Why Did Willie Watson Leave Old Crow?

Willie Watson

Creative differences.

That's the usual reason given when somebody exits a band: The individual and the group were headed in different directions, so they had to break up.

Though fans of Old Crow Medicine Show have yet to receive a fully satisfactory explanation for why founder Willie Watson left the Appalachian string band in Fall of 2011, new releases from each — combined with dedicated tours (both coming through Vermont within days of each other) — have finally provided the artistic reason they had to split.


Judging by the stated intention of his solo debut album Folk Singer Vol. I, and recent appearing at Higher Grounds in South Burlington, Willie has redefined himself as a classic American folk singer. By all indications, he's establishing himself as one of the greats, and in very short order (yes, he's that good).

Even though this development reconnects him with his own musical roots grown in the Finger Lakes region of Upstate New York, it all came about like a happy accident. When he first popped loose of Old Crow he didn't know which path to take. Start a new band? Go solo? He'd never pictured himself as a solo act. When friends coaxed him on stage, and things started to develop, he was trying to perform new songs he'd written himself. But the audience reacted better to the older, traditional songs — and he enjoyed performing them better.

The rest is history.

For its part, Old Crow itself was facing a bit of a two-part identity crisis: How to define itself without Willie Watson, and how to make itself bigger than its monster hit "Wagon Wheel". That's what their new album Remedy remedies. As Sam Pfeifle of The Portland Phoenix puts it in his review of the new release: "Such is Old Crow’s magic. They make brand-new songs sound like traditionals and traditionals sound like songs you’ve never heard before."

This musical philosophy, combined with an outrageously fun — and hugely popular — roadshow that stopped at the Shelburne Museum— suggest the direction the band is increasingly going. And thus the divergence: Willie reverting to authentic relayer of traditional folk music, Old Crow recreating traditionals, or the traditional style, in a contemporary way.

Willie is all about rooting himself in traditional authenticity; Old Crow is all about reinterpreting tradition for modern audiences, even the popular mainstream.

These separate appearances in Vermont within days of each other, by the now-separate acts, indicate solutions have been found to their dilemmas. The solutions suggest that the break was necessary and good for each musical act — as well as for the rest of us who appreciate their music.

So what was the real reason Willie Watson had to leave Old Crow Medicine Show?

Creative differences.