Revivalist string band Old Crow Medicine Show has the look and sound of a band from another era, playing a mix of country, bluegrass and Americana songs that were written decades before anyone in the band was born. For Ketch Secor, who sings and plays fiddle, banjo and harmonica for the group, this type of music has always been a part of his life.
"I thought the music of the folk revival was happening right there in the '80s. It was like I was in some kind of time warp," Secor said during a phone interview from his home in Tennessee. OCMS performs Friday night at Hoyt Sherman.
It wasn't just Woody Guthrie and Doc Watson who were spinning on Secor's record player. Old Motown records got a lot of play, and like every kid in the '80s, he enjoyed Michael Jackson.
The band has a lot of unexpected influences, some that aren't always musical in nature. For the band's new concert DVD, "Live at the Orange Peel and Tennessee Theatre," the band watched lots of David Bowie footage for inspiration. Secor liked the blue-colored tone of the '70s Bowie performances, and tried to replicate that in their film. The end result, he said, is a film closer to The Band's Martin Scorcese-directed "The Last Waltz" than "O Brother Where Art Thou." Secor wanted to give viewers something similar to a live show.
"In the last couple years when you want to look at videos you go to YouTube, but that doesn't really translate the grandeur of an Old Crow show, or anything for that matter. It's 2-by-2 inches of shaky videography," Secor said. "We know it means something to the people who take them, but we wanted to give a choice of how to view us online. If you can't make it to our show, here's something you can take home."
Earlier this year OCMS was touring with the Dave Matthews Band, a band known for drawing huge crowds. Secor said he loved the experience, but for the most part fans were either still outside tailgating or on the way to the show while they were on stage.
"We may be a big hit with the hot dog vendors, and the T-shirt girls may jot down the band name on their iPhones, but we were playing in these arenas that were just endlessly empty of people," he said. "All you see are plastic chairs. It was pretty awesome."
Despite the band's connection to the olden days, Secor doesn't write off the music of today, saying even the new Miley Cyrus ssingle makes us harken back to the way our ears understand music, the same way they did with old songs.
"It all comes from Lead Belly, the Beatles, Stephen Foster and Al Jolson," he said. "If you can agree that old music still applies, you can make old music fit to entertain teenagers of 2009. You can sell soap with it, you can sell cars or tickets in Des Moines, I hope.
"Good songs are meant to be sung, they're not museum pieces or relics. A song has the power to arm you. You can take that arm out into the world with you and be part of the power of that song with your voice."
