Chuck Lipsig of Green ManReview praised the previously unreleased song “Lovely Joan” as "one of the most intensely sensual, almost erotic, renditions I’ve heard of any traditional tune." AllMusic's Chip Renner noted that Old Leadshows a progression from the rawsound ofBoiled in Lead's first album to the more polished sound of its second. Tim Walters of the guide MusicHound Folk stated that while the material on Old Lead is "less technically adept than their later releases," the band's "energy and inventiveness" are apparent.