"Wagon Wheel" is a song co-written by Bob Dylan, and Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show.

Old Crow Medicine Show's final version was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America in April 2013.

The song has been covered numerous times, including charting versions by Nathan Carter in 2012, Darius Rucker in 2013 [3] and Nathan Evans in 2022 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 narrator hopes to see his lover.

As the narrator is walking south of Roanoke, he meets a trucker who is traveling from Philadelphia through Virginia westward toward the Cumberland Gap and Johnson City, Tennessee.

Old Crow Medicine Show's version of the song is in swing 2/4 time signature, with an approximate tempo of 76 half notes per minute.

The melody for the song and the lyrics to the chorus come from a demo titled "Rock Me, Mama" that was originally written and recorded by Bob Dylan during the Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid sessions in February 1973.

Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show wrote verses for the song around Dylan's original chorus and melody.

[8][9] Chris "Critter" Fuqua, Secor's school friend and future bandmate, first brought home a Bob Dylan bootleg from a family trip to London containing the rough outtake called "Rock Me, Mama".

[10] Not "so much a song as a sketch, crudely recorded featuring most prominently a stomping boot, the candy-coated chorus and a mumbled verse that was hard to make out",[11] the tune kept going through Secor's mind.

A few months later, while attending Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire and "feeling homesick for the South," he added verses about "hitchhiking his way home full of romantic notions Beat poets and, most of all, Dylan."

Secor's verses tell "the story of a man who travels from New England, through Philadelphia, and Roanoke, down the eastern coast of the United States, ending up in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he hopes to see his lover.

in (2004), he discovered Dylan credited the phrase "Rock me, mama" to bluesman Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup, who recorded a song with this title in 1944.

"[13] Secor and Dylan signed a co-writing agreement, and share copyright[15] on the song; agreeing to a "50-50 split in authorship.

"[16] When Secor discovered the famous singer-songwriter was willing to publish the song with Old Crow, he, like earlier claimed originators, disavowed authorship:[17] (Dylan) said ‘I didn’t write that; Arthur Crudup did.’ Arthur Crudup said, ‘I didn’t write that; [Big] Bill Broonzy wrote that.’ Bill’s first recording of the derivative of ‘Rock Me Mama’ is around 1928.

This "catchy country-infused sing-along" has "taken on the status of 'Free Bird'"—"in that it has become a bar room staple that drunks love to loudly request at every show, regardless of who the band is".

'"[22] Lately, it's been open season on "Wagon Wheel," which has become the acoustic musician's "Freebird," one of the very few songs that people actually know well enough to find it funny to request.

"This song was great when Dylan wrote it and Old Crow played it, but once Darius Rucker flooded the airwaves with his version, all hope was lost," Cranford said.

It was the biggest commercial success of any Country and Irish release in 2012 and considered a crossover hit in the mainstream pop charts.

"[34] Rucker had been introduced to Fuqua's source for Dylan's outtake years prior: "I got turned onto the Pat Garrett soundtrack when I worked retail back in the day.

His group Hootie and the Blowfish's 1995 hit single "Only Wanna Be With You" quotes an entire verse from Dylan's 1975 song "Idiot Wind".

Like 'House of the Rising Sun' or 'Good Night, Irene,' it's now a pop song with a long back story that tantalizingly trickles out before you reach the wellspring.

"[4] Rucker's version was nominated as Single of the Year for the 47th Country Music Association Awards along with Florida Georgia Line ("Cruise"), Tim McGraw with Taylor Swift and Keith Urban ("Highway Don't Care"), Miranda Lambert ("Mama's Broken Heart") and Kacey Musgraves ("Merry Go 'Round").

Other nominees up for the same award were Lee Brice for "I Drive Your Truck", Hunter Hayes for "I Want Crazy", Miranda Lambert for "Mama's Broken Heart" and Blake Shelton for "Mine Would Be You".

[44] Rucker released a music video of the song on March 21, 2013, which features Si, Jase, Sadie, Korie and Willie Robertson of the television show Duck Dynasty, along with Charles Kelley and Hillary Scott of Lady A.

The scene then cuts to Rucker hitch-hiking with a guitar case, walking alongside a railroad track, while he briefly looks at a photograph of his girlfriend/wife.

[46] As Rucker walks through the city, he is spotted by Charles Kelley and Hillary Scott driving in a 1960 Buick convertible,[47] who take him to the country bar where he is scheduled to play.

The scene then returns to the beginning, where Duck Dynasty is playing on TV and Rucker wakes up as his alarm clock goes off, then walks up to the Robertsons and greets them, saying "I just had a crazy dream, I'll see you all after the show.

[69] Senator and 2016 Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine played the song on harmonica with local act Nikki Talley and Jason Sharp at the Catawba Brewing Company in Asheville, North Carolina on August 15, 2016.

[73][74] In 2023, English football team Leyton Orient secured promotion to SkyBet League One, and "Wagon Wheel" became the unofficial song of their season.

The song was played prior to the club’s title-winning game versus Crewe Alexandra, and announcer Barry Galvin sang it in the changing rooms after the side secured the title victory.