Old Crow Medicine Show frontman Ketch Secor recently released his debut solo album Story The Crow Told Me on Equal Housing Records via Firebird Music. Recorded at his own Hartland Studios and co-written/produced with Jody Stevens (Luke Bryan, Jake Owens), Story The Crow Told Me is a coming-of-age saga about a dreamer who carved his path to the top, one song at a time. The album is sharply written and wildly creative, featuring cameos from Molly Tuttle, Marty Stuart and even Old Crow alums Critter Fuqua and Willie Watson, as well as poignant samples from Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash.
Along with the announcement, Secor has also released the debut single “Dickerson Road,” a tribute to East Nashville’s boulevard of broken dreams featuring guitar from The Cadillac Three’s Jaren Johnston. The official video was featured this morning at Rolling Stone, who said “Featuring strung-out, skronk-blues guitar from the Cadillac Three’s Jaren Johnston, the track evokes the gritty, hustling, danger-around-the-corner vibe of Dickerson Pike, a gasoline alley of car lots, tire shops, and seedy motels.”
About the new single, Secor explains: “The Grand Ole Opry has stars and the Hall of Fame has plaques, and in the year 2000 there was one premier destination for Nashville’s castoffs, rejects, n’er-do-wells, petty thieves, lowlifes, losers and users; so like a barfly to a bottle I went to where I felt I belonged, straight up Dickerson Road. Nowadays you can only catch a fleeting glimpse of the misfit glory that once teemed down this boulevard of broken dreams, but once in awhile I’ll see some stray dog licking at some grease trap and know they’re still clawing their way to the top of trash pile down on The Dick.”
Now a Nashville resident for 25 years, Secor reflects on a quarter century spent in Music City and beyond with an album that is equal parts coming-of-age story, road-warrior autobiography, and love letter to the city that watched him grow into a man. Story The Crow Told Me details a Kerouac-worthy journey through the misfit wilderness of life, love, longing, and leaving home, filled to the brim with spoken-word vocal performances, punky tempos, bluegrass harmonies, honking harmonica, and fiddle. With these 12 songs, Secor showcases the full range of his musical talents – playing nearly a dozen instruments across the album and co-writing every track. Skilled in reinterpreting the sounds of the past for today’s audience, Secor sets the past 25 years of his music-making life to a new soundtrack.
“There are a lot of things happening at this point in my life that are causing me to be more retrospective,” he explains. “I’ve been in the game a long time. I do enjoy looking forward, but old-timey music is about simultaneously looking forward and backward at the same time. That’s why it’s a regressive art. You go back with it, but that’s where the strength is. The challenge is to carry the substance of the past into the present.”
Ketch Secor is a wheel-spinning multitasker whose recent projects include TEDx Talks, online variety shows, documentaries like Ken Burns’ Country Music (where he served as a consultant and interviewee) and Louder Than Guns (which he co-produced with Doug Pray and David Greene), a children’s book, a stage musical, and even the launch of a primary school in Nashville. His two-time GRAMMY-winning band Old Crow Medicine Show just celebrated their 25-year anniversary with the GRAMMY-nominated album Jubilee and the first-ever vinyl release of their debut album O.C.M.S., remastered by producer David Rawlings.
Story The Crow Told Me Tracklist
1. Busker’s Spell
2. Talkin’ Doc Blues
3. Ghost Train
4. Dickerson Road
5. Old Man River
6. Catch Me If You Can
7. Highland Rim (feat. Marty Stuart)
8. Junkin’
9. On The Wall
10. Thanks Again
11. Holes In The Wall
12. What Nashville Was
Old Crow Medicine Show tour dates:
August 23 – Little Rock, AR @ The Hall
August 28 – Chicago, IL @ The Salt Shed (Supporting Turnpike Troubadours)
August 30 – Union Hall, VA @ The Coves Amphitheater
August 31 – Paintsville, KY @ Alley Fest Music Festival
September 12-13 – Saanen, Switzerland @ Gstaad Festival
September 26 – Chesterfield, MO @ The Factory (Supporting Turnpike Troubadours)
October 9 – Kalispell, MT @ Wachholz College Center
October 10 – Bozeman, MT @ The ELM
October 11 – Billings, MT @ The Pub Station
October 12 – Rapid City, SD @ The Monument
October 23 – Charlottesville, VA @ Ting Pavilion
October 24 – Virginia Beach, VA @ Sandler Center for the Performing Arts
December 30 – Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium
December 31 – Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium