Old Crow Medicine Show coming to The Mahaiwe

Old Crow Medicine Show coming to The Mahaiwe

Old Crow Medicine Show will perform their high-energy brand of Americana at The Mahaiwe on April 25.

Brooke Stevens

Old Crow Medicine Show has been making merry music since 1998. While students at Ithaca College in upstate New York, the band recorded, toured, and discovered gold in a discarded musical idea.

As legend has it, co-founder Chris Fuqua gave lead singer and fiddle player Ketch Secor a bootleg of a Bob Dylan song sketch. Secor took the chorus and added verses with themes of traveling that reflected his homesickness for the south. The resulting “Wagon Wheel” became the band’s biggest hit, going gold and eventually platinum in 2013.

When asked why the song continues to resonate to this day, mandolin player and multi-instrumentalist Cory Younts said, “It’s simple, easy to learn, and pleasing to the ear. It’s everyone’s favorite campfire song. Ketch knew it was gonna be a big hit when he wrote it, and that it was gonna go for miles and miles.”

The band got a big break while busking outside of a pharmacy in Boone, North Carolina in 2000 when they were discovered by legendary blind bluegrass musician Doc Watson who invited them to perform at his annual Merlefest music festival, changing their lives forever.

As a result of their performance, the band was invited to play Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry where they were embraced and mentored by Marty Stuart, who invited them to tour and open for country music legends Merle Haggard and Dolly Parton.

In 2004, they recorded their eponymous album “O.C.M.S.” produced by David Rawlings, musical partner of Gillian Welch. Younts recalls how it was the right time for the band’s brand of music.

“Old Crow was starting to make a name for themselves in Nashville around the time of the Cohen Brothers’ film ‘Oh Brother Where Art Thou?’ I was a fan and would go to as many shows as I could. Gil and Dave would be there too. They’re wonderful people. They have Woodland Studios in Nashville.”

In December 2024, the band celebrated 25 years of the album with a performance on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert series. Today, they are one of the bigger Americana acts, and on reflection, Younts believes they helped start the genre.

“I remember when everybody thought we were just making country music. I think we’re one of the first bands to start that whole sound and category (of Americana),” he said.

Old Crow Medicine Show will bring their unique brand of Americana to the Berkshires in late April. Audiences can expect an energetic and highly entertaining show.

“We’re very high energy with a lot of humor. All of us rotate instruments throughout the night; everybody plays probably six instruments. It’s entertaining, comical, good old ruckus busking music,” Younts said.

Come see for yourself at the Mahaiwe Theater in Great Barrington, Massachusetts on Friday, April 25.

Latest News

Geer Village announces ‘strategic partnership’ with Integritus Healthcare

Geer Village Senior Community in North Canaan announced its partnership with the Mass.-based Integritus Healthcare on Aug. 7. Geer will remain the operator of the facility’s programs and services but joins the umbrella of 19 entities at Integritus Healthcare.

Photo by Debra A. Aleksinas
“This is the best possible scenario for the future of Geer.” Shaun Powell, CEO/CFO Geer Village Senior Community

NORTH CANAAN — For the first time in its more than 95-year history, the nonprofit Geer Village Senior Community will soon operate under a new management contract, although it will remain an independent organization.

A joint announcement of a “strategic partnership” between Geer Village and Integritus Healthcare, a 501 (c) 3 charitable organization and post-acute healthcare industry leader based out of Pittsfield, Mass., was made on Aug. 7.

Keep ReadingShow less
Deputies respond to political dispute at Fountain Square

AMENIA — Dutchess County Sheriff’s Deputies broke up a political dispute between two Amenia residents at Fountain Square in downtown Amenia on Tuesday, July 15.

Kimberly Travis of Amenia was conducting her daily “No Kings” anti-Trump administration protest at Fountain Square at 1:15 p.m. when Jamie Deines, of Amenia and candidate for Town Board in the Nov. 4 election, approached her.

Keep ReadingShow less
East Twin Lake
finds new hope 
as hydrilla fades

Gregory Bugbee, associate scientist at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES), where he heads the Office of Aquatic Invasive Species (OAIS), was a guest speaker at the Aug. 2 annual meeting of the Twin Lakes Association.

Debra A. Aleksinas

SALISBURY— A fierce and costly battle to halt the spread of hydrilla in East Twin Lake may have finally paid off.

All but three remaining small patches, one near the shoreline at O’Hara’s Landing Marina and two others in deeper water as boats exit the marina and head out, have been destroyed by this summer’s treatment with the aquatic herbicide fluridone, which began on May 20. None of the remaining plants are thriving.

Keep ReadingShow less
Lisa Mae Keller

LIME ROCK — Lisa Mae Keller of Lime Rock, Connecticut, passed away peacefully at her home on July 26, 2025, following a yearlong battle with cancer. Lisa remained at home between lengthy stays at Smilow Cancer Hospital – Yale New Haven. Throughout Lisa’s ordeal, the family home was a constant hub of love and support, with friends and relatives regularly dropping by. Their presence lifted Lisa’s spirits and helped her stay positive during even the toughest moments. The family remains deeply grateful to the community for their unwavering kindness and encouragement.

Born on June 2, 1958, in Bridgeport to Mae and Robert Schmidle, Lisa graduated from Newtown High School in 1976. Lisa first attended Ithica College to pursue a degree in fine arts concentrating on opera. Drawn to a more robust and challenging curriculum, Lisa transferred to Whittier College, Whittier, California earning a Bachelor of Science degree. It was in 1988 that Lisa met and married Robert (Rob) Keller in Newtown, Connecticut. Together, they embarked on a remarkable journey. The couple started small businesses, developed land in Litchfield County and welcomed in quick succession their sons Baxter and Clayton. The growing family discovered the long-abandoned historic Lime Rock Casino in 1993, while attending a race at Lime Rock Park. The couple found it difficult to commute for work while raising a family and restoring a vintage home. Lisa persuaded her husband that chimney sweeping was a noble profession, leading them to purchase the established business, Sultans of Soot Chimney Sweeps. She later leveraged her role into ownership of the largest U.S. importer of vintage Italian reproduction gun parts. Even as her entrepreneurial ventures expanded, Lisa continued managing the pick, pack, and ship operation for Kirst Konverter, though she sold the remainder of the business prior to her illness. Lisa will be remembered for her business acumen, community service, and being a trained vocalist with the Crescendo Coral Group of Lime Rock. Lisa tended the extensive gardens around the home and curated an art collection that adorns the walls within. Baking cookies was a passion. Countless cookie packages were sent world wide to each son and their military friends while deployed. It is still undetermined in the Keller house whether the Army or Marines leave less crumbs. At Christmas, the Lakeville Post Office staff would post over 80 packages of cookies to lucky recipients, while receiving a tray for their effort. Unable to bake cookies in her last year, Lisa selflessly compiled and self-published “ Pot Luck at The Casino”, a 160 page book of all of her favorite recipes, sent to everyone on her cookie list. It was a true labor of love.

Keep ReadingShow less