Carry Me Back

1998年の結成以来、テネシー州ナッシュヴィルを拠点に活躍するブルーグラス/フォーク/オルタナティヴ・カントリー・バンド、オールド・クロウ・メディシン・ショー。オリジナル曲や第2次世界大戦以前のブルースやフォークをレパートリーにする。メンバーはCritter Fuqua(banjo, resonator guitar, guitar, vocals)、Kevin Hayes(guitjo, vocals)、Morgan Jahnig(stand-up bass)、Gill Landry(banjo, resonator guitar, guitar, vocals)、Chance McCoy(fiddle, guitar, vocals)、Ketch Secor(fiddle, harmonica, banjo, guitar, vocals)、Cory Younts(mandolin, vocals)の7人。2007年のAmericana Music Awardで"Best Duo Or Group"部門にノミネートされるなど、年々評価を高めつつある。本作は2008年『Tennessee Pusher』以来4年ぶりの8作目。MxPx、Flogging Molly、The Bouncing Souls、The Mighty Mighty Bosstones等の作品で知られる英国人プロデューサーTed Huttを迎え、この4年間の進化を見せつける渾身の作品となった。

Old Crow Medicine Show sound like a prewar string band filtered through Uncle Tupelo via Nirvana, and if they aren't bluegrass by any stretch of the imagination, they are every bit as energetic as a breakneck bluegrass combo. They also write most of their material, so while the group's songs sound old and traditional, they are more facsimiles than anything else, with an attention to narrative and lyrical detail that the old string band tunes, which were often made up of lightly linked floating verses drawn from old country blues and fiddle reels, seldom had. It isn't easy straddling two different centuries with one's sound and style, but Old Crow Medicine Show pull it off once again on their fourth studio album, the Ted Hutt-produced Carry Me Back, a ragged, breakneck romp that crackles with more energy than a thrash band on Red Bull. The old string bands were dance ensembles, but it's difficult to imagine dancers keeping up very long to tracks like "Carry Me Back to Virginia," "Mississippi Saturday Night," and "Sewanee Mountain Catfight," all of which are unhinged speed shuffles that roar by faster than a NASCAR race. "We Don't Grow Tobacco," which flies on its own fast rails, is a well-written saga that starts off detailing the woes of working in the tobacco fields and ends bemoaning the loss of jobs in those same fields in the 21st century, while "Ain't It Enough" is a beautiful, poetic, and melodic love song, so Old Crow Medicine Show aren't just about rapid-fire speed shuffles. Thought and care are in these songs, and they all fall together in a nice flow. This isn't a one-trick pony band, and so far at least, Old Crow Medicine Show haven't painted themselves into a creative corner, managing somehow to sound both old and refreshingly new at once. ~ Steve Leggett|

ギリアン・ウェルチ＆デヴィッド・ローリングスに見いだされて注目を浴び、デビューに至った彼らの4作目。古き良きオールド・カントリー／ヒルビリー音楽を今の若者の感覚で表現した小粋でご機嫌な彼ら流のアメリカーナ・ミュージックは、米インディ・フォーク・シーンで大人気でフェスにも引っ張りダコ、即ソールドアウトだとか。陽気なビートの効いたナンバーからなだれ込む味わい深いカントリー・バラッドはもうたまりません
intoxicate (C)杉山領一