"It doesn't feel like the big show and I don't mind that because I don't want the pressures of the show. I just like the game," Ketch Secor said.
KALAMAZOO, MI -- Old Crow Medicine Show's Ketch Secor and his bandmates are about a month out from the release of "Remedy."
When asked what he hoped for the new project, Secor couldn't help interject a few statements about the state of modern country music coming from their base of Nashville, Tenn. Fifteen years into its run, Old Crow Medicine Show, fronted by Secor on fiddle, stands out from its glitzier contemporaries. Secor mocked today's country music with its jumbotrons, neck tattoos and almost complete lack of respect for the genre's predecessors.
If you go
Old Crow Medicine Show
When: 8 p.m. Sunday, June 1
Where: Kalamazoo State Theatre, 404 S. Burdick St. Cost: $30.50, $35.50
Contact: 269-345-6500, www.kazoostate.com
"We're in the really exciting position in a cultural wasteland of airwaves. Our broadcast is beaming loud and proud, true and undeniable – the kind of joy that American roots music can elicit from the eardrums of Americans. I hope that means we'll be able to make a joyful noise and maybe raise a little hell amidst all of the lousy music that is simultaneously being played at much louder decibel levels than ours," he said.
"Remedy" will be out on July 1 on ATO Records and the band will play at 8 p.m. Sunday, June 1 at the Kalamazoo State Theatre. "Remedy" features a single with the stamp of approval of Bob Dylan and marks the return of Critter Fuqua, who has made music with Secor since they were 12. Fuqua took a five-year hiatus from Old Crow but is back providing a "stabilizing presence."
At various points in the phone interview from a tour stop in Florida last week, Secor railed against some bands that have taken "their country music lessons from Kid Rock" when they should be listening to Barry Gordy. As a member of the Grand Ole Opry, Secor said it's his responsibility "to do right" by the host of songwriters who told good stories before them.
"We're really interested in shaking it up. We did the research. We figured out how to write songs that sounded like they have one foot in the grave and the other in the glory land," he said.
The band formed in 1998 and was discovered by Grammy Award-winning guitarist/songwriter Doc Watson while performing on the streets of North Carolina two years later. Watson invited them to play MerleFest and the group relocated to Nashville.
Old Crow's biggest hit to date came in 2004 with the release of "Wagon Wheel," a track with a compelling back story.
As teenagers, Fuqua and Secor obsessed over Bob Dylan. They came across an untitled, unfinished song by Bob Dylan from the soundtrack sessions for the 1973 film, "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid." Secor made additions to the raw cut and the band released "Wagon Wheel" in 2004, sharing writing credits and royalties with Dylan. It was a hit. Darius Rucker, the Hootie and the Blowfish frontman turned country star, then did a cover of song and made an even bigger hit from it.
Secor said he was glad Rucker took on the track as opposed to another performer he didn't respect.
"It's kind of funny that the song would wind up in mainstream country and I'm really glad I did. It's a good song. There's a lot of truth in it and that's what country music lacks a lot of nowadays – a good story, a really good story. It's about a kid who makes good and gets the girl, but they don't disappear at the beach at Fort Walton and get drunk and eat onion rings and make out and get their faces stuck together. Rather, they become free," Secor said.
From the track, Secor and Co. also crafted a relationship, of sorts, with Dylan. Secor, who sent several fan letters to Dylan as a teenager, has never spoken with or met the folk icon. But Dylan's management offered the group another unfinished song from the same 1973 recording session.
With Dylan's input and suggestions, Old Crow wrote, "Sweet Amarillo," the first single from the new album that's available on iTunes and Spotify, among other outlets.
It's part of the band's career arc Secor laughs about when discussing where the project has led him.
"These are the kinds of stories you scribble on the margins of your math text book in eighth grade," he said.
With "Sweet Amarillo" in hand and Fuqua back in the fold, Secor talked about the possible success of "Remedy" while mixing in some baseball metaphors.
"I feel like we got a shot at it this year. It still feels like the minor leagues and I've always been OK with that because I'm a fiddler. It doesn't feel like the big show and I don't mind that because I don't want the pressures of the show. I just like the game," he said.
Secor said this leg of the tour -- prior to the release of "Remedy" -- will give Old Crow time to experiment with the new material on a live audience.
"We'll be looking in your faces to see the response we're hoping for. If we don't get it, then we'll change something," he said.
John Liberty covers entertainment for the Kalamazoo Gazette. Call him at 269-370-7372, email him at jlibert1@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter.