The CultureMap Interview

Old Crow Medicine Show on the new tour, return to roots and the greatness ofGuns N' Roses

Old Crow Medicine Show is best known for their hit song "Wagon Wheel."

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Critter Fuqua (second from left) and Old Crow Medicine Show play House of BluesNovember 29.

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Old Crow Medicine Show, famous for the hit sing-along "Wagon Wheel," is back on tour promoting a new album. Carry Me Back, their first album in four years, recaptures their original sound as well as the energy of their live shows. In addition to the new album, Critter Fuqua, co-founder of the band, has returned after a five-year hiatus.

Old Crow, known as one of the chief purveyors of roots music, has toured and released albums since 1998. They, along with other popular acts such as Mumford and Sons and the Avett Brothers, have introduced a new generation of music fans to a diverse style that is sometimes called Americana or bluegrass.

Part of their notoriety involves the story of how they were discovered. Originally the band busked for a living; they played street corners for money, in the tradition of many great acoustic acts before them. While busking in Boone, North Carolina, bluegrass and folk legend Doc Watson (with the help of his daughter) heard them and was extremely impressed.

"Guns N' Roses is my roots music," says band co-founder Critter Fuqua. "You don’t have to grow a beard and buy overalls to play roots music."

This led to them playing Watson's annual festival, MerleFest. From there they were invited to play the Grand Ole Opry, which led to collaborations and other festivals and launched them as a prominent act in the Americana and roots music genre.

We sat down with Critter Fuqua to discuss his return to the band, the new tour, his influences and the state of the hard to define yet wildly popular roots music movement.

Culture Map: How does it feel to be back on tour?

Critter Fuqua: It’s great. I’m loving touring. It’s really normal, I think. I got sober while I was away, and that’s got a lot to do with it. We got a new stage show, and the dynamics have changed, so it’s a fun show. It’s a lot different than how we used to do it; now we have risers and better feng shui.

CM: Can you tell me about Chuck Mead and His Grass Knoll Boys, who will be opening for you? You recently recorded a version of the traditional song “Wabash Cannonball” with him.

CF: Chuck is great. He’s such a spirit. The BR549 [Mead is a member of the band BR549] guys were big, and he was the helm of that when we were coming up in Nashville. They opened up for us, but it was kind of a double bill. It’s great to have them, because they are the cream of the crop when it comes to hillbilly rock.

CM: What inspired the return to Old Crow’s roots on the latest album, Carry Me Back? Is that a direction you think you will continue in for a while?

CF: I think so. We don’t really make a decision which direction it goes in; it takes on a life of its own. We’ll always be Old Crow and have the Old Crow sound. I really love playing the new album. I wasn’t involved in writing, but it’s fun to play. It’s like riding an old bike. It’s just comfortable.

CM: What’s your favorite song off the new album?

CF: "Carry Me Back." We’ve been opening the whole tour with that song. I like it because I’m from the Shenandoah and I’m a big Civil War buff and had family who fought. It’s a heavy song, and it’s important.

"I really love playing the new album," Fuqua says. "I wasn’t involved in writing, but it’s fun to play. It’s like riding an old bike. It’s just comfortable."

CM: The Lumineers are starting to receive a lot of attention. What was it like touring with them?

CF: I love playing with the Lumineers. Their energy reminds me of what we used to be like. We’re not old men, but after our shows we retire to our quarters. Their energy is infectious. It’s really fun to get to know the people you’re on tour with and have it be a family. We had a couple practical jokes going on, and they got us good in Atlanta.

CM: What was the prank?

CF: Remember when that guy ran on stage when Bob Dylan was playing the Grammys and that guy came out on stage with “Soy Bomb” written on his chest? They soy bombed us during "Wagon Wheel."

CM: What are your influences?

CF: Guns N' Roses was my first influence, in seventh grade, in 1987 when they came out with Appetite for Destruction. I knew then that I wanted to be a musician. I didn’t get a lot of what they were singing about, but I knew I wasn’t supposed to be listening to it. AC/DC, Nirvana, Bob Dylan, and then into blues and then into more obscure fiddlers. Some Conjunto from down in San Antonio.

CM: One of the most well-known songs you wrote for Old Crow was “Take 'Em Away.” It mentions a couple rivers in Texas. Where did the inspiration for that song come from?

CF: I was born in Austin. We moved to Virginia in second grade. Our roots in Texas go back to the Civil War with my family coming from South Carolina.

The song is loosely based off Mance Lipscomb, a blues singer and sharecropper from Navasota County, and the rivers I remember as a child living in East Texas. He was a big influence on me.

