Old Crow Medicine Show soars with Volunteer

Old Crow Medicine Show is a country-folk music group that banded together in 1998, and have since then changed a few of their members. Volunteer is their sixth studio album, which was released in April of 2018. There are 10 songs on this album, and each one is different from the last. Each has a distinctly different vibe, but generally they do not stray from either a dancing/celebrating beat or a sad/lonely beat. In order, Flicker and Shine is an upbeat, aggressively country song with a catchy chorus about togetherness and having fun. A World Away is more mellow about being distant from the one you love (it could be physically, or possibly emotionally to give it more depth).

Child of the Mississippi is about the childhood of a Southern-grown child. Dixie Avenue has a fun and happy beat about young love. Look Away is about loneliness and possibly about being misunderstood; it has a beautiful harmonica and piano medley. Shout Mountain Music and The Good Stuff are both high energy, square dancing songs. Homecoming Party is about coming home from a long way away but still being alone. Elzic’s Farewell has no lyrics, but is otherwise and entertaining instrumental.

The final song, Whirlwind, is a very easygoing, calm song of farewell. My personal favorite on the album was Look Away due to its lyrics and general absence of the usual country song clichés with its piano and lack of identifiable banjo. As harsh as that sounded, the album wasn’t bad. The vocals and other instrumentals were solid and the lyrics were interesting. This style of music was personally not for me, and I doubt I’ll ever listen to more of these types of songs, but it was an interesting experience. I’d recommend this album—or otherwise the band—to anyone who likes any good folksy/country music.