Lyric discussion by adoyle3 

Cover art for James River Blues lyrics by Old Crow Medicine Show

Industrialization taking people's jobs. Unemployment is an issue in contemporary America. Old Crow uses pre-WW 2 type songs to refer to today. The boat man losing his job due to the technical advancements is like Americans losing jobs to sweatshop labor or by lower wages/inflation.

Dude and friends lost job to railroad. He becomes a memory.

Theme: Labor