Wagon Wheel

“Wagon Wheel” is the eleventh track off of Americana string band Old Crow Medicine Show 2004’s self-titled album. Written by Bob Dylan and Ketch Secor from O.C.M.S, the track sold over 1 million certified units in the US, giving it platinum certification, as well as Gold in the US.

The gist of the song is the narrator describing a hitchhiking journey south along the eastern coast of the US, from New England in the northeast, through Roanoke, Virginia, with the final destination being Raleigh, North Carolina for the narrator to finally see his lover. The narrator also picks up a hitchhiker from Philadelphia to Tennessee. “Wagon Wheel” originally started with the chorus which was written by Bob Dylan in 1973 and was called “Rock Me Mama”. The track was never finished. Keth Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show wrote the verses around the chorus in 2003, creating “Wagon Wheel”.

The music video was uploaded by their label’s YouTube channel “NettwerkMusic” in September 2006. As of today, it has almost 48 million views. The music video takes place in a fair ground with women singing around the band. The band do move into a dimly lit room and carry on playing the song throughout, with them performing to a much larger crowd than they initially started with.

Read the lyrics to “Wagon Wheel” here.

*All information accurate at the time of publishing.