Watch Old Crow Medicine Show perform a socially distant "U.N. Medicine Man"

There’s a grand tradition in country music: You take what’s topical—heartbreak, disease, booze, love, whatever—and you make a song about it. Woody Guthrie sang about the dust bowl and The Depression. Jimmie Rogers sang about Tuberculosis. Tammy Wynette sang about her “D-I-V-O-R-C-E.” And now, Old Crow Medicine Show is singing about COVID-19.

In this week’s show, OCMS let us in to its Nashville studio—remotely, of course. Over the course of a mini-set, the group take on everything from the current pandemic to the plight of its city after a tornado struck earlier this year. The track above, “U.N. Medicine Man,” is about the former, told from the titular narrator. As OCMS frontman Ketch Secor sings in the track, the medicine man’s “got a job to do, got a mountain to move / but it’s an uphill climb.”

If you’re itching for more from Old Crow Medicine Show—including an interview—you can watch the group’s full session on our Instagram stories, Facebook page, and YouTube channel. It’ll arrive here on the site in its entirety tomorrow night.

If you’re anxious to see more installments, we’ve got you covered: Each Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET, a new edition of House Shows will live-stream on The A.V. Club’s Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube pages. Stay tuned for more great performances from some of our favorite artists, straight from their homes. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, and subscribe to us on YouTube to be among the first to enjoy the shows.