Old Crow Medicine Show founding member Ketch Secor had no shortage of topics he was ready to discuss when he phoned in for a recent interview. Chief among them was the recent return to the band’s lineup of Christopher “Critter” Fuqua, who co-founded the band with Secor in 1998.

Fuqua, who sang fan-favorite songs such as “Take ’Em Away” and “Big Time in the Jungle” left Old Crow Medicine Show in 2007, returned for a second stint from 2012-2020, and now begins his third stretch.

“We’re just really excited to have Critter,” Secor said in a phone interview. “I started this band with him when I was a kid. I’m still a kid at heart, but not according to my birth certificate.”

You can see Secor, Critter, and the rest of the bluegrass band at Embassy Theatre on Saturday, Sept. 14, with special guest Brennen Leigh.

Rejuvenated

While Critter’s return has Secor enthused since the latest iteration of Old Crow has returned to the concert trail, it’s not the only thing he’s excited about.

In the past year, the band have gotten their own studio space, developed a productive partnership with a new producer, released the album Jubilee, and brought a pair of band members. 

All of this has Secor feeling good about where things stand for his band 25 years into a career that has seen Old Crow Medicine Show become an influential force in roots music and a leader in the resurgence of string bands.

The band returned from the pandemic with a reshuffled lineup — Mike Harris (banjo/guitar), Mason Via (guitar), and drummer Jerry Pentecost — and opened their own outfitted studio just north of Nashville, Tennessee. That’s where the latest edition of Old Crow made their critically acclaimed 2022 album, Paint This Town, followed by the Grammy-nominated Jubilee. 

Those accomplishments — and most significantly, the ability to tour again — re-energized Old Crow Medicine Show coming out of the pandemic.

“I just think (the energy) had more to do with COVID and being able to work again,” he said. “And then the new lineup, a new producer (Matt Ross-Spang), the studio we were in that we’re working out of now that’s something that we own, that’s been a big factor in the kind of collective spirit of the band. There’s a lot of renewal that happened out of the COVID experience.”

Recording jubilee

Lineup changes are nothing new for Secor, who has seen the band through 18 different members, eight albums, and a signature song, “Wagon Wheel,” from the band’s 2004 album, O.C.M.S. The song was later covered by Darius Rucker, who turned it into a chart-topping, Grammy-winning country hit, raising Old Crow’s profile in the process. 

Where Paint This Town leaned strongly toward frisky and catchy material, Jubilee has more of an even balance between energetic songs like “Keel Over and Die” and “Ballad of Jubilee Jones” and rustic ballads like “Allegheny Lullaby,” “Daughter of the Highlands,” and “Miles Away.”

Secor said Jubilee finds today’s edition of Old Crow hitting their stride.

“The first album (at the new studio) was kind of a get your sea legs and let’s figure out what this is like,” Secor said of Paint This Town. “Then the second was, ‘Now let’s make a record where we write all of the material together.’ 

“It’s again produced by ourselves along with Matt Ross-Spang. So it is a little bit more acoustic, a little less of a rocking record for Old Crow, a few more banjos on it.”

Making adjustments

In the time between finishing Jubilee and Critter’s return, Old Crow went through yet another rejiggering of the band lineup. 

Pentecost moved on and has been replaced by Dante Pope, while multi-instrumentalist P.J. George III has joined to create a seven-man lineup that also includes Secor, Morgan Jahnig (bass), Cory Younts (keyboards), Harris, and Critter.

Critter’s return has meant the band had to go through an adjustment period. Part of that process has involved learning songs Critter sings that the band could not perform in his absence. 

Secor has enjoyed reacquainting himself with that material and figuring out how to best utilize the talents of today’s band.

“Critter brings back a lot of tunes that the audience hasn’t heard in a while, and it just makes it fun for me as the songwriter, too,” he said. “Because I get to play songs, work up tunes that I wrote years ago that I thought were really great. 

“But you know the thing about an ever-rotating lineup of Old Crow Medicine Show when you are the one guy that hasn’t changed, it gets a little bit sticky around. You basically have to learn every single part of every song. You have to learn just to lead the song. You have to learn the tenor part, the baritone part, middle part, the mandolin part, the banjo part because the skill set that everybody brings in is unique to them.

“So in order to keep the show running, you just kind of gotta learn all of the positions.”