The rain stopped as dusk approached after a good couple hours of black skies, heavy rains, thunder, and me sitting in the office cussin’ up a whole other storm all together. The skies were still threatening and a heavy fog was rolling in as I left St. Pete for Skipper’s. Old Crow came to Tampa for the first time ever and we welcomed them with a sell-out crowd that showed up despite the weather. This was billed as “An Evening with Old Crow Medicine Show” and as I’m sure plenty of you know, that means the band is gonna play for a long time. There was no opening act and Old Crow played 2 sets. The first one was much shorter than the last so it was like they just opened up for themselves stopped when the usual opener would stop. Went back stage to get right and came back onstage about 30 minutes later.

They were wonderful. As usual at Skipper’s, the sound was spot on. Five guys, all playing some form of a stringed instrument save for the occasional harmonica. Ketch Secor was playing the fiddle so hard that at one point rosin was coming off the bow in clumps.  He (ketch) is definitely the showman of the group . His mannerisms on-stage really remind me of JD Wilkes sans the pubic hair tossing, snot rocket shooting and all the other forms of fluid sharing that makes Mr. Wilkes Mr. Wilkes. They played all the crowd favorites and also managed to get in every song I wanted to hear except the “My Good Gal”. Highlights of the night had to be Wagon Wheel, God’s Got It, Cocaine Habit, and Minglewood Blues. Speaking of Minglewood Blues, the harmonica work in that song is even more impressive live than it is on cd. The show ended after a 3 song encore around 11:30.

I wish I would have taken more pictures but I was so into the show I did not wanna be distracted. Hopefully, we’ll get a return visit before another 6 years passes.

Old Crow Medicine Show – Wagon Wheel
Old Crow Medicine Show – Minglewood Blues
Old Crow Medicine Show – God’s Got It

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