Old Crow Medicine Show co-founders Critter Fuqua and Ketch Secor (l-r)

Following their New Year’s Eve gig at Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium, Old Crow Medicine Show have announced the departure of co-founder/multi-instrumentalist Critter Fuqua.

“Leaving Old Crow is one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make,” Fuqua said in an official statement. “These men that I’ve played with for 21 years are not only band mates but dear, dear friends, brothers in arms. Old Crow is more than a band, it’s a spiritual being with many entities that have flowed through it since its inception in 1998. It’s my path that I flow out again, but all the folks that have played with Old Crow, worked with Old Crow, managed Old Crow, booked Old Crow, and loved Old Crow will always be family. Family is eternal.”

During his time with Old Crow, Fuqua provided slide guitar, banjo, guitar and vocals to four albums and countless live performances, including the Ryman gig which acted as a send-off for the veteran performer.

Highlights included “Auld Lang Syne” – bookended by “Will The Circle Be Unbroken?” and “Wagon Wheel” as well as a show-closing cover of Tom Petty’s “American Girl.” The entire show was broadcast live on SiriusXM’s Outlaw Country channel.

“From the earliest days of this band, Critter and I were playing street corners anywhere that we could get to in a car, and it was really limitless,” co-founder Ketch Secor told Relix in 2014.

Watch Old Crow Medicine Show’s countdown to Midnight (via YouTuber Kimberly Lord) below: