Old Crow Medicine Show Puts on More Than A Show in Beaver Dam
The first time I saw Old Crow Medicine Show was a little over 12 years ago at the Master Musicians Festival in Somerset. Their star was on the rise and fast forward to this past Saturday night, they are bigger than ever and Grand Ole Opry members to boot. They put on a SHOW.
I took my sister Hillary with me and she had never really heard any of OCMS's music. My cousin Alex is a fan. Now if you are a fan or even a casual fan, you know the song "Wagon Wheel". But did you know how it came to be? I sort of knew and the reason I went investigating is that Hillary thought Bob Dylan wrote it. He did, co-write it, by accident.
When Dylan was recording music for the 1973 film Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, he started messing around with the words "Rock me Mamma like a wagon wheel". That soundtrack would produce one of Dylan's staples, "Knockin' on Heaven's Door".
Dylan essentially came up with what would be the chorus. OCMS frontman Ketch Secor's friend had a Dylan bootleg that had the outtake on it. Secor took Dylan's chord progression and wrote the verses.
Darius Rucker's version went to number one and won a Best Solo Country Performance Grammy in 2014.
Singer-songwriter Charlie Worsham is currently a member of OCMS. I knew that name as soon as he was introduced. Molly Tuttle, who opened on Saturday night, is a true talent and she joined the guys later for a couple of numbers, including "Wagon Wheel".
Bottom line, if you get the chance to see Old Crow Medicine Show live, please do it.