A Christmas Album from Old Crow Medicine Show

Summary

All Of It (WNYC)

Episode: A Christmas Album from Old Crow Medicine Show
Date: December 15, 2025
Host: David (in for Alison Stewart)
Guests: Catch Secor, Morgan Jonig, Corey Yountz – Old Crow Medicine Show

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Episode Overview

In this festive episode of "All Of It," host David sits down with members of Old Crow Medicine Show (OCMS) to discuss their new holiday album, OCMS Xmas. The band, renowned for their energetic take on old-time and bluegrass music, explores the joys and challenges of creating a fresh, rootsy Christmas record. The episode features behind-the-scenes stories, playful banter, live listening sessions, and a peek into the traditions and intentions behind their holiday music and performances.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Why a Christmas Album Now? (00:50)

• OCMS has been in the business for a long time, and while every Nashville-act is expected to do a Christmas album, they waited to ensure love and intention went into it.
• Catch Secor:

  "We waited a really long time to put ours out because we put so much love and intention behind it because we just love this holiday season." (01:59)

Originality and Spirit (02:22)

• The album primarily features new, original Christmas songs that cover the full spectrum of holiday experiences: joy, longing, disappointment, family quarrels, and more.
• Catch Secor:

  "It's...a brand new Christmas type of record...about the experience, the joys, the highs, the lows, the crushing defeats of not getting what you want, the day after Christmas, missing your loved ones, fighting over eggnog recipes. It's the whole gamut." (02:22)

Exploring "Breaking Up Christmas" (03:00)

• The album begins with a nod to Appalachian tradition: "Breaking Up Christmas," a raucous throwback to old holiday rituals in the mountains.
• Catch Secor:

  "You got the tree and you chucked it out into the yard and you set it on fire and everybody drank corn whiskey and had a big, big frolic." (03:00)

Krampus Night – Spooky Christmas (03:57)

• The band discusses their darkly playful track "Krampus Night," inspired by the Alpine mythological figure who punishes bad children.
• Catch Secor:

  "I just thought it'd be cool to have a spooky Christmas song...What if there was a Christmas song that was about the evil that lurks this time of year?" (04:42)

• Sample lyric sung by Catch:

  "Krampus coming, slithering by, making all the little children cry...watch out he don't kill you dead on the Krampus night." (05:18)

OCMS Traditions: Holiday Performances and Community (06:03)

• For nearly two decades, OCMS rings in the New Year at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium ("the mother church of country music") and more recently tours with children’s choirs in each city, adding a communal, multi-generational element to their performances.
• Catch Secor:

  "It's really a joy to get to sing with young people and to bring them into the fold." (06:03)

Roots Music, Americana, and Christmas: A Natural Fit (07:13)

• The band situates themselves in the American roots tradition, encompassing blues, bluegrass, jazz, country, and more.

• Morgan Jonig:

  "American roots music...comes from all of the different...music that was born out of America, like the blues and rock and roll, but then you’ve also got all the great traditions of all the people who brought their music here with them." (07:29)

• Christmas music is a natural extension of their acoustic, harmony-driven style.

• Catch Secor:

  "When you have mandolins in your band, like mandolins sound like Christmas music already...the plink of a banjo has this kind of campfire glow...you just got to add a little glockenspiel...and jingle them jingle bells." (08:26–09:22)

Performing Holiday Standards and Making Them Their Own (10:00)

• The band covers John Lennon’s "Happy Christmas (War is Over)" with a roots twist and a local children’s choir.
• Catch Secor:

  "I just love...there’s a New York connection here. There’s a need for us to be talking about peace...it’s not enough just to think it. You got to go do it." (11:16–12:17)

• He calls it,

  "the bumper sticker on the back of my sleigh." (12:42)

"December 26" – Inventing a New Classic (13:44)

• The group shares “December 26,” a humorous, bittersweet reflection on the post-Christmas letdown and leftover traditions.

