Ketch Secor, Old Crow front man, visits MNPS summer music clinic

Award-winning musician and Old Crow Medicine Show bandleader, Ketch Secor, made a special guest-appearance at two Metro Nashville Public Schools on June 2, 2021. Music students at the district’s orchestra and band clinics watched Secor perform and asked questions about his life and career in music.  

Roughly 75 string and orchestra students at John Overton High School and nearly 200 band students at Nashville School of the Arts attended the events, concurrently. Representing more than 20 middle and high schools, MNPS students were mere feet away from the charismatic country and folk musician. 

Secor sang and played the fiddle, banjo, guitar, and harmonica for students while interjecting with educational moments, such as lessons on the history of the banjo and music theory exploration of rhythm and melody. He also played his song “Nashville Rising” – a poetic and commemorative piece dedicated to remembering the devastation and community response from March 3, 2020 when tornadoes or, “wildcat winds”, touched down in Middle Tennessee.  

Secor ended the afternoon with his most popular original song, “Wagon Wheel”, where students clapped and sang along before departing back to their workshops for the day. 

In an intimate meet-and-greet with two string students, Ketch Secor stressed the importance of music as an essential part of an education and encouraged students to continue practicing, writing, and enjoying music.  

He told the young girls, in regard to their clinic experience, “Soak it up. Don’t miss anything.” 

PENCIL, through personal and professional partnerships, was able to connect Mr. Secor with MNPS Performing Arts Coordinator, Sarah Robinson, who then organized the event. This example of high-quality community involvement and multi-organizational collaboration is ideal for PENCIL, MNPS, Nashville at-large, and, most importantly, our students.