, is just a reminder of the connective tissue that our shared ‘Americanness’ affords us all.”
Secor hopes concert attendees can take a moment to look around and realize they are surrounded by a strong community.
“As folks across Ohio look forward to the new year, I think there’s some forces at play that are going to be extremely divisive in this next year, and that’s why it’s so important to remember the power of music to bring folks together from all walks of life,” Secor said.
Notably, Secor said Thursday’s show promises a comfortably frenzied atmosphere.
“As long as you bring your dancing shoes out and get ready to have a good time, then we will be happy to be your tour guides on this wild night of joy and small amounts of debauchery,” Secor said.
Concert admission is priced at $39.50 in advance and $45 at the door, with doors opening at 7 p.m. Thursday. More information about Old Crow Medicine Show can be found on the band’s website.