• Catch Secor:

  "It celebrates the deluge of wrapping paper and all the kids who got what they wanted and the tears of those who didn't. A little bit of everything." (13:44)

• Notable lyric:

  "Cause it's the day after Christ’ ain't out of cheer." (14:18)

The "Holiday Hootenanny" Live Experience (16:05)

• Their live holiday shows mix music, humor, Christmas-themed stage gags (present-wrapping 101, story times), and visual effects for a communal feel.
• Catch Secor:

  "There's a lot of Christmas music and some revelry, and there's also some funny Christmas gags. There's present wrapping, kind of 101. There's trees..." (16:05)

Vibe, Setting, and the Spirit of Nashville: Past and Present (17:31–19:57)

• Secor reflects on Nashville’s transformation from a quirky, close-knit music community to a tourist party destination, and how the band’s music is a Christmas card from ‘the place formerly known as Nashville.’
• Catch Secor:

  "We want you to stick around. We want you to, you know, sit down, eat with us, hang out on the street corner with us....this record has a little bit of component of that. This is what our Christmas party is like in Nashville." (18:21–19:40)

Why Make a Christmas Album? The Deeper Meaning (19:57)

• The holidays are a time of joy and nostalgia, but also sorrow and longing—a dynamic that suits country and roots music.
• Catch Secor:

  "When you make Christmas music, it's like you got a fifth Beatle in your band...Everybody already loves the holidays." (19:57)

• "It's a time where we miss the past. It's a nostalgic time, but it can also be a time of lonesomeness and sorrow. And that's where country music comes in...country music is always there to champion the hard working folk." (20:30)

Christmas Traditions: Band Members' Family Plans (21:40)

• The band members share their personal plans—family gatherings in New York and Arkansas, last-minute planning, and newly engaged Catch Secor heading to Illinois.
• Corey Yountz:

  "We love to wait till the last minute to come up with what we're gonna do and fight over recipes." (22:11)

• "And then we hug and love on each other with a little eggnog and everything's fine and, and we're all family again." (22:22)

• Catch Secor:

  "I just got engaged, so I'm gonna go...to my fiance's family farm up in the land of Lincoln and see some of this big snow." (22:28)

"North by Northeast" – The Holiday in the Snow Globe (22:45)

• The episode closes with mention of the song "North by Northeast," capturing the magical snow-laden spirit of a Northeastern Christmas.
• Catch Secor:

  "The Christmas holidays up here...especially going further down east towards New England...it's when you're experiencing the snow globe effect, it's all around you. The colors, the lights, the smells, the bells." (22:45)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "You just got to add a little glockenspiel...and jingle them jingle bells." – Catch Secor (09:22)
• "It's a new, fresh thing...We're not really on autopilot at the moment." – Corey Yountz (09:41)
• "This is the bumper sticker on the back of my sleigh." – Catch Secor referencing “Happy Christmas (War is Over)” (12:42)
• "When you make Christmas music, it's like you got a fifth Beatle in your band...it's like having Santa in the act." – Catch Secor (19:57)
• "This record has a little bit of component of that. This is what our Christmas party is like in Nashville." – Catch Secor (19:40)
• "Country music is always there to champion the hard working folk." – Catch Secor (20:30)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:50: Why record a Christmas album now?
• 03:00: Origins of "Breaking Up Christmas"
• 03:57: The story and intent behind "Krampus Night"
• 06:03: Old Crow Medicine Show’s holiday traditions; performing with children’s choirs
• 07:13: "American roots" and the band's musical identity
• 08:26–09:22: Why their style naturally fits holiday music
• 10:00–12:42: Performing "Happy Christmas (War is Over)" and the message of peace
• 13:44–15:12: "December 26" as a future holiday classic
• 16:05–17:31: What to expect at a live OCMS holiday show
• 17:31–19:57: Nashville's changing character and its impact on their music
• 19:57–21:40: The emotional landscape of the holidays in roots music
• 21:40–22:28: The band’s personal holiday plans
• 22:45: Introduction to "North by Northeast"

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Conclusion

This episode offers an inside look at Old Crow Medicine Show’s thoughtful, joyful, and sometimes mischievous approach to Christmas music. The conversation balances tradition with innovation, blending historical observation, personal anecdotes, and musical sneak peeks. The band’s warmth, humor, and heartfelt dedication to roots and community come through at every turn, making OCMS Xmas a holiday contribution filled with both nostalgia and new energy.

