Old Crow Medicine Show
Tennessee Pusher (Nettwerk)
By Matt Siblo
Published: September 23rd, 2008 | 9:00am
In an age of post-everything, Old Crow Medicine Show strives toward the earnest longings of a musical style that precedes the group’s grandparents. On Tennessee Pusher, the Nashville quintet’s third full-length, OCMC’s anachronistic concerns involve moseying on down to Mary’s kitchen, bemoaning the infinite lines of the interstate roads while repeatedly using the word “humdinger” as a descriptor. If it all sounds like Americana-by-numbers, the band recognizes where it needs to fill in the necessary flourishes.
As an album, Tennessee Pusher rejoices in the aching heartache and joyful splendor that this brand of country doles out in equal measures. Those turned off by the free spirited ho-down of “Alabama High-Test” can seek solace in the plentiful whiskey-soaked ballads. “Highway Halo,” a hard luck tale that absconds more than a few of its tricks from the downbeat twang of Whiskeytown, is the album’s strongest.
Country music has always been obsessed with the mystique of authenticity and lore, the tall tales that help to distinguish its bit players from the legends. As a band, Old Crow seem to recognize and respect the musical tradition that has come before them, regardless of how ridiculous or antiquated. There’s something refreshingly (post) modern about its flexibility to romanticize the past while conceding in its bio that the band grew up weaned on Nirvana. By the results found on Tennessee Pusher, it’s a dichotomy that bears repeating.
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Old Crow Medicine Show’s official site
Old Crow Medicine Show’s MySpace page
Issue #35
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