Big Medicine: press

Our Sonicbids electronic press kit (EPK) is available online, complete with band profile, sound clips, reviews, sample set list, stage requirements, calendar, and photos (low res—for high-res photos, see below). You can view it entirely online, and you can also select a printable version.

These guys were all from the Raleigh/Durham area and you don't know what a great band you've got.  Boy, if we imported these people off to Minnesota, they would be enormous stars, they'd be driving around in black limos and they'd be heroes. They're just a great band - I love this band called Big Medicine.

So many old-time bands are content with finding obscure fiddle tunes and filling up recordings with track after track of the same old thing. Big Medicine is more interested in playing music from many different sources and isn't afraid to travel new roads once in a while in order to find a great tune. It all sounds simply wonderful.

Big Medicine, out of North Carolina, plays old-time like a bluegrass band, or maybe its bluegrass like an old-time band. They can't be pigeon-holed. The album has 20 cuts of the finest traditional hillbilly music you'll ever hear. Between four members they play guitar, fiddle, mandolin, banjo and bass. The singing is not the polished and buttery smooth saccharine we've come to expect from contemporary bluegrass. It has grit and believability, and is sometimes moving. The band constantly trades around the instruments, yet maintains a solid sound. Their music is definitely in the traditional old-time vein, but they bring each piece to life as though it is their own original creation. And they do rock! I judge a CD by the number of times it raises the hair on the back of my neck. Hair-raisers on this one include the Carter Family's "Bear Creek Blues", which has some wonderful guitar playing. My oh my.. And their "Wild Bill Jones" is the hottest, and fastest, I've heard yet. I've been buckdancing to it in my underwear every morning this week! They sing a gospel song from Wade Mainer called "Sit Down" that will have you standing up and shoutin' along. They sing "Pretty Little Miss Out In The Garden" in a very Stanley Brothers-esque way. The fiddle tunes will make your fat jiggle, I said so. They get a nice variety on the vocals, with lots of harmony singing. In fact the whole dang collection is great, lots of variety and nice surprises. As the liner notes state, "It is music that can move the heart, lift the spirits, make you cry, or tickle your feet." I give Big Medicine 5-1/2 stars out of 5 stars.

"Great songs, delivery, harmonies, and stage presence. You all are entertainers, something that's all too rare in the old-time community."

"Big Medicine runs the fault line between old- time and bluegrass but also manages to make some highly creative statements that sound as if they came from deep in the tradition.This band is an example of experienced players who have learned the music, its shapes, colors, and forms, and, not being content to just play it, have taken these shapes and colors to form their own music within the genre...Big Medicine is an all-around band. They nail the fiddle tunes, they sing and play a wide range of songs, and do it all equally well."

Their competent musicianship and obvious love and respect of old time music shines through on every cut. This band has the capability of opening new musical doors to folks who may be unfamiliar with traditional southern rural music.

"Too Old to Be Controlled radiates good times and the joy of sharing music for no other reason than the sheer fun of it."