Transcript

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[David]

This is all of it on wnyc. I'm David, first in for Alison Stewart. Old Crow Medicine show are stars of the old time music and bluegrass worlds. But now they are breaking into a new scene. Christmas music. Oh man. As soon as I hear that screaming, I am in. The album is called OCMS xmas. That is short for Old Crow Medicine Show Christmas. And it's packed with new songs to add to your holiday playlist. The band is going to be performing at the Bergen Performing Arts center in Englewood, New Jersey for a holiday hoot nanny on December 20th. And now joining us for a listening party, we are here with band members Catch Secor, Morgan Yonig and Corey Younz. Thank you very much for being here.

[Morgan Jonig]

Lovely to be here.

[Catch Secor]

Season's greetings.

[David]

Did I get all of the names correct?

[Morgan Jonig]

Just about. It's Morgan Janig.

[David]

Okay. Thank you. Mornick Janik, thank you so much.

[Catch Secor]

You were so close. So close.

[Morgan Jonig]

Welcome to no Worries.

[David]

Now this, this is not your first foray into Christmas music, right? You released a single a few years ago. And why was this the time to come back to holiday music?

[Catch Secor]

Well, you know, we live in Nashville, Tennessee and, and every country act has got to put out a Christmas record. But we waited a really long time to put ours out because we put so much love and intention behind it because we just love this holiday season.

[David]

And if you're putting a lot of love and intention behind it, I guess that means you're writing a lot of original material. This is not a collection that, that just hits all of the classics.

[Catch Secor]

No, it's primarily a, a brand new Christmas type of record with lots of songs about the experience, the joys, the highs, the lows, the, the crushing defeats of not getting what you want. The day after Christmas, missing your loved ones fighting over eggnog recipes. It's the whole gamut.

[David]

David I want to come back to the Day After Christmas because I think that is a future classic that's on the album. But I want to start by talking about the, the piece we just heard that kicks off the Album Breaking Up Christmas. We heard just a bit of it. It's listed as a traditional. It has something to do with old Christmas Day. Can someone explain what that is?

[Catch Secor]

This is a tradition in, in the hills, Appalachia, and, And western North Carolina, where the Breaking Up Christmas party was the day after Christmas. And you got the tree and you chucked it out into the yard and you set it on fire and everybody drank corn whiskey and had a big, big frolic. And so it's, you know, I think it's sort of follows a little bit more of the. Of the earlier calendar of Christianity.

[David]

I see. And Morgan, when. When you're, when you're getting to play a rave up like that, is that. Does that just, you know, does that just get the Christmas spirit going?

[Morgan Jonig]

You know, we've been playing that song, I think about as long as I've been in this band. You know, that's an old one. And I don't think there was any doubt in our minds that we would take something from the roots of what we did and know the roots of. Of Christmas itself here in America and start the record with it.

[David]

Corey, can we hear. We're going to get to some more music, but can you talk about Krampus night?

[Corey Yountz]

Krampus night. Well, this is another one that.

[David]

This is that demon from the Alps, right?

[Corey Yountz]

This is that demon. Really scary looking Scandinavian.

[David]

Really?

[Corey Yountz]

This ought to be your question.

[Catch Secor]

Really, Yannick?

[Corey Yountz]

No. What is this song about?

[Morgan Jonig]

Well, you know, it's. It's how, you know, there's everything needs its, you know, its counterpoint.

[David]

And there's Santa.

[Morgan Jonig]

Yeah, there's Santa bringing the good kids presents. And then of course, it's not coal anymore. Or it wasn't Cole in the beginning. Now we've got this scary figure named Krampus with horns.

