Old Crow Medicine Show

The old-time string band rolls back into town for a show at the State just weeks after their last appearance in the Twin Cities, playing for fan Garrison Keillor, who books them frequently on A Prairie Home Companion. Like that legendary radio show, the music of Old Crow Medicine Show sounds like entertainment out of time. They're sometimes dubbed bluegrass fusion or alt-country, which is not inaccurate. Their songs are influenced by folk and blues: They've recorded a cover of a Rolling Stones tune, "Down Home Girl," and perhaps their most notable number, "Wagon Wheel," is a reimagining of an unfinished Bob Dylan song. But despite these more modern influences, their sound remains pure and defiantly regionalist, and it's distinguished by their incredible vocal harmonies. Old Crow Medicine Show have undergone a major chance since the release of 2008's Tennessee Pusher: Chris "Critter" Fuqua, who co-founded the band with fiddle player Ketch Secor, his musical partner since the seventh grade, has ceased touring with the group. In his place is slide guitar and banjo player Gill Landry of the Kitchen Syncopators.
Sat., Nov. 7, 8 p.m., 2009