Old Crow Medicine Show Share Origins of Mavis Staples Collaboration “One Drop”: Exclusive
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The post Old Crow Medicine Show Share Origins of Mavis Staples Collaboration “One Drop”: Exclusive appeared first on Consequence.
Origins is a recurring series that gives artists a space to break down everything that went into their latest release. Today, Old Crow Medicine Show dig into their new collaboration with Mavis Staples, “One Drop.”
Old Crow Medicine Show have shared “One Drop,” the latest single from their upcoming album, Jubilee. The spiritually rich, uplifting tune features legendary R&B and gospel singer Mavis Staples, who vocalist Ketch Secor credits as lifting the band’s sound to new heights.
“This is the latest in our canon of ‘songs of a spiritual persuasion,’ and, I think, one of our best, due in no small part to the presence of a legend of gospel music and more, the great Mavis Staples,” Secor explains. “Mavis epitomizes a life in roots music, and Old Crow can only hope that the next 25 years will bring us, like she is, closer to the true vine.”
The joyous, gospel-esque aspirations of “One Drop” are immediately apparent. With choir vocals, community-oriented lyrics, and spiritually-charged ad libs, the track falls somewhere in between a classic folk standard, a contemporary church staple, and a country anthem.
“I like songs that advocate for something. ‘One Drop’ advocates for unity,” Secor says of the song’s message. “We have an endless power as humans, if we can only join together in our shared humanity and pull together as one.”
Listen to Old Crow Medicine Show’s Mavis Staples collaboration, “One Drop,” below, followed by Ketch Secor’s breakdown of the song’s Origins.
Jubilee follows last year’s Paint This Town. It’s out this Friday, August 25th via ATO Records, and pre-orders are ongoing. Old Crow Medicine Show are currently on tour in support of the album; grab tickets here.
Rube Goldberg machines:
“Exercise in Fugality” by George Rhoads
I always used to pass one in high school at Logan Airport and I love how perfectly they exemplify cause and effect. “One Drop” is a song about ripples turning into waves.
Gospel Advocate Bookstore:
Photo by Jon Tyson via Unsplash
This is a shop situated near the graveyard where “One Drop” collaborator Jerry Pentecosts’ family plot is. DeFord Bailey is buried there, too. We went a few times together and always passed the Gospel Advocate Bookstore, and I always felt there was something powerful in that phrase. I like songs that advocate for something. “One Drop” advocates for unity.
Episcopal School of Nashville:
I helped start this school and it’s now in its eighth year of operations. As the former board chair and a constant volunteer, I have written quite a few songs for the kids to sing at ESN, and we’ve included the school choir on recent tracks by Old Crow.
“One Drop” has echoes of the kids music I wrote for our students to sing, like the school song “The Purple Martin Song,” which goes: “We are one (clap)/ We are many (clap clap)/ With our hands we building community (Digging motion).” It’s a fun little ditty and the kids love singing it.
Pete Seeger:
Pete is the great grandaddy of the folk singers, and one of my biggest inspirations for “One Drop” and most every song I’ve ever ever scribbled down. I met him twice: once at the Ann Arbor Folk Festival and again at Pete’s home festival Clearwater. He was kind and handsome (and tall!) and generous with his time. He told me some things I’ll never forget and I feel his presence in everything I do musically. I think he would have liked “One Drop,” and I know he loved Mavis.
Bob Dylan’s Christian music:
One of my most favorite periods of Bob’s music is the gospel years, and those drastically different three albums (Saved, Slow Train Coming, and Shot of Love) he made in the late ’70s and early ’80s. One song that really stands out form this era is “Every Grain of Sand,” which professes “I can see the Master’s hand in every leaf that trembles and every grain of sand…”
“One Drop” suggests a similar divinity, although without the deity. We have an endless power as humans if we can only join together in our shared humanity and pull together as one.
Old Crow Medicine Show Share Origins of Mavis Staples Collaboration “One Drop”: Exclusive
Jonah Krueger
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