[David]

He essentially comes around to terrify the children at Christmas and throw them in.

[Morgan Jonig]

A sack and take them away.

[David]

Okay, okay. And what was it about Krampus that made you have to write a song about it?

[Catch Secor]

Well, I wrote this one and I just thought it'd be cool to have a spooky Christmas song. You know, so much about Christmas material is all about the joy and all the fun and the ho ho and all that. But what if there was a Christmas song that was about the evil that lurks this time of year? And what, you know, it's got a line and all the good children. Off with your heads.

[David]

All right, well, let's hear a little bit. This is Krampus night.

[Catch Secor]

Coming, slithering by grandpa's coming and a slithering by making all the little children cry. On the grandpa side, He's a mean old goat with horns on his head. Mean old goat with horns on his head. Watch out he don't kill you dead on the Krampus night.

[David]

Oh, man, look out. I'm already scared. So, you know, do you have any unique Christmas traditions, perhaps Old Crow Medicine Show Christmas traditions?

[Catch Secor]

Well, our big holiday caper is, for the past about 17 or 18 years, we've been ringing in the new year from the. What's called the mother church of country music. It's the Ryman auditorium, which formerly housed the grand Old Opry, but it's been a performance space in Nashville, Tennessee, for about 130 years. So this time of year is really when Old Crow starts suiting up and getting ready to. To do our sort of Dick Clark show and a ton of special guests. So it's been very interesting to have this new tradition that we're just loving of going out on the road, playing Christmas music all across the country, and getting to involve children's choirs in all of these communities. So we've been able to. To meet young people from the Ozark all the way up to, well, Jersey, like you mentioned, this Saturday night. So it's really a joy to get to sing with young people and to bring them into the fold.

[David]

Are you touring with this group of singers, or you're playing with a different choir in each community?

[Catch Secor]

Right. They come out every night from. From the local area. And so we get to learn a little bit about what's in the repertoire. We get to meet their folks. And. And really what we get to do is. Is all sing together.

[David]

Very nice. The name of the new holiday album is OCMS Xmas, and maybe this is somebody else's problem, but how would you guys describe the Old Crow Medicine show sound and the music that you play?

[Morgan Jonig]

You know, I think that throughout our years, we've had a lot of people try to say a lot of different ways that we play music, But I remember we landed kind of at one point is that we played American roots music. And I think that that's something that, you know, this was before Americana was a word that meant anything other than the thing. The buildings along Route 66 before that.

[David]

Became a music category.

[Morgan Jonig]

And so I think when we look at American roots music, that comes from all of the different, you know, music that was born out of, you know, America, like the blues and, like, rock and roll, but then you've also got all the great traditions of all the people who brought their music here with them. And so, you know, there's a little bit of Kinto and there's old time and there's bluegrass and there's country and there's jazz. There's just everything that kind of comes through the American tapestry is stuff that we like getting our hooks into.

[David]

Catch. How is writing a Christmas song different from writing any other Old Crow Medicine show song? Or, or is. Or is it different?

[Catch Secor]

Well, it, it. It's really an adjacent genre to what we already do. It's. It's not that far off because we play acoustic music. So, you know, when you have mandolins in your band, like mandolins sound like Christmas music already. And the plink of a banjo has this wonder campfire kind of glow to it, which is very Christmas adjacent. And then being country musicians, like we are out of Nashville, you know, we sing a lot about family and group dynamics, group singing and, and. And the whole nature of harmony singing is, is also very Christmas adjacent. So it, it becomes a little easier for us as a old time string band to apply what we already do to, you know, the sounds of the season, because they tend to already. You just got to add a little glockenspiel. It' a little push and just jingle them jingle bells.

[Morgan Jonig]

I know, just instead of the tambourine, it's jingle bells.

[David]

Oh, that's all it is. Pretty much trade the tambourine for jingle bells in your set.

[Morgan Jonig]

Yeah, yeah. Piano for glockenspiel and you know, maybe get a little, little tin whistle in there.

