Old crows, new show

Losing sight of the music of years past, it seems that so many artists these days are out of touch with their predecessors, settling for the bland, compressed sounds of our digital era.

Without a touchstone in the rich history of American music, it is no surprise that many of these bands flounder their way through album after album until the mainstream audience has lost interest and moved on to something new.

Old Crow Medicine Show, however, are anything but mainstream, rejecting top-40 standards for the roots music of yesteryear and redefining Americana bluegrass for a new generation.

With their recent release Tennessee Pusher, Old Crow Medicine Show once again wade in the sound of American folk music, all the while pushing its boundaries with a rough-and-tumble tenacity.

Combining the hot fire of bluegrass and the soothing sounds of country crooners long gone, Old Crow tip their hat to the forefathers of the genre while unapologetically modernizing their brand of folk music with fiery lyrics that reek of sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll.

Tennessee Pusher is filled to the brim with barn-dance jams and soulful ballads that twang with nostalgic resonance.

Songs like “Crazy Eyes” earnestly capture the listener’s attention with well-woven harmonies complemented beautifully by the cries of Gill Landry’s slide guitar. The album’s title track, the best of the album’s 13 songs, is laced with somber violin strains.

The only place where Old Crow seem to fall short is with more fast-paced numbers like “Humdinger” and “Mary’s Kitchen,” where the risque lyrical innuendos nearly overpower the music to a point where it’s hard to take the band seriously.

Old Crow Medicine Show no doubt have the exceptional talent to recall the unique sound of Americana, and Tennessee Pusher will undoubtedly break their old-style charm to an even larger audience.