Australian Penthouse

Following a successful tour of Australia and New Zealand in 2009, electrifying American bluegrass band Old Crow Medicine Show is back! Cameron Murray talks to fiddle player and songwriter Ketch Secor (above, with the apple) about life on the road, Bob Dylan, and snuff…

How’s it going, Ketch?

It’s going pretty well, but it’ll be going even better when I get down under!

What do you most enjoy about touring in Australia?

I don’t even know where to begin. One of the things I love is simply being in a foreign place, where music is your language, where music is the thing that unlocks doors, where music is your passport. And I love the symbolism of bringing fiddles, guitars, banjos, harmonicas, a double bass, and all my best friends halfway around the globe to make music. There’s no further you can go than the land down under; if you go any further, you start coming home again!

How did you come up with the name ‘Old Crow Medicine Show’?

We needed a name that was going to sound good shouted on a street corner; a name that would call the people in. It needed to have a little rhyme and a good cadence, and Old Crow Medicine Show was just something that struck me while I was scrubbing dishes at a job and daydreaming about playing music.

How would you describe OCMS?

We’re like a rock’n’roll band with acoustic instruments. One time, we played the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City, and we had a million people on our left and a million people on our right – the biggest crowd I ever played to. Well, they called us “the Rolling Stones of bluegrass”; that’s what it said on the side of the float, in marshmallow. So I think we’re sort of the marshmallow Rolling Stones of bluegrass.

What’s your favourite song to perform?

I like ‘Wagon Wheel’ – that’s been a good song for us, but we’re always putting pen to paper and coming up with new ditties. I was thinking I might steal that song about the kookaburra in a gum tree and write myself a mega hit!

‘Wagon Wheel’ was a half-finished Bob Dylan song that you completed. Have you ever met the great man?

I never have met Bob, but I did get a co-writing credit with him, so I guess he signed off on it. I think he’d probably like us because he was into string-band music when he was coming out of that folk scene in New York City, and there were more bands like OCMS in that era than there are today. Like Bob, we always have something to say.

Your frenetic live shows always get rave reviews. What’s your secret?

Though our band is so informed by American folk music traditions, we’re not a relic. You know, if the traditions that shaped us were ever behind glass, we busted on through that, jumped off the pedestal and raced down to the streets, where this kind of music belongs. This music is powerful stuff and it can’t be contained. I think it sounds better live than it ever could on a record.

I understand legendary bluegrass guitarist Doc Watson helped you out in the beginning…

That’s true. We were busking on a street corner, out the front of a drugstore in Boone, North Carolina, and a woman came up and said, “That sounds so good, let me go get my daddy.” And she walked Doc across the street not 20 minutes later. As soon as we saw him get out of the car, we were pretty excited, and we sure got nervous! But we played a couple of tunes for him and he took a shine to us. Not a year later, we were playing at the Grand Ole Opry.

When can we expect a new album?

I’m not sure, but I’m glad we’re gonna get a little bit of that Australian dust into our nostrils before we hit the red button. I feel like there’s still something to learn, and I’m glad we’re gonna do a little travelling in your country before we finalise our new record.

Will it be at all similar to your last record, Tennessee Pusher?

I don’t know. We haven’t even played in 2010 yet. Our first gig since New Year’s Eve will be in Wellington, New Zealand on March 24. I don’t know what’s in store for us, but I’m fired up, man!

You’ve played a lot of festivals all around the world. Do you have a favourite?

CMC Rocks The Snowys in Thredbo, mate! Get a dog up ya! I haven’t seen that many cowboys since Oklahoma…and I live in Nashville.

What’s on your rider?

I think it’s Foster’s and Vegemite, primarily, but it’s also taken up by numerous tobacco products; I like a moist, sweet snuff.

So the rider changes wherever you are in the world?

Yeah, I like it when we go to Holland! You ought to see the riders up there, man!

OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW TOUR DATES

March 2010
Wed 24 | The Opera House, Wellington, NZ
Thu 25 | James Hay Theatre, Christchurch, NZ
Sat 27 | Factory Theatre, Sydney, NSW
Sun 28 | West Coast Blues n’ Roots Festival, Fremantle, WA
Mon 29 | Mojos, Fremantle, WA
Wed 31 | Thornbury Theatre, Melbourne, Vic

April 2010
Thu 1 | Thornbury Theatre, Melbourne, Vic-SOLD OUT
Fri 2 | Mossvale, South Gippsland, Vic
Sat 3 | Byron Bay Blues Festival, Byron Bay, NSW