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Ketch Secor
Jay Ketcham Miller Secor (born May 14, 1978), known as Ketch Secor, is an American musician and a co-founder and current frontman for the band Old Crow Medicine Show. He is the only member of the band who has remained since its inception. Secor is a multi-instrumentalist, playing fiddle, banjo, harmonica, guitar and other instruments, and is known for infusing old-time Americana and Appalachian music with more modern punk influences.
Secor was born in Denville Township, New Jersey, to Trina and James Jay Secor III, an Episcopal school headmaster. He grew up in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Earlier generations of the Secor family had achieved success in banking and business in Toledo, Ohio, but lost much of their fortune in the stock market crash of 1929.
Secor attended New Hampshire's prestigious Phillips Exeter Academy, where he learned to play banjo and discovered the music of Jerry Garcia and Bob Dylan. His first musical instrument was a mouth harp purchased on a field trip when he was in the fourth grade. In the seventh grade, Secor met future bandmate Christopher "Critter" Fuqua. Secor and Fuqua began playing music together, performing open mics at the Little Grill diner in Harrisonburg, where they met Robert St. Ours, founder of The Hackensaw Boys. Secor and St. Ours joined to form the Route 11 Boys.
While traveling and busking with Fuqua, Secor met Old Crow Medicine Show co-founder Willie Watson in upstate New York. He met Kevin Hayes in Maine, where he worked raking blueberries. The newly formed group decided to call themselves "Old Crow Medicine Show" in honor of the traveling variety shows, or medicine shows, that roamed the American West in the 1800s. In 1998, the group recorded a 10-song album called Trans:mission and went on their first tour in October 1998, performing across Canada.
In 1999, Secor and his bandmates moved to Boone, North Carolina and settled in a rural barn with no running water, where they worked on their music (and learned to make corn whiskey). In 2000, the group were busking outside Boone Drug downtown on King Street when the daughter of folk-country legend Doc Watson heard them playing, and brought her father back to hear them. Doc invited them to play in his annual MerleFest music festival in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. The gig proved to be a big break for the band, resulting in an invitation to play at the Grand Ole Opry where they met and were mentored by Marty Stuart, and got the opportunity to open for Dolly Parton at the Ryman Auditorium.
Secor is known for co-writing Old Crow Medicine Show's biggest hit and signature song, "Wagon Wheel", which started as a short snippet recorded by Bob Dylan in 1973 called "Rock Me, Mama". It was extended by Secor to include new verses about feeling homesick for the south and hitchhiking his way home. Years later he and Dylan signed a co-writing agreement, agreeing to a 50–50 split in authorship. The final version of the song was released on their second album O.C.M.S. (2004), and was certified Gold in 2011 and Platinum in 2013 by the Recording Industry Association of America. The song has been covered many times, notably by Nathan Carter in 2012 and Darius Rucker in 2013, whose version hit #1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.
Secor joined the Railroad Revival Tour as part of Mumford & Sons and Friends in August 2025, appearing with Celisse, Lucius, Nathaniel Rateliff, Trombone Shorty, and others performing in New Orleans, Simpsonville SC, Richmond VA, and Burlington VT.
Released on July 11, 2025, Story the Crow Told Me was recorded at Hartland Studios. All its songs were written by Ketch Secor and Jody Stevens, who co-engineered. Secor sang and played fiddle, banjo, harmonica, bass, organ and spoons on the album. Critter Fuqua sat in on drums, adding harmony vocals with Molly Tuttle, Willie Watson, and Morgan Jahnig, who played double-bass. Marty Stuart added mandolin and guest vocals, Jaren Johnston & the Cadillac Three brought slide guitar and harmony vocals, and Eddy Dunlap played pedal steel and sang harmony. Jody Stevens performed on electric guitar, banjo, acoustic guitar and percussion.
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Ketch Secor
Jay Ketcham Miller Secor (born May 14, 1978), known as Ketch Secor, is an American musician and a co-founder and current frontman for the band Old Crow Medicine Show. He is the only member of the band who has remained since its inception. Secor is a multi-instrumentalist, playing fiddle, banjo, harmonica, guitar and other instruments, and is known for infusing old-time Americana and Appalachian music with more modern punk influences.
Secor was born in Denville Township, New Jersey, to Trina and James Jay Secor III, an Episcopal school headmaster. He grew up in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Earlier generations of the Secor family had achieved success in banking and business in Toledo, Ohio, but lost much of their fortune in the stock market crash of 1929.
Secor attended New Hampshire's prestigious Phillips Exeter Academy, where he learned to play banjo and discovered the music of Jerry Garcia and Bob Dylan. His first musical instrument was a mouth harp purchased on a field trip when he was in the fourth grade. In the seventh grade, Secor met future bandmate Christopher "Critter" Fuqua. Secor and Fuqua began playing music together, performing open mics at the Little Grill diner in Harrisonburg, where they met Robert St. Ours, founder of The Hackensaw Boys. Secor and St. Ours joined to form the Route 11 Boys.
While traveling and busking with Fuqua, Secor met Old Crow Medicine Show co-founder Willie Watson in upstate New York. He met Kevin Hayes in Maine, where he worked raking blueberries. The newly formed group decided to call themselves "Old Crow Medicine Show" in honor of the traveling variety shows, or medicine shows, that roamed the American West in the 1800s. In 1998, the group recorded a 10-song album called Trans:mission and went on their first tour in October 1998, performing across Canada.
In 1999, Secor and his bandmates moved to Boone, North Carolina and settled in a rural barn with no running water, where they worked on their music (and learned to make corn whiskey). In 2000, the group were busking outside Boone Drug downtown on King Street when the daughter of folk-country legend Doc Watson heard them playing, and brought her father back to hear them. Doc invited them to play in his annual MerleFest music festival in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. The gig proved to be a big break for the band, resulting in an invitation to play at the Grand Ole Opry where they met and were mentored by Marty Stuart, and got the opportunity to open for Dolly Parton at the Ryman Auditorium.
Secor is known for co-writing Old Crow Medicine Show's biggest hit and signature song, "Wagon Wheel", which started as a short snippet recorded by Bob Dylan in 1973 called "Rock Me, Mama". It was extended by Secor to include new verses about feeling homesick for the south and hitchhiking his way home. Years later he and Dylan signed a co-writing agreement, agreeing to a 50–50 split in authorship. The final version of the song was released on their second album O.C.M.S. (2004), and was certified Gold in 2011 and Platinum in 2013 by the Recording Industry Association of America. The song has been covered many times, notably by Nathan Carter in 2012 and Darius Rucker in 2013, whose version hit #1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.
Secor joined the Railroad Revival Tour as part of Mumford & Sons and Friends in August 2025, appearing with Celisse, Lucius, Nathaniel Rateliff, Trombone Shorty, and others performing in New Orleans, Simpsonville SC, Richmond VA, and Burlington VT.
Released on July 11, 2025, Story the Crow Told Me was recorded at Hartland Studios. All its songs were written by Ketch Secor and Jody Stevens, who co-engineered. Secor sang and played fiddle, banjo, harmonica, bass, organ and spoons on the album. Critter Fuqua sat in on drums, adding harmony vocals with Molly Tuttle, Willie Watson, and Morgan Jahnig, who played double-bass. Marty Stuart added mandolin and guest vocals, Jaren Johnston & the Cadillac Three brought slide guitar and harmony vocals, and Eddy Dunlap played pedal steel and sang harmony. Jody Stevens performed on electric guitar, banjo, acoustic guitar and percussion.
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