Old Crow Medicine Show

Old Crow Medicine Show, along with Chatham County Line and the Hackensaw Boys, belong to a new wave of Southern groups, filtering bluegrass and old time through a hip, post-indie sensibility. A mix of Yanks and Rebels, the band spent the late '90s busking their way across the eastern United States, playing nearly every street corner between Roanoke and Ithaca. Eventually, the daughter of country-folk icon Doc Watson caught their act outside a drugstore in Boone, a mountain town in North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains. This led to an appearance at Watson's annual MerleFest. Old Crow Medicine Show soon settled in Nashville, where Marty Stuart took them under his wing and helped hone their chops. Though the group's albums top just about every Americana chart out there, their mix of Appalachian string-band music, gritty alt-country and soulful rag is considered progressive within the bluegrass scene. This progressive quality extends to their lyrics, which often address the many issues facing modern Appalachian residents. Perfect example: "Methamphetamine," off 2008's Tennessee Pusher, is one of modern American folk's hardest-hitting anthems.