The Best Surprise Is A Big Surprise

There’s no telling what might happen when Old Crow Medicine Show hits the road in August with The Dave Rawlings Machine (feat. Gillian Welch), The Felice Brothers and Justin Townes Earle.

Photo: Lisa Schaffer

Electric Factory, Philadelphia.

The idea of “The Big Surprise Tour” is to keep it loose, with each evening split into two 90-minute sets separated by an intermission. In each set the bands and artists will play whatever fits the moment, including old standards, each other’s songs and new compositions.

“Seven years ago when Old Crow first met Dave Rawlings and Gillian Welch at the Station Inn in Nashville, we stayed up till dawn singing Stan Rogers songs and playing AC/DC licks,” said Old Crow’s Ketch Secor. “Three weeks later we were making a record. They were that rusted sign at the fork in the road showing OCMS just where it was headed.”

Photo: John Davisson

Bonnaroo Music Festival, Manchester, Tenn.

Named after a Felice Brothers’ song, “The Big Surprise Tour” starts on Aug. 4 in Hampton Beach, N.H., at the Casino Ballroom, House of Blues Boston is slotted for Aug. 5 and NYC’s Beacon Theatre for Aug. 6.

Other stops include Philly at the Electric Factory Aug. 7; Charlottesville, Va., at the Charlottesville Pavilion Aug. 9; Louisville at Waterfront Park Aug. 12 and Knoxville at World’s Fair Park Aug. 14.

For more information, please click here for the Old Crow Medicine Show Web site.