Big Medicine (Special Event)

BIG MEDICINE plays string band music of the rural South: old-time melodies and mountain harmonies, ancient ballads and archaic fiddle tunes, heart songs, hollers, hymns, and a hint of early bluegrass?it?s music with remarkable power, nuance, and timeless appeal, a balm for the modern maladies of the soul.MEMBERS OF THE BAND include some of this music's most respected contemporary players: Jim Collier (mandolin, guitar, fiddle, and vocals), LaNelle Davis (bass, guitar, and vocals), Kenny Jackson (fiddle, guitar, banjo, and vocals), and Joe Newberry (banjo, fiddle, guitar, and vocals). THESE FOLKS have diligently learned by ear and by heart at the wellspring of old-time music, from elder masters, relatives and friends, field recordings, and old 78 rpm records of so-called 'hillbilly' music--yet their music comes out sounding like nobody but Big Medicine. And they've no qualms about now and then setting more recently-composed material in an old-time style or making up a lyric or tune that grows from their deeply rooted sense of traditional music.In keeping with the best traditions of Southern string band music, the combination of their instrumental talents, considerable as they are individually, add up to a whole that's greater than the sum.

--John Lupton, Sing Out!