Volunteer Old Crow Medicine Show Artist

{|Old Crow Medicine Show|} signed to {|Columbia|} in 2017 and immediately delivered a raucous full-length tribute to {|Bob Dylan|}'s {|Blonde on Blonde|} to the label. It was an appropriate way to begin the relationship -- {|Old Crow|} had their brea... Read more

{|Old Crow Medicine Show|} signed to {|Columbia|} in 2017 and immediately delivered a raucous full-length tribute to {|Bob Dylan|}'s {|Blonde on Blonde|} to the label. It was an appropriate way to begin the relationship -- {|Old Crow|} had their breakthrough when they completed {|Dylan|}'s half-written Wagon Wheel in 2004, so this felt like a debt being paid -- but it also was a low-key way to move to a major label. In contrast, {|Volunteer|}, released nearly a year to the day after {|50 Years of Blonde on Blonde|}, is a splashy beginning to a new phase in the band's career. Teaming with producer {|Dave Cobb|}, the hottest producer in Nashville in 2018, {|Old Crow Medicine Show|} broaden their sonic palette without abandoning their devotion to old-timey string music. {|Cobb|} doesn't push {|Old Crow|} in any uncomfortable directions -- the twanging electric guitar that underpins Dixie Avenue amounts to nothing much more than a splash of color -- but he is able to harness the energy of their live show, which is no small accomplishment. That much is clear from Flicker & Shine, a steamroller of a tune that sets the tone for {|Volunteer|}: it's vivid and immediate, benefiting from the group's years on the road. Travel is an undercurrent throughout {|Volunteer|} -- there are plenty of songs about touring and returning home after weeks away -- which plays into how the album feels like it's in constant motion as it swings from high-octane fiddle tunes to plaintive ballads. Nothing here is particularly outside the wheelhouse of {|Old Crow Medicine Show|}, but the songs are finely etched and the performances vivid, elements that separate {|Volunteer|} from its predecessors. Here, {|Old Crow Medicine Show|} feel focused and fully realized, as if they're just hitting their stride after two decades in the business. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine Less