OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW "carry me back"

[CRAZY-HORSE]

OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW "carry me back"

not sure where i first heard of these guys, i suspect it was either Music Head or his son-in-law Major Tim
last year...but i could be wrong?
anyway, this is their fourth album of psuedo-bluegrass material...
lots of banjo/fiddle work happening here but not really my cup of tea.
sounds like these guys are ex-grunge fans as theres also that feel in the music to me...again, could be wrong,
just an observation.
only three tracks really stand out for me,the rest are all borderline like/dislike, and not convinced they will grow
on me if i heard them again...
thankfully, the three tracks i actually genuinely like are posted below with the coalminer song "half mile down" being
my favourite one on the album!
i guess the real positive with it is that the younger generation may hear this, like it and possibly go on to
seek out 'real' country/folky/bluegrass for themselves,thus keeping the spirit alive

all up, not for me im afraid 1.6

from the album:

half mile down
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgLDdKr8fCs audio

aint it enough
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7JQvz_tacA audio

ways of men
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZVln1ocZxQ audio




[h=2]review from 'allmusic'[/h][-]by Steve LeggettOld Crow Medicine Show sound like a prewar string band filtered through Uncle Tupelo via Nirvana, and if they aren't bluegrass by any stretch of the imagination, they are every bit as energetic as a breakneck bluegrass combo. They also write most of their material, so while the group's songs sound old and traditional, they are more facsimiles than anything else, with an attention to narrative and lyrical detail that the old string band tunes, which were often made up of lightly linked floating verses drawn from old country blues and fiddle reels, seldom had. It isn't easy straddling two different centuries with one's sound and style, but Old Crow Medicine Show pull it off once again on their fourth studio album, the Ted Hutt-produced Carry Me Back, a ragged, breakneck romp that crackles with more energy than a thrash band on Red Bull. The old string bands were dance ensembles, but it's difficult to imagine dancers keeping up very long to tracks like "Carry Me Back to Virginia," "Mississippi Saturday Night," and "Sewanee Mountain Catfight," all of which are unhinged speed shuffles that roar by faster than a NASCAR race. "We Don't Grow Tobacco," which flies on its own fast rails, is a well-written saga that starts off detailing the woes of working in the tobacco fields and ends bemoaning the loss of jobs in those same fields in the 21st century, while "Ain't It Enough" is a beautiful, poetic, and melodic love song, so Old Crow Medicine Show aren't just about rapid-fire speed shuffles. Thought and care are in these songs, and they all fall together in a nice flow. This isn't a one-trick pony band, and so far at least, Old Crow Medicine Show haven't painted themselves into a creative corner, managing somehow to sound both old and refreshingly new at once.