Old Crow Medicine Show - Carry Me Back

Old Crow Medicine Show's Carry Me Back is a 2012 love letter to Appalachian string band music, all hollering harmonies, sawing fiddle and banjo picked at full gallop.

The Nashville outfit made their name reviving old-time music for audiences who might never have set foot in a fiddlers' convention, turning the singalong "Wagon Wheel" into a modern standard along the way. This album, released on ATO Records, digs deeper into the roots of that sound, with Ketch Secor and company tipping their hats to the Southern traditions that shaped them.

"We Don't Grow Tobacco" looks back on a vanishing way of rural life over a hard-driving, foot-stomping arrangement, while "Levi" is a poignant tribute to a young soldier lost far from home. "Mississippi Saturday Night" kicks up a joyous ruckus, and "Country Gal" shows off the band's playful side with a tune that practically begs for a barn dance.

There's plenty of grit and good humour here, alongside a genuine respect for the music's history and the people who carried it.

Few bands can wring this much life and fire from a handful of acoustic instruments and a couple of good microphones, and on vinyl the whole thing feels like a front-porch session that somebody had the sense to record.