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Old Crow Medicine Show's new-era bluegrass winning fans

By Liz Mitchell

Old Crow Medicine Show, the group that will open for the Dave Matthews Band at "The Joe" on Friday at 7 p.m., got its start much like its name might suggest: by traveling town to town in a van playing music for anyone who would listen, much like the old medicine shows that sold elixirs to anyone looking for a cure-all.

"The idea of a traveling show is what it was born out of," said band member Willie Watson, who plays guitar, banjo and sings. "We wanted to travel to street corners."

The band, known for its pre-World War II blues, fiddle tunes and American jug music, often is lumped into country or bluegrass genres. Watson admits, though, that most of the band didn't know what bluegrass was before they got together. The 28-year-old grew up listening to Nirvana.

"Our old-time (music) isn't like a lot of traditionalists," he said. "We made our own way. We have our own sound. We play old-time music at a bluegrass tempo, so we amp it up."

Watson, Critter Fuqua on banjo, Ketch Secor on fiddle and harmonica, Morgan Jahnig on bass and Kevin Hayes on the guitjo met in New York. After spending a few years on the road in the van, they decided to resettle in the mountains of Boone, N.C., where they lived for two years in a cabin without electricity and learned how to do things like make banjos out of soup cans.

"It was a different time because we didn't play a lot of shows," Watson said. "Mostly we lived on a mountain with a tobacco field. We made corn liquor and banjos, hung out with old-timers, lived the mountain life. We really got into it. It was essential to immerse ourselves in that. That is where (this music) comes from."