[David]

There are so many beloved Christmas songs though. Corey, is it daunting to enter that world yourself? You know, it's hard to make a mark. Sure. Yeah.

[Corey Yountz]

It's been a blast doing this whole tour again. What Catch was saying earlier how we normally this time of year aren't on the road, and so it is a new tour. It's a new sound in a way for us. It's not. We're not really on autopilot at the moment. I'm sure we will be years down the line with this tour, but it's been really fun.

[David]

It's a new fresh thing. And speaking of, I want to hear a little more music right here. Speaking of Christmas classics, you do cover John Lennon's Happy Christmas, War is Over on this new collection. Let's go ahead and listen to a little bit of that right now.

[Catch Secor]

So this is Christmas and what have you done?

[Choir/Background Singer]

Another year over.

[Catch Secor]

A new one just begun.

[Choir/Background Singer]

So this is Christmas. I hope you had fun. The near and the dear ones.

[David]

The.

[Choir/Background Singer]

Old and the young A very merry Christmas and a happy new Year.

[David]

Let'S.

[Choir/Background Singer]

Hope it's a good one without any fear.

[Catch Secor]

So this is Christmas.

[David]

Listening to the trilling there, it's. I was thinking about what you were just saying about the instrumentation. It really lends itself to this piece.

[Catch Secor]

Yeah. And this song was recorded first in New York City by John and Yoko and included this wonderful Harlem Youth Choir. Who you. You know, we all. This song is such a powerful one. You know, I think of the advocacy for peace at this time of year is. It's brighter, more vibrant, and possibly even better heated than at any other time of the year. We think about peace, we act about peace. And Yoko reminds us that peace is something that you have to give of yourself. And so I. I just love. There's a New York connection here. There's a need for us to be talking about peace. And when we're out there singing it with children, as we do, because you.

[David]

Get to perform with a choir each night, right? Yeah.

[Catch Secor]

And we. And we had the kids. Kids from my children's school sing on this record. So you can hear them at the.

[David]

End of the piece.

[Catch Secor]

Yeah. Young and old. You know, this is the. This is our message. It's one of peace and. And making the active statement of peace. It's not enough just to think it. You got to go do it.

[David]

It's beautiful. And. And this is a song that's been covered many times. Is this one where you're thinking, I really want to put our own spin on it? Or. Or is it just one that, hey, let's just do this in a faithful way with our instrumentation.

[Catch Secor]

Just want to have this be our message. You know, this is the bumper sticker on the back of my sleigh.

[David]

I like that. The bumper sticker. Well, we are here in a listening party with Old Crow Medicine show for their holiday album OCMS xmas. And we're going to continue this conversation in just a moment here on wnyc. It's all of it. It's all of it on wnyc. I'm David Fuerst in for Alison Stewart, and we are having a listening parting with a listening party with Old Crow Medicine Show. Their new holiday album is OCMS xmas. They're going to be at Bergen Performing arts Center on December 20th in Englewood, New Jersey. And I wanted to get to one of the. What I think is a real future classic on this collection. This is a fantastic song about the day after Christmas, December 26th.

[Catch Secor]

Well, yeah, this is a really fun tune. We love playing this, and it celebrates the deluge of wrapping paper and all the kids who got what they wanted and the tears of those who didn't. A little bit of everything.

[David]

And if you can't corner the Christmas market, you could probably own the 26th. Right.

[Catch Secor]

Boxing Day, here we come.

[David]

Well, let's. Let's hear a little bit. This is Old Crow medicine show and December 26.

[Choir/Background Singer]

Well, another year has come and gone we sang the songs and drunk the nod the twinkle lights are staying on all day FA la la the fridge is full of Christmas goose and needles dropping off the spruce the ornaments are getting loose and falling FA la la it's time to throw away the tree Clear out the opening debri. It's far too soon, don't you agree? Hang on, FA la la. The relatives pack up the car and follow back the evening star with heavy bags and heavy hearts because it's the day after Christmas and we gotta wait a whole dang year for the holly and garland and Elsa shells the sleigh and the bells and the pine tree smells all over the sun to the fading sounds of reindeer. Cause it's the day after Christ ain't out of cheer.