CM: Old Crow has covered or reinterpreted a lot of standards. Are there any you’re working on right now?

CF: [Lead singer] Ketch Secor and I just wrote one about Doc Watson, about being on the corner in Boone and him discovering us. It honors Doc and the high country blues sound. We’ve been playing "Mighty Quinn" in the encore. We like to play regional songs when we tour.

CM: Do you think the old time/bluegrass/Americana/roots music following is here to stay? Besides the Oh Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack, what do you think has contributed to its recent popularity?

CF: It’s strange. I took a break for about five years, and I saw it grow exponentially. Now it seems like every other band has a fiddle and a banjo. It might be here to stay. I think it’s great. Roots music isn’t about what instruments you’re playing but what you’re saying and the drive behind the music.

It doesn’t have to be old. Roots to me is whatever kind of music is rooted spiritually for a community. Nirvana is my roots music. Guns N' Roses is my roots music. You don’t have to grow a beard and buy overalls to play roots music.

CM: Do you feel a responsibility to carry on traditional songs and styles? Kind of in the way Bob Dylan did with Woody Guthrie?

CF: I guess I feel a responsibility for the songs we do and rearrange. I know that as long as we’re not the only ones playing them, this music will keep on going. So long as people realize it’s theirs too, not just ours. It’s a community thing. That’s the way it will survive.

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Old Crow Medicine Show plays the House of Blues Dallas November 29.

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Movie Review

The Magic Faraway Tree is a whimsical family lark that fails to take root

Photo courtesy of Vertical Entertainment

Andrew Garfield, Delilah Bennett-Cardy, Claire Foy, Phoenix Laroche, and Billie Gadson in The Magic Faraway Tree.

With kids and families always on the hunt for entertainment, it’s typically a safe bet for a movie studio to offer up something new, even if it is a film based on an old property. The Magic Faraway Tree, based on a series of books that started in the 1930s, is a very old property, one that its filmmakers have tried to liven up with a few stars, a lot of whimsy, and a boatload of CGI.

The Thompson family, led by stay-at-home dad Tim (Andrew Garfield) and breadwinner mom Polly (Claire Foy), are forced to move to a rundown country home when Polly gets laid off. The kids - Joe (Phoenix Laroche), Fran (Billie Gadson), and Beth (Delilah Bennett-Cardy) - are used to the perks of city life like wifi and electricity, and each of them rebels in their own way to their new lot in life.

Fran, enticed by a fairy named Silky (Nicola Coughlan), is the first to venture out of the house, making her way to a magic tree that transports her to a world full of strange characters like Moonface (Nonso Anozie), Saucepan Man (Dustin Demri-Burns), Dame Washalot (Jessica Gunning), and more. Her adventures there not only broaden the world she thought she knew, but may be the key to helping her ailing family.

Directed by Ben Gregor and written by Simon Farnaby (Paddington 2, Wonka), the film is a pleasant enough lark, but it fails to fully capture the imagination. The five-member family has a lot going on, from an initially-mute Fran to a domestic situation that raises more questions than it answers. The film tries to incorporate an anti-technology message through Tim’s hatred of a smart refrigerator (voiced by Judi Dench!) and the kids' addictions to devices, but it’s quickly shed in favor of other options.

Once Fran makes it to the Magic Faraway Tree, there’s a nice shift in the storytelling, but it’s unclear what the ultimate goal is. It’s a good idea to have Fran, the youngest of the children, convince her older, more cynical siblings about the virtues of the magic world, but the conflict in the real world doesn’t seem to rise to the level needed for the escape the tree provides.

There also seems to be a missing link in the storytelling for viewers to understand the importance of the fantastical characters. The visuals of seeing Moonface and his crescent moon-shaped hair, a man with a suit full of banging pots, and more are fun for a while, but not enough to carry the whole film. A last-minute revelation feels like it was something that should have been disclosed much earlier to help strengthen the emotions of the story.

A two-time Oscar nominee, Garfield is making his first foray into family movies (if you don’t count playing Spider-Man), and while he does a good job, he doesn’t make the best fit for the semi-goofy role. The same goes for the Emmy-winning Foy, who isn’t given much of anything to do. The movie puts the story on the shoulders of the three child actors, and while each of them acquit themselves well, none of them are so outstanding as to be noteworthy.

With nearly 90-year-old source material, The Magic Faraway Tree needed to be something truly special to stand out in the 21st century movie world. Unfortunately, it features a mostly forgettable story that features some fun visuals, a couple of cute kids, and not much else.

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The Magic Faraway Tree is now playing in theaters.

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