Trailblazers whose record sales don’t always reflect that distinction, the men of Old Crow Medicine Show are so consistently good that it’s easy to take them for granted. Kicking around since the late 1990s, they were the antecedent to bands like the Avett Brothers and Mumford & Sons. And their catalog is crammed with albums that replicate the unbridled joy and communion of their live shows. “Remedy” is the newest one to do that. Anchored by Ketch Secor on fiddle and vocals, this is prime Old Crow, from the barn-burning opener (“Brushy Mountain Conjugal Trailer”) to cowpunk freakouts (“8 Dogs 8 Banjos”). Just as Secor did a decade ago with “Wagon Wheel” (Old Crow’s signature song, and a recent hit for Darius Rucker), the band also reworked one of Bob Dylan’s outtakes from his “Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid” soundtrack and produced an elegant new country waltz, “Sweet Amarillo.” As Secor notes in the album’s press release, “This is country music for people who think country music needs a whoopin’.” (Out now)
ESSENTIAL “Brushy Mountain Conjugal Trailer”