Trampled by Turtles und Old Crow Medicine Show

If Duluth, Minnesota’s going to be famous for two things, then they might as well be really, really cool things. The first is that the critically acclaimed Netflix adaptation of the Coen Brothers film “Fargo” is set there. The second thing the small, snow covered town is famous for is being the birthplace of one of the folk scene’s most exciting new bands, Trampled By Turtles.

The band represents a different breed of country music altogether quite different from Mumford and Sons and The Lumineers, arguably the instigators and definitely the biggest names of the recent folk revival.

Both of those bands are essentially singer-songwriters backed by full bands. While Trampled By Turtles are for one, very much a single unit, for another they bring a much harder edged, speedier form of indie rock inflected bluegrass.

Their sound is all hectic banjos, groaning violins and furiously strummed mandolins. It’s quite ridiculously exciting to listen to and is even better live. The instrumentalism is uniformly impeccable, and the atmosphere of joyous abandon and cameraderie tops it all off.

This makes sense considering the how the band was formed. Each member began their music career in different rock bands, and once they got to know each other, they formed a folk side project together to cut loose and take a break from their day jobs.

This is a world where most forms of art seem to be forced to be grey and dour in order to be taken seriously. However, the sense of joy and passion that permeates everything this band does, not to mention the sheer quality of the songwriting and performance, makes them truly unmissable.

They eventually found themselves in Boone, North Carolina where they caught the attention of folk icon Doc Watson while playing in front of a pharmacy. He invited the band to play at his festival, MerleFest, helping to launch their career. Shortly thereafter the band was hired to entertain crowds between shows at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, TN.

It's been over twenty years since these humble beginnings. The band has gone on to receive the honor of being inducted as members of the Grand Ole Opry, and have won two Grammy Awards: "Best Folk Album" for Remedy (2014) and "Best Long Form Music Video" for Big Easy Express (2013). Additionally, their classic single, "Wagon Wheel", received the RIAA's Double-Platinum certification in 2019 for selling over 2,000,000 copies while the band’s debut album O.C.M.S. has been certified Gold (500,000 copies).

Old Crow Medicine Show has toured the world playing renowned festivals and venues such as: Bonnaroo, Farm Aid, Red Rocks Amphitheater, Cambridge Folk Festival, Coachella, London's Roundhouse, The Ryman Auditorium, The Barclays Center, New Orleans Jazz Fest, The Fox Theater Atlanta, The Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Summerstage in Central Park NYC, Forecastle, the Newport Folk Festival, and several appearances on A Prairie Home Companion. They've toured with artists such as Willie Nelson & Family, Brandi Carlile, Mumford & Sons, The Lumineers, John Prine, The Avett Brothers and others. The band also took part in the historic Railroad Revival Tour, traveling from California to New Orleans on a vintage train, which was captured in the Emmet Malloy directed Grammy award-winning documentary, Big Easy Express.

Old Crow Medicine Show now has six studio albums to their name, three of which were released by Nettwerk Records - O.C.M.S. (2004) and Big Iron World (2006) produced by David Rawlings, and Tennessee Pusher (2008) produced by Don Was. Following that, ATO Records released the Ted Hutt produced, Carry Me Back (2012), on which the band continued to craft classic American roots music and Remedy (2014), also produced by Ted Hutt.

Old Crow Medicine Show was signed to Columbia in 2017 and immediately delivered a full-length tribute to Boy Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde, entitled 50 Years Of Blonde On Blonde (2017). During the same year, Nettwerk also released a Best Of Old Crow Medicine Show compilation. A year later, the band released the Dave Cobb produced Volunteer (2018) via Columbia. The band’s latest release Live At The Ryman (2019) was released on October 4th on Columbia Records via The Orchard.