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Average: 4.5 (98 ratings)
- Date Released: August 29, 2006
- Genre: Country/Folk
- Style: Contemporary Folk
- Label: Nettwerk Records
Traditional songs, covers and originals from a group of folkies that shy away from reverent earnestness.
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We Say...
Old Crow Medicine Show’s second album, originally released in 2006, is very much a sequel to their first. Once again, David Rawlings produces and co-writes. Once again, the songs are a mixture of traditional songs, covers and originals. Once again, the music sounds like it could have been recorded at any point between the early 21st century and the battle of Gettysburg, wrought from acoustic guitars, harmonicas and fiddles, and garlanded with vocal harmonies. And, once again, it’s great — Old Crow Medicine Show play, sing and arrange the material with a gleeful zest that overcomes any tendency, wearyingly common in folkish arena, to submit to reverent earnestness.
Their choice of the older material on Big Iron World, indeed, seems intended to counter the popular notion of folk music as a genre devoted exclusively to misery and poverty: the two opening tracks, the Butler/Leiber standard “Down Home Girl” and the updating of skiffle antique “Take a Whiff on Me” as “Cocaine Habit” are great big dumb fun, and establish the idea of folk as a spiritual ancestor of metal. Woody Guthrie’s “Union Maid” and the traditional “Let It Alone” are similarly playful and bitterly hilarious. The original material contributed by OCMS, from the bracingly unsubtle innuendo of train song “New Virginia Creeper” to the gorgeous gospel rally “I Hear Them All,” demonstrates that there’s abundant life in these old sounds yet. -
They Say...
Similar to their first album, Big Iron World sees Old Crow Medicine Show draw upon the spirit of old-timey American string band music, adding a surprisingly refreshing and youthful flair that breathes new life into what's traditional as well as harnessing a sound of their own. The group once again teamed up with David Rawlings who produced and performed on the album, co-writing five of its 12 songs. Rawlings musical other half, Gillian Welch also appears here, trading in her guitar and signature vocals for a pair of drum sticks. The first single from Big Iron Worldis an upright bass and harmonica-heavy, moaning ballad called "Down Home Girl" -- written by Arthur Butler and Jerry Leiber (the latter being responsible for such hits as "Yakety Yak," "Hound Dog," and "Jailhouse Rock"). Of course, Old Crow Medicine Show makes the tune their own, with slide guitar and Willie Watson's nasally mountain-style vocals, accentuated perfectly by the close harmony range of his bandmates. Big Iron World is a flourishing a mixture of backwoods crooners, bluegrass-tinged rockers, and crooning backwoods bluegrass-tinged rockers. There's the Highway 61 Revisited-era Dylanesque "Bobcat Tracks" and the jumping "James River Blues" both with irresistible fiddle breakdowns and perfectly executed vocal harmonies. Just as the songs "CC Rider" and "Poor Man" from Old Crow Medicine Show's debut showcased their unique vocal abilities, here they exhibit an ability to kidnap their listeners from the hustle and bustle of modern life and take them back to the good old days that neither they, nor the band, were born early enough to know. Big Iron World has its fair share of songs that offer bleak and bittersweet atmospheres. The ominous yet weary "Don't Ride That Horse," and the spiritually reverent "God's Got It," could carry themselves even if they were sung a cappella. The album's overall rainy autumn day feel isn't without its upbeat moments and humor, though. "Cocaine Habit," much like the debut album's "Tell It to Me," is a catchy harmonica-driven ode to cocaine abuse. It's followed by the rollicking "Minglewood Blues" which shows the genius achieved from melding bluegrass and blues -- not to mention the genius of Watson's distinctive howl that sets it apart. What it proves is that Big Iron World is no less worthy of praise than their debut,and furthers the band's position as one of the better neo-traditionalist string bands of the early years of the 2000s.
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You Say...
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| 01. |  |
Down Home Girl |
3:47 |  |
| 02. | |
Cocaine Habit |
2:42 | |
| 03. | |
Minglewood Blues |
2:51 | |
| 04. | |
My Good Gal |
4:18 | |
| 05. | |
James River Blues |
3:06 | |
| 06. | |
New Virginia Creeper |
2:21 | |
| 07. | |
Union Maid |
2:36 | |
| 08. | |
Let It Alone |
3:01 | |
| 09. | |
God's Got It |
2:38 | |
| 10. | |
I Hear Them All |
3:05 | |
| 11. | |
Don't Ride That Horse |
3:04 | |
| 12. | |
Bobcat Tracks |
3:03 | |
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Credits
- Gillian Welch - Drums // David Rawlings - Guitar (12 String) // David Rawlings - Producer // Hank Williams - Mastering // Matt Andrews - Engineer // Willie Watson - Guitar // Willie Watson - Vocals // Adam Beard - Assistant Engineer // Ketcham Secor - Fiddle // Ketcham Secor - Guitar // Ketcham Secor - Harmonica // Ketcham Secor - Vocals // Critter Fuqua - Banjo // Critter Fuqua - Vocals // Critter Fuqua - Slide Guitar // Critter Fuqua - Guitjo // Morgan Jahnig - Bass (Upright) // Kevin Hayes - Guitar // Kevin Hayes - Vocals // Kevin Hayes - Guitjo // Lewis Hine - Photography // Laura Taylor - Production Assistant
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