By Bill Forman
Last Word Features

Old Crow Medicine Show, a band that Rolling Stone has described as the “torchbearers of traditional country music,” has recorded and performed with a who’s who of Americana and country royalty over the course of its career — from Bob Dylan, whose cast-off verses became the foundation of the song “Wagon Wheel,” to Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. But “Union Made,” the band’s ninth studio album, takes it to a new level for Old Crow Medicine Show.

Released ahead of the country’s 250th anniversary celebration, the album is as diverse as they come. Its opening track, “Howdy Do America,” is a pickin’-and-grinnin’, fiddle-and-banjo travelogue, joyful and fast. “Last American Waltz” is a slow dance hall waltz, dramatic and sentimental.

The guest list bears out that diversity: Ray Benson of Asleep at the Wheel turns up on “Lincoln Highway,” Molly Tuttle and bluegrass legends Del McCoury and Ronnie McCoury join on “My Side of the Mountain,” Turnpike Troubadours’ Evan Felker leads “Revolution Now,” and Maggie Rose and Lee Oskar guest on “Beautiful Land,” alongside Jesse Welles, John Carter Cash and Ana Cristina Cash elsewhere on the record.

hat’s funny is that we didn’t plan it that way,” founder and frontman Ketch Secor said. “We just set out to make an Old Crow record, and then everybody we asked to come sit in with us said yes. To me, it’s a testimony to a 28-year-old band, because it means that we have friends who are veteran country heroes of ours, like Ray Benson of Asleep at the Wheel, and largely new artists who are doing such inspiring work, like Jesse Welles.”

Old Crow Medicine Show with special guest Big Richard will perform Tuesday at Pikes Peak Center in Colorado Springs.

With more than two decades of performing, Secor doesn’t hesitate when asked what he’s learned about what works onstage.

“One thing that I figured out pretty early, and have stuck to as a performer, is to morph into the hometown band in any town and every town,” he said. “It means you have to know what the high school mascot is, the name of the river and the watershed, your county, and you’ve got to tease the governor. It’s a great act, and it comes to me pretty naturally because I tend to know a lot of facts about places.

“One of the things that makes this year special is that if you come see us live, you’ll see us with my co-founder of Old Crow Medicine Show, Willie Watson. Willie has spent the past 15 years out on his own making records and touring, but he is now back in Old Crow. People are getting to hear the sounds that we made 20 years ago.”

IF YOU GO

What: Old Crow Medicine Show with Big Richard

When: 8 p.m. Tuesday

Where: Pikes Peak Center, 190 S. Cascade Ave.

Price: Tickets start at $35; pikespeakcenter.com, axs.com