Painting a Portrait of 23 Years With Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show

How long is the average lifespan for a band? That could be hard to pin down, but it is surely a lot shorter than the time we have witnessed Old Crow Medicine Show do their thing. Starting out as strict revivalists of old-time string band traditions, they did not even believe in writing original songs. To Ketch Secor’s thinking back at Old Crow’s inception, all the great songs had already been written, so any attempts to add to that canon would be futile. Fortunately for all of us, Ketch and the band changed their minds on that point, and almost immediately discovered how much impact they could have with originals (and one whale of a co-write). Like any group starting out, they had no way of knowing how far they would go or how much they would change in time. If you had told them that they were going to sell millions of records and win multiple Grammy awards back in 1999, they would likely have laughed. If you had pointed out that a future member of their group (Mason Via) had just been born, my bet is that they would have looked at you as if you had come from another planet. But all of this would come to pass.

Fast forward to spring 2022, when Old Crow Medicine Show returned to the place that a generation before had served, as Ketch said in our interview, a lily pad, a springboard for their success. There at MerleFest, I sat with Ketch in the library at Wilkes Community College ahead of their two shows that day — the first a surprise acoustic performance off stage on the festival grounds, the second their main stage performance hours later. A documentary crew was on hand filming our conversation, which covered a wide range of topics, including the current lineup of Old Crow Medicine Show, his time living off the land in Avery County, North Carolina when the band first formed, his recent fascination with music from Equatorial Africa and Texas border country, how he always wants to be, as he puts it, a mockingbird, and more. There is plenty of music from their latest album Paint This Town featured as well.

Old Crow Medicine Show plays a surprise acoustic set on the Wilkes Community College campus ahead of their main stage performance 05-30-22

Photo: Martin Anderson

Songs heard in this episode:

“DeFord Rides Again” by Old Crow Medicine Show from Paint This Town

“New Mississippi Flag” by Old Crow Medicine Show from Paint This Town, excerpt

“Used To Be A Mountain” by Old Crow Medicine Show from Paint This Town, excerpt

“Gloryland” by Old Crow Medicine Show from Paint This Town, excerpt

“Paint This Town” by Old Crow Medicine Show from Paint This Town

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Southern Songs and Stories is a part of the podcast lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available here. You can also hear new episodes of this podcast on Bluegrass Planet Radio here. Thanks to Corrie Askew for producing the radio adaptations of this series on WNCW, and to Joshua Meng, who wrote and performed our theme songs. This is Southern Songs and Stories: the music of the South and the artists who make it. - Joe Kendrick

The Allman Betts Band: Where The Song Is The Boss

Because it is 2020, nothing is the same, and music is no exception -- podcasts like this one included. As we all find ourselves in the new reality that the coronavirus pandemic has thrown at us, however, the old mantra that “the show must go on” still holds true. And in our case, Southern Songs and Stories goes on in a new way with this episode. With this podcast on The Allman Betts Band, it is the first time that we have done a show with an interview from a video call. A side benefit with this is that we can also share the video of our conversation, which is worth watching just to see Devon Allman changing his background images throughout the interview, so his Iron Maiden reference makes more sense there, for starters. That video is posted below. 

Devon Allman and Duane Betts are well known as the sons of Greg Allman and Dickey Betts, respectively, and their partnership now seems like it was meant to be, especially now that The Allman Betts Band’s second album, Bless Your Heart, is well on its way to being a big hit. But their friendship and musical partnership did not happen right away after they first met some thirty years ago, as teenagers attending an Allman Brothers show. Listen in for that story, as well as the meaning of letting the song be the boss, the expansion of their band members’ and co-writers’ roles on this album, and much more.

Devon Allman and Duane Betts of The Allman Betts Band.

Thanks for visiting, and I hope you enjoy our time with The Allman Betts Band. If you haven’t already done it, please tell someone you know about this series, and subscribe on your podcast platform of choice. Bonus points if you give it a good rating and a review, which helps make Southern Songs and Stories and the artists it profiles more visible to more people just like you. Southern Songs and Stories is a part of the podcast lineup on both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available at https://www.osirispod.com/ . You can also hear new episodes of this podcast on Bluegrass Planet Radio at https://www.bluegrassplanetradio.com/. Thanks also to Sean Rubin at WNCW for engineering our interview session. - Joe Kendrick

Songs heard in this episode:

“Magnolia Road” from Bless Your Heart (excerpt)

“The Doctor’s Daughter” from Bless Your Heart (excerpt)

“Savannah’s Dream” from Bless Your Heart