You’ve heard it at every wedding, every dive bar, and probably every campfire since 2004. The fiddle kicks in, the crowd roars, and everyone starts shouting about a "wagon wheel." But if you look at the writing credits for that ubiquitous anthem, you’ll see a name that feels a little out of place next to a modern string band: Bob Dylan.
The story of bob dylan momma rock me—or "Rock Me, Mama" as the bootlegs call it—isn't just a bit of music trivia. It is a decades-long game of creative telephone.
Most people think Darius Rucker wrote it. He didn't. Some think Old Crow Medicine Show wrote it. They... mostly did. But the "soul" of the song, that soaring chorus that stays stuck in your head for three days, came from a discarded, mumbling scrap of a tape recorded by Bob Dylan in 1973.
The 1973 Secret: What Happened in Burbank?
In February 1973, Dylan was in a weird spot. He was in Burbank, California, working on the soundtrack for Sam Peckinpah’s film Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. This is the same session that gave us "Knockin' on Heaven's Door," a song that defined a generation. But while he was busy crafting masterpieces, he was also messing around.
Dylan recorded a rough outtake. It was basically a sketch.
On the tape, you can hear Dylan strumming and half-singing, half-mumbling lyrics that weren't even finished. He had the melody. He had the hook. He sang: "So rock me momma like a wagon wheel / Rock me momma any way you feel / Hey, momma rock me." Then he stopped.
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He never finished the verses. He never put it on the album. It was a "throwaway" track that likely would have stayed in a cardboard box forever if it wasn't for the obsessive world of Dylan bootleggers. These guys trade tapes like they're gold bars. One of those tapes made its way to a high school kid in New Hampshire named Ketch Secor.
How a Teenager "Co-Wrote" with a Legend
Ketch Secor, the co-founder of Old Crow Medicine Show, wasn't just a fan; he was a Dylan scholar. When he was about 17, his friend Chris "Critter" Fuqua brought back a bootleg from London. On that tape was the bob dylan momma rock me fragment.
Secor was floored. He couldn't believe Dylan had just left it there.
"I heard it and I knew it was going to be a great song," Secor said later. "It just needed a little bit of doctoring it up."
Basically, he did what any bold teenager would do: he finished it. Secor wrote verses about hitchhiking down the East Coast, heading south from New England to North Carolina, and dreaming of Roanoke. He took Dylan’s "mumbled" energy and turned it into a narrative of the American road.
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It took another 25 years for the song to actually become "Wagon Wheel." When Old Crow Medicine Show finally wanted to release it on their 2004 self-titled album, they had to deal with the legal reality of using a Dylan chorus.
Is Bob Dylan Actually the Original Writer?
Here is where it gets murky. Honestly, if you ask Dylan, he might not even claim full ownership. When Secor reached out to clear the rights, the story goes that Dylan was incredibly cool about it.
Dylan acknowledged that he didn't "invent" the phrase.
In the folk and blues tradition, "rocking" was a common trope. Dylan pointed back to Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup, a bluesman who recorded a song called "Rock Me Mama" in 1944. And if you ask Crudup’s ghost? He’d probably point you toward Big Bill Broonzy, who was singing variations of those lyrics in the late 1920s.
Folk music is basically a recycling center. Dylan took a blues phrase, gave it a mid-tempo folk-rock melody, abandoned it, and then a kid from the 90s finished the story.
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Why the Song Exploded (Twice)
The Old Crow Medicine Show version is the "gold standard" for Americana fans. It’s raw. It’s fast. But it didn't become a massive, world-conquering pop-country hit until Darius Rucker covered it in 2013.
Rucker first heard the song at his daughter’s school. The faculty band was playing it. He loved the "vibe" but didn't realize the Dylan connection until he went to record it. His version went Diamond—selling over 10 million copies.
Think about that. A scrap of a song Dylan didn't think was good enough for a soundtrack in 1973 ended up becoming one of the best-selling country songs of all time.
The Evolution of the Track
- 1920s-1940s: Bluesmen like Big Bill Broonzy and Arthur Crudup use the "Rock me mama" refrain in various records.
- 1973: Bob Dylan records the "Rock Me, Mama" demo during the Pat Garrett sessions. He discards it.
- 1990s: Ketch Secor hears the bootleg and writes the verses for what becomes "Wagon Wheel."
- 2004: Old Crow Medicine Show releases the song. It becomes an Americana anthem.
- 2013: Darius Rucker releases a polished country version, winning a Grammy and dominating the charts.
What You Should Do Next
If you want to experience the "real" history of bob dylan momma rock me, don't just stick to the radio version.
Go find the original 1973 bootleg. It’s easy to find on YouTube or Dylan archive sites. It’s barely a minute long, and it’s fascinating to hear how much of the "hit" was already there in Dylan’s lazy, rhythmic mumbling.
After that, listen to Arthur Crudup's 1944 version. You’ll hear a completely different song—faster, bluesier, and more aggressive—but you’ll catch that one line that caught Dylan’s ear. It’s a masterclass in how American music actually works. We don't just write songs; we inherit them.
Check out the rest of the Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid outtakes while you're at it. There are other gems like "Sweet Amarillo" that followed a similar path, proving that Dylan’s "trash" is often better than most people's "treasure."