Old Crow Medicine Show

CAN THE GUITAR STAY RELEVANT IN THE ERA OF TRUMP AND TWITTER? YES, SAYS ROOTS MASTER KETCH SECOR, THOUGH IT’S NOT ABOUT WHAT YOU’RE PLAYING – IT’S WHAT YOU’RE SAYING THAT MATTERS...

Roots music is poorly named. To call it ‘roots’ suggests that this is where music starts – that mankind has not been manipulating melody and rhythm to document thoughts, feelings and events as long as we’ve had consciousness. Ketch Secor, the founder, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist behind Grammy winning roots stars Old Crow Medicine Show, views music as an evolving, communal voice – a theme reflected in the title of their recent  album Volunteer. But while you might not believe it from their string-laden, dust bowl jams, it was the voice of Michael Jackson that first caught the young  Ketch’s attention.

“We all felt in 1984 that Michael Jackson was the greatest musical accomplishment we could hope for,” Ketch recalls. “There was that collective identity - I saw the world that Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones made and wanted to be in that world. I realised that music was a tool for people to voice themselves collectively.”