The Rocky Mountain Collegian

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In today's world of overdubbing, lip-synching and studio musicians, it is refreshing to find new talent that sticks too the roots of music. The Old Crow Medicine Show (named after a traveling healer's remedy that turned out to just be whiskey) definitely does that! This Nashville, Tenn. quintet offers an assortment of traditional and original folk tunes on their banjos, fiddle, harmonica, upright bass, and guitar, bringing bluegrass music to a contemporary crowd. Their debut album from BMI, "O.C.M.S." delivers songs about living poor in the country, Vietnam, kicking a drug habit and everywhere in between. The album's cover simply shows the band in all their country glory with banjos, wife-beaters, aviator shades and fat wads of chaw in their jaws.

Despite their disheveled looks, The Old Crow Medicine Show is, well, good. These songs come from the heart of Southern America. When listening to these upbeat songs, you can't help but smile. The first track, "Tell It To Me," warns the listener to stay away from cocaine, with bluesy riffs that you'll find yourself humming on your way to class. The true bluegrass songs "Tear It Down" and "Hard To Tell" will make even your most melancholy attitude brighter. Fans of Bob Dylan's true folk period will love O.C.M.S.'s cover of "Wagon Wheel." The boys of the Old Crow Medicine Show bring a new harmony and fiddling to breathe new life into the Dylan classic.

In the album's standout track, "Take 'Em Away," singer, Critter Fuqua, gives insight into the poverty found in America's Appalachian region. Fuqua shows how binding and imprisoning poverty can be, singing, "Some birds' feathers are too bright to be caged/ I know I'm not that colorful, but a bird just the same." His tale of rural struggle and the agony poverty causes might break most men, but Fuqua still sings about the pride felt from a job done to the best of one's ability, no matter how poor the return.

For anyone looking for something new, real or just fun, "O.C.M.S." is for them! This album will be appreciated by anyone who appreciates true musicianship and real feeling in lyrics. The passion and pride of The Old Crow Medicine Show pours out of every track. It may sound crazy, but give these boys a show, and I guarantee you will be surprised to find yourself singing bluegrass songs to yourself every chance you get.

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