Old Crow Medicine Show - Wagon Wheel

2006

Old Crow Medicine Show - Wagon Wheel (2006) Director: Emmett Malloy Era: Mid-2000s Americana Revival (2006) - Post-O Brother roots music boom; era of independent label string bands reclaiming old-time aesthetics on emerging YouTube/digital video platforms High curatorial value as a time-stamped artifact of the 2000s Americana revival that documents both an endangered form of Southern carnival culture (Snyder & Metts Amusements, now defunct) and the organic pre-algorithm viral music video ecosystem of early YouTube. The video's setting, performance style, and low-fi warmth constitute a deliberate aesthetic argument for roots authenticity in an era of Pro Tools pop production, making it essential context for any archive documenting the 2000s folk-roots countercurrent. Context: Released in September 2006, this video accompanied the lead single from Old Crow Medicine Show's major-label debut O.C.M.S. (2004, Nettwerk), arriving at the crest of a roots music revival partly ignited by the 2000 Coen Brothers film O Brother, Where Art Thou?. The carnival setting, shot at a real traveling fairground in Smyrna, Tennessee, grounds the song's hitchhiking narrative in a tactile, lived-in Southern Americana visual vocabulary. The song itself is co-written with Bob Dylan, whose 1973 unfinished chorus sketch 'Rock Me, Mama' was developed into full verses by Ketch Secor. The video's word-of-mouth virality on early YouTube, without traditional radio promotion, presaged the digital-era grassroots model for Americana music discovery. The band would go on to be inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in 2013, and the song achieved RIAA Platinum certification the same year. Director notes: Directed for S2BN Films; produced by Bryan Ling, Mike Luba, and Tim Lynch. Video premiered September 7, 2006, uploaded to Nettwerk Music's YouTube channel. Shot on location in Smyrna, Tennessee, adjacent to Snyder & Metts Amusements carnival grounds. The setting features a bally stage of an old-time carnival girl show, with the band performing amid midway rides including a Rock-O-Plane. Performers and carnival workers appear throughout but are uncredited. The video had accumulated over 20 million YouTube views by late 2013.