"The old weird America" is how critic Greil Marcus described the national canon of blues and folk song that is lovingly explored here by a founder of the Old Crow Medicine Show turned solo. Willie Watson's voice is remarkable. Eerie and quavering on Midnight Special, soulful on James Alley Blues, a prairie whoop on Mexican Cowboy, he sounds like he's fallen through a portal from a century ago. Watson's banjo and guitar playing is expert but understated, and he and producer David Rawlings allow the songs – by turns bleak, bawdy and surreal – to cast their antique spell. A stark but engaging set.