Ketch Secor

Ketch Secor reflects on a quarter century spent in Nashville and beyond with Story The Crow Told Me. It's his first solo album since forming Old Crow Medicine Show, the Grammy-winning string band whose success turned him into a kingpin of American roots music, and it showcases a songwriter who's learned to bridge the gap between past and present. Looking back on the path that's taken him from street corner performances to stages across the globe, he tells the story of a Kerouac-worthy journey through the misfit wilderness of life, love, longing, and leaving home, filling the album's 12 songs with spoken-word vocal performances, punky tempos, bluegrass harmonies, honking harmonica, and fiddle. There are cameos from simpatico artists like Molly Tuttle and Marty Stuart, and even poignant samples from Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash. Gluing that mix together is Ketch himself: a roots-music ringleader, countrified carnival barker, and torchbearer of twang whose work reaches well beyond music, including everything from social activism to the co-founding of a primary school in Nashville. Here, he's much more than the fiddle-playing frontman of a platinum-selling band; he's practically the entire band himself, playing nearly a dozen instruments and co-writing every track. The result is a record that's equal parts coming-of-age story, road-warrior autobiography, and love letter to the city that watched him grow into a man.

Photo Credit: Brooke Stevens