Old Crow Medicine Show paints America with a punk spirit and old-time twang on new album – Tennessean

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Pigeon Forge a Tennessee getawayknown for sprawling theme parks and outlet shops nestled at the edge of the Great Smoky Mountainsisn't listed as a collaborator on Old Crow Medicine Show's fierynew LP "Paint This Town."

But maybe it should be.

"When you walk around Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, you see the future of Old Crow Medicine Show," said Ketch Secor, the band'sfrontman and co-founder."You're looking at the folks that're gonna spend $32.50 on an Old Crow ticket and slap a bumper sticker on their truck.

"That's who I want to have throw money in the tip jar. Those are some hard-workin' folks. We have a responsibility if you've got so many fiddles and banjos to your band to endear yourself to those kind of people."

Secor and company decamped to drummer Jerry Pentecost's Sevier County cabinfor writing sessions that laid the foundation of "Paint This Town," a rip-roaring album that chronicles stories from rural anarchy torampant addiction,racial erasure on Music Rowand19th century abolition.

"Paint This Town" hits shelves and streaming services Friday via ATO Records; Old Crow celebrates album release day this week with an intimate one-night show at Third Man Records' Blue Room venue.

Cut at Old Crow's clubhouse in East Nashville, "Paint This Town" offers a collection of time-traveling stories untouched by compromise and fueled by a creative freedom earned after nearly 25 years as a band.

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"It's like we've finally become the band that we started out to be," said Secor, who worked his was up from busking on downtown Nashville street corners to becoming a Grand Ole Opry member with Old Crow. He continued: "Idon't think we realized we had as much freedom of choice as we did until a couple years ago."

For "Paint This Town," Old Crow exercised its artistic freedom from inside the expansive "Hartland"band cave,where the group tracks, rehearses and produces much of what fans hear (or see, in the case of Old Crow's pandemic-born online variety show "Hartland Hootenanny").

Inside Hartland, lyric sheets line the open rehearsal room floor; the band's awards including the 2015 Grammy for Best Folk Album sit in a case lining one wall of an adjacent sitting room, while ceiling-to-floor show flyers cover another wall. Around the corner from a studio control space, the band staged another room with memorabiliaand old-time fittings for the "Hootenanny" set.

Previously a tool and die factory that Old Crow took over in 2020, Pentecost described the space as "magic" from day one.

"Everybody put a lot of work into this place," Pentecost said. "Everybody's proud to be able to call it home. ... I think that's the energy and vibe we brought to it."

And at the clubhouse, Pentecostfound his place as a percussionist in the longtime string band. A Nashville native who's active in the local music scene, Pentecost joined Old Crow in late 2019 as the band's first dedicated drummer.

With Old Crow at a creative crossroads, Pentecostpulled alinchpin signaling the band's new creative chapter, Secor said.

"Things had changed a lot [since the band's last album, 2018's 'Volunteer']," Secor said. "We broke up with our longtime manager. We lost Critter [Fuqua], who was our longtime banjo player. There was an opportunity to do two things: Placate the crowd and the team and just keep on doin' it. Maybe switch to casinos, that kinda thing. Or reinvent it, reinvigorate it. And that decision coincided with callin' Jerry."

Secor added,"[He] brought a full head of steam to the locomotive and it just kept goin' down the tracks."

For Pentecost, bringing full-time percussion to a group known for high-flying upright bass, banjo and fiddle playing offered a chance for the musician to carve a unique space in Old Crow.

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"That's all I've ever done, isplay drums," Pentecost said, adding: "That's part of the whole revitalizing ... I'm real proud of the work we've done here. I think you can hear the energy and musicianship."

Listeners hear the result of Secor's self-described reinvigoration immediately: Opening title track "Paint This Town" channels an autobiographical taste of roots rock fueled by restless rebellion.

Adopting a punk ethos where the teenage protagonist decorates his backroad townwith anarchy signs "Paint This Town" signals an Americana truth-telling to come on the 12-song album. The band straddles a line of historical fascination ("John Brown's Dream") with social reflection ("New Mississippi Flag"), bygone empathy ("Gloryland")and ongoing environmental decay ("Used To Be A Mountain").

Real, fictitious, or somewhere in-between, Old Crow spins stories about everyday heroes,Secor said.

"I like folks who act as signposts for other folks," Secor said. "I like folks who can be both a symbol and real.... I meet people all the time who I might have the choice to write a song about or not write a song about. There's so many fascinating, interesting characters in this town and all of the towns."

And Pentecost isn't solely behind the kit for "Paint This Town." He takes lead vocals on "DeFord Rides Again," an impassioned song about DeFord Bailey, a trailblazing Black country music entertainer shunned more than half-a-century ago by an industry that continues to struggle with equality.

Co-written by Pentecost with Secor and guitar wizard Molly Tuttle, the song gives nod to Bailey's 1920s fox-chasin' harmonica before turning to the years when Music Row closed its doors to the performer.

Pentecost sings: "... up at Greenwood youll find a plot four foot nine/ For our citys biggest shame they whitewashed his name/ And for that kind of sin there aint no excuse/Blow, blow DeFord, blow/ Play that 'Pan American.'"

Last week, Old Crow teamed with the Country Music Hall of Fame and Bailey's grandson Carlos DeFord Bailey for an interactive harmonica lesson.

"It's about perspective," Pentecost said. "We're talking about the first African-American star of the Opry. I feel like if you ask nine out of 10 country fans, they'd be like "Who?"

"For an individual like myself I don't know if I'll ever be a star of the Opry but who's trying to live a similar life and be an African-American in the country music world, it's important to acknowledge that legacy and those hardships."

Like much of the album, Pentecost said he hopes the "why" of tellingBailey's story stands firmly at the forefront of what fans from those cruising the streets of Pigeon Forge and beyond hear on "Paint This Town."

"All you can do is hope that it translates," Pentecost said.

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Old Crow Medicine Show paints America with a punk spirit and old-time twang on new album - Tennessean