Review: Old Crow Medicine Show offers serious tonic of songs

'œPaint This Town,'ť Old Crow Medicine Show (ATO Records)

Due to the group's name, good-timey tempos and comically frantic vocals, Old Crow Medicine Show can be mistaken for a hee-hawing string band not to be taken seriously. All of which makes the Nashville-based group's new album deceptive in its delights.

'œPaint This Town'ť is indeed a party starter, but there are also powerful songs about racism, drugs, the abolitionist movement, environmental degradation and the Mississippi flag.

Versatile frontman Ketch Secor's distinctive delivery fits the material, whether his approach is crazed, comedic or conscientious. It turns out Secor can sound a lot like Joe Strummer, and some of the subject matter is Clash-worthy.

'œPainkiller'ť captures the desperation of addiction, and 'œUsed To Be a Mountain'ť turns angry as it describes an abused landscape. 'œDeFord Rides Again,'ť sung by drummer Jerry Pentecost, pays tribute to pioneering but long-forgotten Black country music artist DeFord Bailey.

While the band delivers those tunes at a furious pace, 'œNew Mississippi Flag'ť is a bold ballad that movingly summarizes the state's complicated history in three minutes as it recalls 'œrattling chains'ť and those 'œwho died on the road to change.'ť

Old Crow does find time for fun. Secor is delightfully hammy singing about divorce on 'œBombs Away,'ť and the album opens and closes with joyful foot-stompers. This medicine show's passion and energy are a potent tonic, especially on songs about right and wrong.