Remedy

According to Critter Fuqua, the band's splendidly named slide guitarist and banjo player, Old Crow Medicine Show ‘grew up playing Nirvana and electric guitars.’ Somewhere along the line they discovered the charm of old-time string-band music and their self-titled 2004 debut rode the crest of Depression-era chic launched by O Brother Where Art Thou? and included ‘Wagon Wheel’, a long-distance co-write with none other than Bob Dylan. Their latest album includes another Dylan collaboration on ‘Sweet Amarillo’, the great man having sent the band the lyrics with specific instructions about the use of fiddles and the number of bars before the chorus.

It's the highlight on an album that finds the band trying a little too hard in their eagerness to please both country aficionados and stadium rock fans. The production favours a hi-tech brashness over the ragged charm of earlier releases and the ferocious energy of the up-tempo numbers sounds swaggeringly manufactured rather than raw and authentic. The ballads, such as ‘Dearly Departed Friend’ and the prison lament ‘The Warden’, fare better, and if you like your American roots with a glossy pop sheen, Remedy will suit you just fine. However, if you prefer a little more dirt beneath the fingernails, you might like to try the recent solo album by ex-OCMS man Willie Watson, also reviewed in this issue.