Old Crow Medicine Show

Released: February 24, 2004

Songwriter: Ketch Secor Bob Dylan

Producer: David Rawlings

[Verse 1]
Headed down south to the land of the pines
I'm thumbin' my way to North Caroline
Starin' up the road
And pray to God I see headlights
I made it down the coast in seventeen hours
Pickin' me a bouquet of dogwood flowers
And I'm a-hopin' for Raleigh
I can see my baby tonight

[Chorus]
So, rock me mama like a wagon wheel
Rock me mama any way you feel
Hey, mama rock me
Rock me mama like the wind and the rain
Rock me mama like a south-bound train
Hey, mama rock me

[Verse 2]
Runnin' from the cold up in New England
I was born to be a fiddler in an old-time string band
My baby plays the guitar
I pick a banjo now
Ah, the north country winters keep a-gettin' me
And I lost my money playin' poker so I had to up and leave
But I ain't a-turnin' back
To livin' that old life no more

[Chorus]
So, rock me mama like a wagon wheel
Rock me mama any way you feel
Hey, mama rock me
Rock me mama like the wind and the rain
Rock me mama like a south-bound train
Hey, mama rock me

[Verse 3]
Walkin' due south out of Roanoke
I caught a trucker out of Philly
Had a nice long toke
But he's a-headed west from the Cumberland Gap
To Johnson City, Tennessee
And I gotta get a move on before the sun
I hear my baby callin' my name
And I know that she's the only one
And if I die in Raleigh
At least I will die free

[Chorus]
So, rock me mama like a wagon wheel
Rock me mama any way you feel
Hey, mama rock me
Rock me mama like the wind and the rain
Rock me mama like a south-bound train
Hey, mama rock me

Old Crow Medicine Show is a string band based in Nashville, TN. They started in 1998 by busking on street corners from New York state through northeast Canada. In 2000, they traveled to Boone, NC, hoping to catch the attention of the legendary Doc Watson, and they did, while playing in front of the same pharmacy he did many years earlier. He invited them band to play at his MerleFest Music Festival, and that launched their career.

The group’s music is considered old-time folk because many of the songs they perform are pre-WW2 blues and folk songs, but done with punk rock energy. Their sound influenced Mumford & Sons and contributed to a revival of banjo-picking string bands that play Americana music.

Their self-titled album contained “Wagon Wheel” which front man Ketch Secor wrote, basing it on a song fragment he heard on a Bob Dylan bootleg. Dylan was so impressed with that, he sent Secor a partial song called “Sweet Amarillo,” which Secor also expanded and appeared on OCMS' Remedy album, which won a Grammy for Best Folk Album of 2015 .

From the album

Old Crow Medicine Show (2004)

Old Crow Medicine Show popular songs

Wagon WheelOld Crow Medicine Show

Old Crow Medicine Show