Daily Planet

On their new CD Tennessee Pusher, Old Crow Medicine Show continue their assertion that old-timey music was the punk of its day, full of rough edges and exuberant energy and stories about those living on the edges of society.

From their start in New York State as neophyte acoustic musicians, Old Crow Medicine Show have worked hard, touring almost constantly, playing in small towns wherever they could find an audience. Doc Watson’s daughter saw them busking and picked up her dad, who was so impressed that he hired them for his prestigious Merlefest. Although the band moved to Nashville and has played at the Grand Ole Opry, they have retained their outsider status, maintaining that music should be played live and from the heart, not as a commodity to be packaged and sold. Their new CD features great drummer Jim Keltner and was produced by Don Was. But for one traditional track, it’s full of tales of outsider hillbillies, with no fewer than 3 tracks about rural drug dealers. Their loose harmonies and gently wailing tones call to mind another group that was born in New York State - ‘The Band’.

Playlist

1421
Innuendo Out The Other
Philip DeGruy
Degruy-Gruy Music
NYC 6013 2 (US Import)
Philip DeGruy, Innuendo Out The Other
15 seconds (excerpt)
(solo 17-string elec guitar, fingerstyle; v quirky, virtuosic & humorous, more or less a bent-boogie)

1422
CD Cut 10 - 'Crazy Eyes'
Secor/Watson
Blood Donor Music BMI, administered by Bug Music
Nettwerk 30812-2 (Through Shock in Australia)
Old Crow Medicine Show - 'Tennessee Pusher'
4:17
(Easygoing acoustic song with loose vocal harmonies in the voice of a weary, homeless soul looking to get high, with Jim Keltner's loose brushed drums and Benmont Tench's Hammond organ)

1428
CD Cut 10 - 'We're All In This Thing Together'
Secor/Watson
Blood Donor Music BMI, administered by Bug Music
Nettwerk 30349-2 (Through Shock in Australia)
Old Crow Medicine Show - 'O.C.M.S'
4:50
(Gentle acoustic ballad about humans sticking together, laconically sung with nice harmonies, banjo, strummed guitar, dobro and double bass)

Segue

1433
CD Cut 11 - 'Tennessee Pusher'
Secor
Blood Donor Music BMI, administered by Bug Music
Nettwerk 30812-2 (Through Shock in Australia)
Old Crow Medicine Show - 'Tennessee Pusher'
5:27
(Haunting, slow song about a modern day moonshiner whose sees his girl 'giving her love to the law', with prominent fiddle and dobro)

1440
CD Cut 9 - 'Eleanor Rigby'
Lennon/McCartney, arr Sam Keevers and Katie Noonan
Sony/ATV Publishing/EMI Music Publishing
Sony/BMG 88697394382
Katie Noonan - 'Blackbird'
5:04
(Austral arr and perf: Starts with Coltrane-like modal waltz feel Jon Scofield solos on electric guitar and later trades with Joe Lovano on tenor sax, with drums, bass and Sam Keevers' piano backing Katie's high note reaching, up version)

KATIE NOONAN BLACKBIRD CD LAUNCH:

The Studio, Sydney Opera House December 9 and December 10
Prince of Wales Hotel, St Kilda December 11
Adelaide Festival Centre, Banquet Room December 12
Cremorne Theatre, QPAC, Brisbane December 19-20.

Segue

1445
CD Cut 7 - 'A Hard Day's Night'
Lennon/McCartney
Sony/ATV Tunes LLC (ASCAP)
Lightyear 54685-2 www.Lightyear.com in Australia through MRA ( www.mraentertainment.com )
BeatleJazz - 'With a Little Help From Our Friends'
5:53
(Slightly reharmonised version of Beatles origin, featuring Dave Kikoski's electric piano and Mike Stern's jazz/rock electric guitar)

1452
CD Cut 8 - 'Oxycontin Blues'
Steve Earle
New West Records - pre-release copy - no information
Steve Earle - 'Washington Square Serenade'
2:55
(Dark-toned song about life in a dead, former coal mining town, addicted to oxycontin, with marching drums and droning banjo)

Segue

1455
CD Cut 1 - 'Alabama High Test'
Secor
Blood Donor Music BMI, administered by Bug Music
Nettwerk 30812-2 (Through Shock in Australia)
Old Crow Medicine Show - 'Tennessee Pusher'
2:22
(Like Chuck Berry gone hillbilly acoustic drug runner, with Ketch Secor's vocals and fiddle featured)

1458
CD Cut 1 - 'Amsterdam after Dark'
Pub Not Spec
Jazzhead HEAD092 ( www.jazzhead.com )
Dale Barlow, George Coleman, Mark Fitzgibbon & Sam Anning - 'Treat Me Gently'
One and a half minute excerpt
(Austral perf and arr: (Austral perf and arr: Sam Anning's double bass introduces this jazz/latin piece with it's 60s groove flavour updated by its melodic bridge and the modal feel of Mark's piano)

Presenter

Lucky Oceans

Producer

Lucky Oceans