Old Crow Medicine Show’s Ketch Secor Announces Debut Solo Album, Story The Crow Told Me

On July 11, Ketch Secor - the frontman of legendary country-band Old Crow Medicine Show - is going to be flying solo for the first time with the release of his debut album Story The Crow Told Me.

Recorded at his own Hartland Studios, the album is set to be a coming-of-age saga about carving out your dreams one song at a time - that story sounds familiar.

With features from bluegrass phenomenon Molly Tuttle and cosmic cowboy Marty Stuart, samples from Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash, and an inevitable Old Crow influence, Story The Crow Told Me is looking to be a wonderful combination of old and new. “I’ve been in the game a long time,” Secor explains, “I do enjoy looking forward, but old-timey music is about simultaneously looking forward and backward at the same time. That’s why it’s a regressive art.”

Promising to be an honest collection telling the wilderness of life, love, longing and leaving home, Secor has writing credits on every song, ensuring that these stories are his stories. Beyond his talents with a pen, he’s proving his musical talents too, playing nearly a dozen instruments across the album.

Delivering the first glimpse of the album, the lead single, ‘Dickerson Road’, is a tribute to East Nashville and the countless dreams that litter its streets. The track features bluesy guitar work from The Cadillac Three’s Jaren Johnston, the pair conjuring up a gritty, hard edged vibe, one that is the soundtrack to those darker Nashville streets.

Throughout the song, Secor takes a trip back in time, reflecting on the first place that he felt like he belonged in Music City. He explains that “in the year 2000, there was one premier destination for Nashville’s castoffs, rejects, n’er-do-wells, petty thieves, lowlifes, losers and users: Dickerson Road.” Now a Nashville resident for 25 years, he’s seen a quarter century of Music City pass by his window, and on that note, now is the time for him to look at the city that watched him grow through a retrospective lens.

Alongside the album release, Secor’s hitting the road for a non-stop year of music; between an Old Crow Medicine tour running across the US from May to December, the solo-crow has a handful of tour dates throughout July, before joining the Mumford & Sons house band on their Railroad Revival Tour in August.

With a new solo album, a fresh-off-the-press music video, a string of tour dates and everything that comes with fronting one of the biggest groups in country, Secor somehow managed to find time to hang out with the red-dirt sensations Turnpike Troubadours this year, too.

On the group’s latest release, The Price of Admission, Secor found his way into the world of Oklahoman storytelling. The opening track of the album, ‘On The Red River’, is co-written between Evan Felker and Secor, and marks a stunning introduction to an immense body of work.

Since then, Secor has made a few memorable appearances with Turnpike, accompanied by upcoming Story The Crow Told Me collaborator, Molly Tuttle. The Boys From Oklahoma Tour saw the musicians take Stillwater by storm, with glimpses into their backstage fun posted on social media demonstrating just how well they work together.

With Secor, Turnpike and Molly Tuttle taking up so many of the same musical spaces recently, a supergroup feels almost within reaching distance. But until that dream becomes reality, Story The Crow Told Me is undoubtedly something to look forward to, a reflection on the 25 years of music-making that built Ketch Secor.

Story The Crow Told Me is set for an 11 July release on Equal Housing Records via Firebird Music.