THE BIG SURPRISE TOUR

The Old Crow Medicine Show reveals what's in store

By LAURA DARGUS

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When Old Crow Medicine Show—a Nashville-based old-time string band whose song "Wagon Wheel" earned them broader appeal—takes the stage at the House of Blues, it'll represent a significant benchmark in their local appearances, as they've gone from playing Club Passim in 2004, to the Somerville Theatre in '06, to a sold-out crowd at the Berklee Performance Center last September. This concert, though, is a little outside their traditional offering. OCMS are just one of four bands embarking on The Big Surprise Tour—an old-fashioned revue featuring Justin Townes Earle, The Felice Brothers and The Dave Rawlings Machine with Gillian Welch—which kicked off in Hampton Beach on Tuesday.

Before that, Ketch Secor (fiddler, vocalist, banjo player and mouth harpist) and crew were opening for Dave Matthews.

"It's a really good gig," says Secor. It's also a palpable contrast in touring styles. From a five-piece outfitted with one tour bus, to Matthews' "15 tractor trailers—one just full of T-shirts and bumper stickers." The commotion is an organized affair, "like a bustling backstage city," and the guys are appreciative of the opportunity. Touching on what comprises the art of the opening slot, Secor says: "You're just trying to make someone's show just a little bit better ... [The audience is] already going to have a great time, because the person that they really want to see is going to play for hours."

But that is precisely what Americana fans have to look forward with The Big Surprise Tour, really an opry on wheels. Between Dave Rawlings (producer on OCMS' first two studio albums) and Gillian Welch—the band's "heroes and great friends" (whose own collaboration began at Berklee in the late '80s); Justin Townes Earle who "came up" with Old Crow; and the dice-playing (and diehard Yankees fans) The Felice Brothers, who will "take your money a dollar at a time," it's a bill stoked with an appreciation for folk and musical congregation. "We all speak the music language. I'm excited to speak it with one another, to one another and share that with everybody up there and out there in the audience," says Secor. "It's a bit of a camp feeling. Like it's summertime and we're all away from home."

For Kevin Hayes, OCMS' guitjo player, it's also a homecoming. He grew up in Haverhill and lived in the city for years, "playing all those clubs from Passim to Johnny D's and the Middle East." And though the band is excited to play to a local crowd, they've got beef with the area's roadside fare. "You don't have enough waffle houses up there," says Secor, "kind of changed the whole dietary plan." They're also missing the region's trademark cynicism, as Secor voices optimism about the weather. He hopes to be jamming in "the scorching heat of August. When you need it most. When music is the most refreshing."

THE BIG SURPRISE TOUR

WITH OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW, THE DAVE RAWLINGS MACHINE FEAT. GILLIAN WELCH, THE FELICE BROTHERS AND JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE

WED. 8.5.09

HOUSE OF BLUES

15 LANSDOWNE ST., BOSTON

888.693.2583

6:30PM/ALL AGES/$31.50-$37.50

CROWMEDICINE.COM

HOB.COM/BOSTON

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