Devour Music

Lars Gotrich | December 4, 2024

If you're watching this, it's because you love a song — more than that, you love how someone plays that song.

• Several artists have covered "Wagon Wheel," an inescapable staple of folk festivals and hootenannies. But you know what? No one performs that ramblin' folk stomper quite like Old Crow Medicine Show.

So here, 20 years after the band recorded and turned it into a phenomenon, Ketch Secor and his band open their Tiny Desk with "Wagon Wheel."

• For nearly three decades, Old Crow Medicine Show has served up a revved-up take on old-time music, folk, bluegrass, country and everything else tossed into what we call roots music.

That energy, still wired from its early busking days, translates here as the band runs through "O Cumberland River" and "Wolfman of the Ozarks," complete with train-chugging harmonica and a jaw harp duet.

• The group closes with "One Drop," a hopeful, gospel-style call for unity in a moment we could all use some.

SET LIST

1. "Wagon Wheel"
2. "O Cumberland River"
3. "Wolfman of the Ozarks"
4. "One Drop"

MUSICIANS

• Ketch Secor: fiddle, vocals
• Morgan Jahnig: upright bass, vocals
• Cory Younts: mandolin, keys, vocals
• Mike Harris: dobro, banjo, electric guitar, vocals
• PJ George: acoustic guitar, keys, vocals
• Dante' Pope: percussion, vocals

TINY DESK TEAM

• Producer: Lars Gotrich Lars Gotrich
• Director/Editor: Maia Stern Maia Stern
• AUDIO TECHNICAL DIRECTOR: Neil Tevault
• Host/Series Producer: Bobby Carter Bobby Carter
• Videographers: Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant, Kara Frame, Alanté Serene Maia Stern
• Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer Ashley Pointer
• Photographer: Elizabeth Gillis Elizabeth Gillis
• Tiny Desk Team: Hazel Cills, Josh Newell Hazel Cills Josh Newell
• Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed Suraya Mohamed
• Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
• VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins Keith Jenkins

Support for NPR Music comes from Better Help, committed to helping clients with issues ranging from relationship challenges and goal-setting to grief and depression. Learn more at BetterHelp.com/TinyDesk.