“Wagon Wheel” is a song originally sketched by Bob Dylan and later completed by Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show.[2] Old Crow Medicine Show’s version was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America in April 2013.[3] The song has also been covered by blues artist Matt Andersen and Against Me! in 2005, Jeremy McComb in 2007, Chris Pureka in 2008, Northern Irish singer Nathan Carter in 2012, and by Darius Rucker and Mumford & Sons in 2013.

The song describes a hitchhiking journey south along the eastern coast of the United States, from New England in the northeast, through Roanoke, Virginia with the intended destination of Raleigh, North Carolina, where the protagonist hopes to see his lover. Along the way, he shares a smoke with a trucker who is traveling from Philadelphia through Virginia westward toward the Cumberland Gap and Johnson City, Tennessee. It is not clear from the lyrics whether the protagonist traveled with the trucker from Philly to Roanoke before parting ways to head south into North Carolina, or whether he simply crossed paths with the trucker outside of Roanoke.

Darius Rucker version: Darius Rucker joined Old Crow Medicine Show at the Grand Ole Opry July 6, 2012, “for a special rendition of ‘Wagon Wheel.’” The fans “went crazy over Rucker’s cover of the Old Crow Medicine Show hit,” setting the stage for his tweeted announcement: “Secret out after @opry perf. I recorded a version of ‘Wagon Wheel’ for my new record & @ladyantebellum sings on track.” The new album, True Believers, is his third solo project on Capitol Records.[7] Rucker’s cover is the album’s second single.