Old Crow Medicine Show, no stranger to Atlanta, is back in town, at the Fox Theatre, this Saturday. Tickets to the show, which the beloved roots string band co-headlines with Brandi Carlile, are available here .
"We've been playing in Atlanta for the better part of two decades now and just really have a great time in that premier city of the South," Old Crow's Ketch Secor said during an interview with the AJC. "We've spent time there from 15 years ago when we were playing at the Variety Playhouse."
The band also played both the Shaky Knees and Shaky Boots festivals last year.
MORE: Preview the show here
Credit: Jennifer Brett
Credit: Jennifer Brett
PAST COVERAGE: OCMS inducted into Grand Ole Opry
"Atlanta is written into the history of country music just as much as Nashville," Secor said. "The very first country music super star was from Atlanta, Ga. his name was John Carson."
A railroad worker, horse jockey and moonshiner, "Fiddlin' John Carson," as he was known, was a fixture on the annual Georgia Old-Time Fiddlers' Conventions and toured rural north Georgia with his dog, Old Tail, who would howl in harmony, according to the Georgia Encyclopedia. When WSB radio launched in 1922, Fiddlin' John, who often toted his instrument in a flour sack, showed up and asked for some air time.
“Telephone calls, telegrams, and letters poured in for days afterward,” the Georgia Encyclopedia piece notes. “Carson was a regular performer on WSB into the early 1930s and thereafter, intermittently, into the 1940s.”
Credit: Jennifer Brett
Credit: Jennifer Brett
Did y'all know all that? We didn't. Thanks, Old Crow.
Speaking of trips to the way-back machine, OCMS also is gearing up for a two-night stint celebrating the 50th anniversary of Bob Dylan's "Blonde on Blonde," coming up May 12 and 13 at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville. They'll perform the entire album, which was recorded in Nashville. Get tickets for those performances here.
"I’m up to my gills in Bob Dylan lyrics," Secor said.
The fellas are looking forward to their stop in Atlanta, particularly given the stage they'll be occupying.
"We get to do all kinds of different venues. There’s redeeming qualities about Indian reservation casinos or corporate conventions which don’t sound instantly cool," he mused. The Fox is a different story.
The group plays MerleFest in North Carolina on Friday and heads next to Chattanooga, next Wednesday. ( For all tour dates see this link).
During their time with us this go-round the guys plan to travel by wagon wheel mass transit.
"I’ve still got my MARTA ticket," Secor said. "It’s always in my wallet!"
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