{"id":13567,"date":"2017-07-25T11:42:58","date_gmt":"2017-07-25T15:42:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/?p=13567"},"modified":"2020-04-27T16:47:30","modified_gmt":"2020-04-27T20:47:30","slug":"the-sound-of-summer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/the-sound-of-summer\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sound of Summer"},"content":{"rendered":"

July\/August 2017 | view story as a pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

Live music on the oceanfront is what summer memories are made of. Let\u2019s hear it, Old Crow Medicine Show.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

By Sarah Moore<\/em><\/p>\n

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If Portland understands one thing, it\u2019s the power of live music on the waterfront. That\u2019s why the decks at Portland Lobster Company and The Porthole groan under the weight of summer revelers almost every night, and Thompson\u2019s Point can snag stellar acts like The XX and Alabama Shakes in only its second season. They understand the potent pull of the waterfront. As it turns out, if there\u2019s one thing that can make your favorite band sound better, it\u2019s the rhythm of lapping water and the chimes of calling seagulls. A little craft beer doesn\u2019t hurt either.<\/p>\n

On August 22, Grammy Award-winners Old Crow Medicine Show will deliver a little Southern charm and Nashville swagger to Maine State Pier. If you think haven\u2019t heard of Old Crow Medicine Show, you have. The band\u2019s mainstream breakout song, \u201cWagon Wheel,\u201d has been played by every radio station and every drunk-guy-with-a-guitar since 2004.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe banjos, the fiddles, the harmonicas\u2013 this music is made for a working waterfront,\u201d says band member Ketch Secor. \u201cI can picture the Aucocisco setting out for Casco Bay as we play.\u201d Secor has deep ties to Portland. \u201cI\u2019ve spent a lot of time here. I was busking in 1997 on a snowy winter day with [Old Crow bandmate] Critter, ten days later, we were featured in the Press Herald. Portland was one of my first musical homes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Old Crow\u2019s first Maine gig was at Geno\u2019s Rock Club in 2003. Secor might have New England connections, but the band\u2019s sound is deeply rooted in Tennessee. They\u2019re even members of the legendary Grand Old Oprey (\u201cI discovered I could tune into the Oprey station from Maine on a clear day at AM frequency 650\u201d). So does country music have a home in Maine? \u201cIt\u2019s the music of working people,\u201d Secor says. \u201cMaine has the same natural splendor and sense of open space as the Southern states where this music originates. Loretta Lynn might have sung \u2018The Clam Digger\u2019s Daughter\u2019 if she\u2019d been born here instead of Kentucky.\u201d<\/p>\n

With 19 years of touring under their belt, what can crowds expect from an Old Crow show? \u201cLive music is what we do best. It\u2019s our lifeblood,\u201d Secor says. \u201cBut a good audience makes all the difference\u2013they\u2019re the fifth Beatle.\u201d Imagine barn-stomping tunes, plaintive country melodies, and Bob Dylan covers floating through the salty breeze.<\/p>\n

As a long-time visitor, Secor is the unofficial tour guide for the five other bandmates: Critter Fuqua, Kevin Hayes, Morgan Jahnig, Chance McCoy, Cory Younts. \u201cI plan to visit Mackworth Island and see the fairy houses. I\u2019ll make sure the boys are well fed at Hot Suppa before the show. Then afterward, who knows? Maybe Old Port Tavern for some karaoke. I remember doing that once. I went head-to-head with a guy singing \u2018I Guess That\u2019s Why They Call It The Blues\u2019 by Elton John. I sang \u2018Strawberry Wine.\u2019 He won.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sounds like a plan! See you there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

July\/August 2017 | view story as a pdf Live music on the oceanfront is what summer memories are made of. Let\u2019s hear it, Old Crow Medicine Show. By Sarah Moore             If Portland understands one thing, it\u2019s the power of live music on the waterfront. That\u2019s why the decks at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13660,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[314],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-after-dark"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13567"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13567\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18202,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13567\/revisions\/18202"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}