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Monday, Dec 01, 2008
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WaMu Zoo Tunes closes summer with rollicking Old Crow Medicine Show |
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| WaMu Zoo Tunes closes summer with rollicking Old Crow Medicine Show | ||
| WaMu Zoo Tunes closes summer with rollicking Old Crow Medicine Show
Lorelei Quenzer - A&E Writer Old Crow Medicine Show August 15th @ Woodland Park Zoo It was the last show of the Zoo Tunes' 24th season. There were fresh peaches, courtesy of Metropolitan Market. There were free polaroids, courtesy of Washington Mutual employees dressed up as tourists, complete with matching Hawaiian shirts and panama hats. And there were lots of pretty boys with their shirts off, taking the opportunity to catch some rays. Of course, this being a family show, many of those boys were of the apple-cheeked, under-18 variety, but you get the wholesome picture. A perfect night for that mixture of bluegrass, folk and rock and roll that's called, variously, "newgrass," "Americana" and "roots" music. At first I thought the five youthful members of Old Crow Medicine Show were suffering from sunburn. It might have been the heat, or it might have been too much corn likker making them pink-faced but, either way, the boys from OCMS sure know how to show a crowd a good time. From the first notes of "James River Blues" until (almost) their last song, they rocked the Zoo Tunes field. OCMS played a lot of the songs from their 2006 album, Big Iron World, including "My Good Gal," "New Virginia Creeper," "Union Maid" and "Let It Alone." Other favorites from their debut eponymous album included "Wagon Wheel," "Tell It To Me," a lively song about cocaine abuse, and a nice interpretation of "CC Rider." Their tight harmonies and interesting collection of instruments - a harmonica, a fiddle, an upright bass, a resonator guitar, two banjos and something called a "guitjo" - create a refreshing sound that's earthy and fun. I will say, fiddlin' sure gets the little'uns all het up. Er, sorry. I mean there were a lot of uninhibited kids - and a few adults - stomping like crazy to the crackling fiddle of Ketch Secor. One gentleman stood out from the crowd as he did some free-form clogging/modern dance; the mosh pit (yes, mosh pit at a bluegrass show) was jumping from the start. Let's not forget the other members of Old Crow Medicine Show: Kevin Hayes on the 6-string banjo and guitjo, Morgan Jahnig on the upright bass, Willie Watson on guitar, and Critter Fuqua on the 12-string banjo and resonator guitar. Oh yeah, Secor also plays a banjo and the harmonica. What was that I alluded to about their last song? Well, it's almost as if OCMS was in cahoots with the Zoo staff to get me out of there as soon as the sun went down: their arrangement of "Lay Lady Lay" was unoriginal. It did the job of clearing the decks, but I hope it's not something they're planning to record. Vancouver, BC's The Be Good Tanyas opened the evening, taking the stage 15 minutes earlier than planned to get in a full hour's set. While it should be a no-brainer to place these two bands on the same ticket - both are on the newgrass bandwagon, and they've toured together before - I think the Tanyas suffer in comparison. Perhaps it was the fault of the sound system, but their lyrics came off as mushy. And while the harmonies of Frazey Ford, Samantha Parton and Trish Klein were tight, as always, in comparison to Old Crow Medicine Show their set was moody and one-note. Despite some necessary re-tuning because of the heat, The Tanyas received a lot of love from their almost-home audience, and were clearly happy to be back in Seattle and with their OCMS friends. |
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