Old Crow Medicine Show will bring entertaining mix of musical influences to amphitheater

“Americana” has become a catch-all description for music that steps back in time and is “rootsy” sounding. The Americana Music Foundation’s actual definition seems both specific and broad, stating the genre “includes the rich threads of country, folk, blues, soul, gospel and rock.”

One of its most popular — and entertaining —- practitioners, Old Crow Medicine Show, is bringing that musical brew to the Sand Mountain Park and Amphitheater in Albertville on April 26.

The opening act is equally strong: Bluegrass singer/instrumentalist Molly Tuttle and her band Golden Highway, who is fresh off their second straight Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album.

Old Crow member Mike Harris said he thinks the Americana label has lost meaning in a way as it’s been overused, but described it as a “funnel” in which its various elements “can all live in harmony under the tent.”

And those elements will all be on display when Old Crow pitches its own particular tent on stage in Albertville.

“It’s going to be an all-encompassing Americana revue,” Harris said. “We’ll be playing all of those styles in a pronounced way from song to song throughout the night. We’ll play some country, some old-time (music), some bluegrass, some folk and some blues.”

The emphasis — as has been the band’s trademark since it made the leap from street busking to national prominence with its ubiquitous signature song (and platinum single) “Wagon Wheel” and Grand Ole Opry membership — will be on entertainment.

“It’s not going to be the kind of show where we press ‘play,’ ” Harris said. “We go out there and we play and we have fun. We’re going to look up some things about the town, and we’re going to play some regional favorites and make it a special night for everybody including us.”

There’ll also be a healthy dose of humor. “It really is a medicine show,” Harris said.

A multi-instrumentalist who plays guitar (regular and slide), banjo, a banjo/guitar hybrid called the “guitjo,” mandolin and dobro, Harris has been with Old Crow since 2021. He learned early about the band’s dedication to putting on a show and ensuring a fun experience for the audience, propelled by energetic front man and fiddle player Ketch Secor.

“My very first performance was in the early days of post-COVID shows in the spring of 2021,” he said. “I played on the Opry with the band and I remember the energy right out of the gate, specifically from Ketch.

“I was really blown away,” he said “and realized that’s the bar, he sets it every night, and it’s up to me as a band member and a brother in arms to try to meet that.”

Old Crow’s current roster aside from Secor (who also plays banjo, guitar and harmonica) and Harris includes PJ George (accordion, banjo, drums, fiddle, guitar, guitjo and mandolin), Morgan Jahnig (upright bass), Dantè Pope (drums, percussion and piano), Mason Via (guitar, guitjo and mandolin) and Cory Younts (banjo, harmonica, keyboards and mandolin.)

It’s a close-knit aggregation; in fact, Harris was changing guitar strings for the group’s former drummer, Jerry Pentecost, in the midst of a telephone interview from his home in Nashville.

“We’re definitely all good buddies,” he said. “I’m getting ready to go to the studio to work on some tunes that aren’t even Old Crow with our bassist Morgan, and I’m going to have dinner at an event with Ketch tonight. We hang out all the time.”

And the fact that so many members are multi-instrumentalists — all but George and Jahnig sing, too — gives them plenty of room to stretch their musical vistas.

“I came into the band as primarily an electric guitarist,” said Harris, who played with the group Apache Relay and also backed Chris Stapleton and Brent Cobb before joining Old Crow. “I was very influenced by Southern rock, but I grew up around bluegrass and old-time music, had an appreciation for it and a good knowledge of how to perform it as well.

“As a musician stepping into this gig, it was made apparent to me that they weren’t just interested in one thing I could do pretty well, but in what three to five things I could do pretty well. It’s been an amazing growth experience for me as a musician, and I’ve branched out into other instruments and disciplines.”

Old Crow’s most recent album, last year’s “Jubilee,” earned a Grammy nomination for Best Folk Album. (The group won the award in 2015 for “Remedy” and also notched a Grammy for Best Long Form Video in 2012 for “Big Easy Express.”

Harris said the group is still celebrating “Jubilee” and is focusing on “going out and seeing our fans and playing these songs,” but will likely be back in the studio before the year’s out. “We’re in a constant state of writing, recording and touring,” he said.

Tuttle is a multiple-time International Bluegrass Music Awards nominee and winner, becoming in 2017 the first woman to be honored as Guitar Player of the Year. She and her group earned Grammys for the albums “Crooked Tree” in 2023 and “City of Gold” in 2024.

The music starts at 6:30 p.m. on concert night. Tickets are $51.68 for lawn seats ($39.99 apiece for blocks of four) and $77.25 and up for reserved seats. (Higher-priced VIP packages are available.) They are available at https://bit.ly/3U4OX9Z.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Old Crow Medicine Show, Molly Tuttle join for Sand Mountain concert