Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show is never at a loss for words, and is never not entertaining, however he is, in equal measure, an ambassador of social conscience, too. Our interview concludes with Ketch saying, “[I]t's been a challenging time, and a lot of room … to be bummed out about this stuff. But I, I just got to keep going head on. I play the fiddle for a living, you know, and I and it draws people together. If you're a pied piper, you might as well lead them to someplace better than this.” It was as spot-on a summation of his now quarter century leading his band as any.

Ketch was on this podcast two years ago in the episode titled “Painting A Portrait of 23 Years With Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show”, which is based on our conversation at MerleFest that year. Old Crow Medicine Show’s famous song “Wagon Wheel” is the subject of an episode in this series from a few years before that, on the podcast titled “Wagon Wheel: Anatomy Of A Hit”, and I am attaching that episode to the end of this new conversation with Ketch Secor for everyone who missed it the first time or who might just want to hear it again. That episode details the long, winding road that began with a blues song by Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup, and continues through a scrap of a tune that Bob Dylan left by the wayside, to a young buck longing to make it to North Carolina in the late 1990s, eventually becoming the song we all know and either love or loathe today. There is not a whole lot of middle ground with this one, and we go into detail about it, interviewing five expert guests along the way.

Songs heard in this episode:

“One Drop” by Old Crow Medicine Show, with Mavis Staples, from Jubilee, excerpt

Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup “Rock Me Mama”, excerpt

Big Bill Broonzy “Rockin’ Chair Blues”, excerpt

Lil’ Son Jackson “Rockin’ And Rollin’”, excerpt

Old Crow Medicine Show “Wagon Wheel”, excerpt

Old Crow Medicine Show “Wagon Wheel” at the Theater of the Living Arts in Philadelphia in 2006, from The World Cafe Live, excerpt

Van Morrison “Brown Eyed Girl”, excerpt

Darius Rucker “Wagon Wheel”, excerpt

Old Crow Medicine Show “Wagon Wheel”, live from Delfest 2018, excerpt

Thanks for visiting, and we hope you will follow this series on your podcast platform of choice, and also give it a top rating and a review. When you take a moment to give great ratings and reviews, Southern Songs and Stories and the artists it profiles become much more visible to more music, history and culture fans just like you. You can find us on Apple here, and Spotify here — hundreds more episodes await, including performers at The Earl Scruggs Music Festival like Rissi Palmer, as well as our collaboration with music journalist Craig Havighurst of WMOT, host of the excellent podcast The String, both from last year’s event, as well as our recent episode on a 2024 headliner, Marty Stuart, and the duo Larry & Joe. Speaking of Earl Scruggs, we also recommend our episode titled “The Humble Genius of Earl Scruggs”.

This series is a part of the lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available here. You can also hear new episodes on Bluegrass Planet Radio here. Thanks to the staff at PNC Arena, and MerleFest for their help in making this episode possible. Thanks to WNCW intern Will Prim for taking part in the interview. Thanks also to Jaclyn Anthony for producing the radio adaptations of this series on WNCW, where we worked with Joshua Meng, who wrote and performed our theme songs — you can link to his music here. This is Southern Songs and Stories: the music of the South and the artists who make it. - Joe Kendrick