[David]

Not out of cheer just yet. You got to make your own fun on the day after Christmas, right?

[Morgan Jonig]

Absolutely.

[David]

Yeah.

[Morgan Jonig]

You know, I think that everybody's got that wistfulness as soon as, you know, midnight strikes on December 26th, and you've got all the wrapping paper still on the floor, and you've got all that leftover food in the. In the fridge, and everybody's gone and the house is a wreck, and all you kind of want to do is get. Get back there again to that morning the next year.

[David]

Well, crank this up and bring it back. Okay. The name of the new album, OCMS Xmas. And we're here with members of Old Crow Medicine Show, Morgan Jonig, Corey Younz, and Catch Secor. And you are on tour right now. I mentioned you're gonna be at the Bergen Performing Arts center in Englewood, New Jersey, on December 20 for a holiday hootenanny. What can we expect at this show? What happens at a holiday hootenanny?

[Catch Secor]

There's a lot of Christmas music and some revelry, and there's also some funny Christmas gags. There is present wrapping, kind of 101. There's trees.

[Corey Yountz]

There's a screen behind us that's showing a bunch of Christmas images. So.

[David]

Yeah. Did you say there's Christmas wrapping? Are you wrapping Presents for.

[Catch Secor]

Yeah, I break that.

[David]

It's just wrapping the merch in the lobby. Like, what are we talking about?

[Catch Secor]

There's that too. And there's lines wrapped around the building to. To catch up and get your picture made with everybody. But during the show, there's one point that I really love where I say, all right, everyone, gather out at story time. I love those Christmas stories. Let's all gather around the fire. Corey, give me some musical underscoring. And then Corey launches into this.

[David]

And.

[Catch Secor]

I'm like, no, no, no, come on, Corey. That's. That's so. That's too peppy, man. This is a more emotional story than that. And then he says, let me give.

[Corey Yountz]

A little, I don't know, Whistle green.

[Catch Secor]

Then he said. He says, call me Schroeder. Oh, yo. Yeah.

[Corey Yountz]

Oh, what? I missed my line.

[Choir/Background Singer]

See, I told you.

[Corey Yountz]

It's a new show.

[David]

We're still there.

[Morgan Jonig]

He's working out the Kings, the script supervisor.

[David]

But by the 20th, that that line is going to be down.

[Catch Secor]

Oh, yeah. So then they break into green sleeves, you know, and then it gets real somber and I begin to tell a very Garrison Keeler type of radio drama story all about the Christmas parade and who is aboard.

[David]

What was the vibe that you wanted to capture with this new album? Is there a particular feeling you wanted to conjure when you imagine people listening to this on the 25th or the 26th?

[Catch Secor]

On the COVID of it, it says to y' all from us or something like that. And I feel like we. Even though Nashville has changed an awful lot. And guys, listeners, you know, there are. You got some major airports and they all got major non stops to Music City usa, so come on down and check it out for yourselves. But know that when you get to Nashville, it's not what it was, and we're from what it was. So I feel like this is a bit of a Christmas card from the. For the place formerly known as Nashville, Tennessee, before it sort of became, you know. Well, it's.

[David]

Yeah, well, let's talk about that. What is it now? And what are you imagining that it was or that you're imagining?

[Catch Secor]

You know, now it's like Las Vegas. And what it was, was a community full of wonderful, odd characters who made a great big pageantry of the holidays and country music and of all the things that we did are. Were the essence of the South.

[David]

You're still there there. It's. It seems there still is, though, a community in Nashville.

[Catch Secor]

Very much so. But what the general public finds when they get off The Spirit airlines flight from JFK for 69. That is a, you know, is a party town. Like, you know, it's just like revelry all the time and like, you know, when you go to visit New Orleans and you get drunk in the first 24 hours and then you're home by the next 36, you know, a couple of PO boys later and a little A2FE is all it took. Nashville is a little bit like that. Like go pop a couple of hot chicken slices. Yeah.

