Old Crow Medicine Show played to a sold out crowd Friday, Oct. 20, at the Tennessee Theatre.

The show was just one stop on their fall tour after the release of their fifth full length record, Big Iron World.

Legend has it that one day the guys in Old Crow Medicine Show were playing on the streets of Boone, NC, when an elderly lady stopped to listen. Once they finished the song, the lady had nothing but kind words for the music and insisted they stay and play until she could run home and get her husband so he could hear. The guys agreed and played on and in a little while, an old station wagon pulled up and that same lady hopped out and ran to the passenger side door and opened it to help her husband, Doc Watson, out.

It was straight to Nashville from there. Old Crow is fronted by duo of vocalists, Ketch Secor on fiddle and Willie Watson on guitar. Some tracks feature the banjo player, Critter Fuqua, but the majority are sung by either Watson or Secor. Kevin Hayes on guit-jo and Morgan Jahnig on upright comprise the rest of the band.

They have a bluegrass sound, but are most comparable to the Memphis jug band style. Part of the charm of their shows is Secor’s knowledge of local geography and genealogy.

“We’d like to welcome any Hammonds coming up from Sevier County that might be in the house tonight,” Secor screamed between songs last Friday night.

Their shows are fast paced and high energy. They started the second set with everyone sitting down throughout the auditorium, but by the middle of the set, the whole crowd was on foot. To end the night, for a second encore, they came out and broke fiercely into an Old Crow version of “Rocky Top”.

“Don’t ask us to do it again,” Secor beckoned to one of the rowdier crowds the Tennessee Theatre will host for its “Acoustic Sessions” series.