A Conversation with Ketch Secor of OCMS (continued)

PM: Now, there are two earlier OCMS records, gone or going out of print, right?

KS: Yeah. There are actually three records that came before Old Crow Medicine Show.

PM: Right, with the live record.

KS: Yeah.

PM: Now, are those earlier records going to disappear, or is somebody going to revive them? Do we know?

KS: Oh, they'll be back around. I'm not sure who's going to do it. It hasn't been a high priority lately, but it's going to be one soon. We sold those records in high numbers for--well, we've been in this 6 years now, so we've sold a lot of those early records. And we'll make them available again in some form or another. We might go back and remaster them, because they were kind of scratchy. We never used a producer before David Rawlings. We did everything on our own, so they have a homespun quality to them that we might improve upon in the remastering.

PM: Right. That's a hot label you got now, Nettwerk. That's a really good outfit. I mean, they certainly did a fine job with the Be Good Tanyas, and Ron Sexsmith's last record or two. And that's got to be a real kick in the pants to the OCMS, right?

KS: It's really exciting to have a cutting edge bunch of young thinkers, Americans and Canadians and Europeans, all on board with the report. Look to Nettwerk to put out some interesting music in the coming years. I think they're one of the real great underdogs.

PM: And that's what the conglomerate is, Americans, Canadians, and Euros? It's obviously a German-type spelling of that word.

KS: Yeah, there's an office over in Munich. They do a lot of European dance music. And the label is based in Vancouver.

PM: Although there are some earlier records, there must be a certain feeling that this OCMS record, called Old Crow Medicine Show like a first CD might be called, is something like a first real record with a famous producer and a hot opening tour slot coming up, right?

KS: Yes. To us, it's definitely like a first time, even though we've done it a few times before. We've never done it with this kind of support behind us, and we've never done it with such a high quality record that really says something and is consistent through and through. So it's very much a first for us.

PM: And the package is really good. I mean, the cats look very hip--young and studly, and they got the punk vibe going on with the string band sound. It was just a top shelf package. It made you guys look as cool as you are.

KS: Well, thanks, man. That's nice to hear. We did a lot of that design ourselves, so it's got a lot of our own voices in it.

PM: Beautiful. I thought you guys were really amazing at that John Lennon/Imagine No Handguns Benefit recently.

KS: Oh, yeah, with Dave and Gil on board.

PM: That was really good. You did that incredible version of "Crippled Inside."

KS: I think that's one of the great anti-war songs of our time.

PM: Wow. Was that a one off, or is that going to become part of the repertoire at any point?

KS: Actually, we recorded that over at Woodland, but it didn't make the grade. We had a couple of songs about the war--it seemed like a good time to sing out against war.

PM: I heard that.

KS: So we had a couple of them, but neither of them ended up being within the body of this record. But you might see some of them on records to come.

PM: Good, because you guys did a bang up version of that. And "Tell It To Me," that's a good version of the many versions of the cocaine blues and jug songs out there. Where did you guys run into that version?

KS: Well, that comes from a group called The Grant Brothers, who recorded that in a furniture store in Johnson City in 1926.

PM: Wow! And is that reissued somewhere? Can that be found?

KS: It can be found, because I found it when I was seventeen. But for the life of me, I can't remember what the record was called. All I know is that it's The Grant Brothers.

PM: That's a good lead. I'm a lot older than you, but it was about when I was seventeen through my early twenties that I was listening to a lot of jug band music and string band music. So yeah, we're probably birds of a feather at different times, but not at different times of our lives.

KS: Well, it seems like you really need to listen to that kind of music to gain an understanding of what the whole picture is. It's such a pivotal part of American music making, the sound that was created in the 1920s, before the radios, before bluegrass, before record sales were nearly as important--back in the old days when people thought that maybe they shouldn't make records, like making records was a way that other bands would steal their live shows. That's the way a lot of guys felt about it back then. They were very mistrusting of the A & R thing.

PM: Wow, that angle I've never really heard--"Maybe we shouldn't make records. They'll steal our sound."

KS: Oh yeah. I've heard a lot of the guys talk about that. Like Gus Cannon said that. And I know Will Shade talked about that. A lot of these Memphis cats. Because the music was so competitive. And if suddenly somebody anywhere in the country could play your licks, well that's just dangerous. I mean, is that worth however many pennies you'd make on a record, or a free trip to Richmond, Indiana?

PM: That's wild.  continue

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