[Morgan Jonig]

Some eight dollar beers.

[Catch Secor]

Yeah. Go to the grand opera and then you come on home. We want you to stick around. We want you to, you know, sit down, eat with us, hang out on the street corner with us. We, we love our town. We want, we want you to know what makes it tick. And so this record has a little bit of component of that. This is what our Christmas party is like in Nashville.

[David]

Well, that sounds like a great holiday invitation and a great way to frame the music on this collection. Around the holidays people start, you know, tuning their dials in to that Christmas music. It's a huge market. Do you hope you find, find a way into that for Old Crow Medicine Show?

[Catch Secor]

We've been a band for 27 years now, since 1998 is when our band started. It's been quite a while now. And so making a Christmas record is kind of like plotting out the, you know, the next decade of what do you want to do in December, guys? What should we start doing after Thanksgiving? I know, let's go out on the road and delight people. You know, when, when you make Christmas music, it's like you got a fifth Beatle in your band. You know, it's like the, you know, it's like having Santa in the act. Everybody already loves the holidays.

[David]

Interesting.

[Catch Secor]

And then there's so many touchstones to the music too. You know, this is also a time of tremendous loss for people. It's a time where we miss the past. It's a nostalgic time, but it can also be a time of lonesomeness and sorrow. And that's where country music comes in. Because country music is always there to champion the hard working folk.

[David]

Well, there's, there's a lot of great sad holiday music too. You know, Blue Christmas and missing people who are away. Yeah.

[Catch Secor]

And we're especially mindful of our, of our family members who are deployed, who might be out serving the nation and in far flung lands. Music has this way of connecting us to the source, particularly when you're playing roots music like we do. Not only Is it the source? Like, you know, let's say you're stationed abroad and you're listening to Christmas music. Makes you feel like you're at home again. The actual music itself is from the headwaters of our American sounds and our traditions. So when you play the claw hammer banjo, you know, that's an instrument come from West Africa and it met the fiddle from the British Isles and Scotland and the Highlands, you know, these are the sounds of us.

[David]

And just to wrapping up here, what are you thinking about for your Christmas plans? How do you plan to celebrate?

[Morgan Jonig]

Well, I've got my sister who just lives about, I don't know, 10 minutes from here up on 14th Street. Christmas is always a time, one of the few times where we all get to come together in one place. We all, you know, my folks are down in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and so everybody, always, every year, I don't think we've missed a Christmas where we're not all together. And that's what I look forward to.

[David]

Any other plans?

[Corey Yountz]

Oh, my family is in Little Rock, Arkansas and they, we love to wait till the last minute to come up with what we're gonna do and fight over recipes.

[David]

I relate to that plan.

[Corey Yountz]

There you go.

[Catch Secor]

Right.

[Corey Yountz]

And then we hug and love on each other with a little eggnog and everything's fine and, and we're all family again.

[Catch Secor]

And I, I just got engaged, so I'm gonna go. Congratulations to my fiance's family farm up in the land of Lincoln and see some of this big snow.

[David]

Well, let's go out on one more song. This one is called north by Northeast. What can you tell us about this one?

[Catch Secor]

Well, you know, the Christmas holidays up here in the Mid Atlantic region and especially going further down east towards New England is really, it's when you're experiencing the snow globe effect, it's all around you. The colors, the lights, the smells, the bells. Oh, it's the holly. Jolliest time of year and especially when you're up north.

[David]

Okay, this is north by Northeast. Band members Catch Secor, Morgan Jonig and Corey Yountz from Old Crow Medicine Show. The new album is OCMS XMAS Old Crow Medicine Show Christmas. Thank you so much for joining us today and happy holidays.

[Morgan Jonig]

Merry Christmas.

[David]

Thanks, David.

[Catch Secor]

Thanks WNYC.

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