Artist: Old Crow Medicine Show
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Used to Be a Mountain”
Album: Paint This Town
Release Date: April 22, 2022
Label: ATO Records
In Their Words: “Iāve been playing Appalachian music in Appalachia since I was a kid. West Virginia, Kentucky, Southwest Virginia, and East Tennessee are the places I love to play most. When you saw a fiddle in these settings it always feels like a homecoming. But time has dealt a hard hand to the region that gave birth to country music, and ‘Used to Be a Mountain’ is a song that wrestles with the issues facing Appalachia today. I think that the intrepid spirit of the mountaineers of the coal fields of the Southern Highlands and Appalachia are some of the hardest and most important fore-bearers of the American dream. I think that when you take away the natural beauty and destroy the ecology of places, you don’t have a whole lot left to rebuild with. I know there’s a lot of folks that are hurting right now in the communities of the coal fields. This song is there to both reflect that hurt and to ask the question, can we do something better for these folks? Can we do something better for these mountains, these hills, the flora and fauna, for anybody who wants to breathe clean air and drink clean water in Appalachia?” — Ketch Secor, Old Crow Medicine Show
Editor’s Note: Along with the video, the band has partnered with Cumberland River Compact, a non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing water resources through education and cooperation. The partnership serves to bring awareness to the effects of climate change, connecting fans with ways to get involved in the local climate movement through local action.
Photo Credit: Kit Wood (L-R: Morgan Jahnig, Mason Via, Ketch Secor, Jerry Pentecost, Cory Younts, Mike Harris)
