Old Crow Medicine Show

Old Crow Medicine Show are a 5 piece American (Nashville) outfit who play somewhere in that 'Blues / folk / bluegrass / country’ swamp but who manage to deliver an original and often terrific sound through all of that. The band all look as though they have been around the scene for a while, although this is only their second album, and in Critter Fuqua definitely feature the least common name this listener has seen. They play with a great sense of fun and excellent musicianship, switching easily between train rythmns, love songs and protest songs. 'Big Iron World’ was produced by David Rawlings and he has avoided the obvious pitfall of pointing the band towards a particular sound; rather he has allowed the song writing talent and musicianship to dictate their own direction and the album sounds all the fresher for it. The songs are the real superstars here as they take the listener deep into the heart of America; love songs like 'Down Home Girl’ with the wonderful lyric 'ev’ry time I kiss you girl, taste like pork 'n’ beans’ all slow and Byrd like with a superb harmonica line from Ketch Secor and guitjo by Kevin Hayes or 'Union Maid’, the Woody Guthrie classic, featuring Critter Fuqha on banjo and played at a rapid tempo and great joi de vivre. As though you were stopping at different stations with every song, the album delivers a different story at every stop, many of them giving voice to the changes that made America but that tore the heart away from the ordinary man in favour of the corporations and progress ' check out 'James River Blues’ for a double-edged sword. Throughout the album the vocal performance from Willie Watson soars and drives the music along but never overshadows the songs themselves. 'Big Iron World’ is not chart material but for anyone who is a listener to great American music it is a real winner.