REVIEW: Old Crow Medicine Show "O.C.M.S."

Rating: 7

The bluegrass and traditional music revival you may have heard yodeling its way toward the mainstream can credit much of its success to good, clean family fun.  There is the wholesome heartache and paternal role-play of Del McCoury.  There is Alison Krauss’s angelic, pitch-perfect voice, Gillian Welch’s languid front porch reverence and of course the gospel according to Ralph Stanley.  Then again there are the kids who skip church to smoke cigarettes in the garage, consort with prostitutes and blues musicians on Friday nights, and tell dirty jokes at supper with their mouths full.  Not to mention the drugs and fornication.  Every family has its share of black sheep, and OCMS is one.

The disc was produced by Gillian Welch cohort David Rawlings and bares a few of his understated signatures like subtle vocal harmonies and dusty-shoed playing.  Band members take turns on familiar sounding arrangements of bluegrass standards-on-the-fringe with traditional acoustic instrumentation and some harmonica.  The instruments may not be plugged in but the band most certainly is, racing through the first number and setting the tone with songs about cocaine, liquor, sex and war.  Still, there are nods to quiet times that play well to the Prairie Home Companion crowd including a great version of the Big Bill Broonzy tune "CC Rider."  Their growing influence reached the word stage in January when Norah Jones performed the OCMS original "We're All In This Together" at the televised Tsunami Aid concert.  Maybe not the sort of company you’d expect the band to keep after hearing "Tell It To Me," but stick with it, it’s worth the ride.