Old Crow Medicine Show cut loose with a bright blast of roots-rock in their new song “Paint This Town,” the title track from the Nashville band’s upcoming album due out April 22.
Paint This Town, the group’s seventh studio album, follows 2018’s Volunteer and sees the group moving back to former home ATO Records. This time around, Old Crow kept things close to home, co-producing the album with Matt Ross-Spang (Margo Price, John Prine) at their own Hartland Studio.
With its jangling guitars, harmonica, and decidedly rocking drums, “Paint This Town” feels like a continuation of the group’s evolving style on Volunteer rather than a return to the old-timey bent of their early years. Singer and de facto leader Ketch Secor evokes Bob Dylan and John Mellencamp as he describes a rebellious adolescence with a sense of nostalgia and awe. “I walked and crawled across six state lines by the time I was 8 years old,” he sings.
The accompanying video for “Paint This Town” captures one glorious night of youthful exuberance. After a quick cameo by Jim Lauderdale as a TV weatherman, a teenager slips out of his house with the keys to the car and gathers his friends. They score a case of beer on a fake ID and head to a party that’s broken up by the cops (Secor plays the angry neighbor who calls the police). Later, they end up at an all-night rager that features Old Crow as the band.
Of course, the group of young friends also bear a strong resemblance to the current lineup of Old Crow Medicine Show, a point they illustrate in the video’s final frame.
Paint This Town track list:
- “Paint This Town”
- “Bombs Away”
- “Gloryland”
- “Lord Willing and the Creek Don’t Rise”
- “Honey Chile”
- “Reasons to Run”
- “Painkiller”
- “Used to Be a Mountain”
- “DeFord Rides Again”
- “New Mississippi Flag”
- “John Brown’s Dream”
- “Hillbilly Boy”
From Rolling Stone US
