Born from the crevices of the Petaluma Stock-Yard, gypsy-grass folk kids take on the form of mellow steer by night and wary-spook musicians by day. While Medicine Shows traveled the frontiers commercializing general goods and magic tonics, The Erstwhile Medicine Show performs the street corners to enlighten the masses with songs of their own deviation and creation to inspire Godliness in all who hear. Ability to fashion their sound to the listener’s liking makes the Erstwhiles a pleasant if not alarming presence with their unabashed and keen wit with words. New Orleans Funeral Marches to Alabama Hoe-Downs and Klezmer Gypsy jigs, the Erstwhiles will cure all your ails.
Will Elias:
Born in a shack in Arkansas with only a guitar and a mare, Will Elias has the appetite for talent and rare meat.
Mark Tomasek:
The Irish Ghetto of New York’s South-Central has done Mark the talent to sway the stand-up bass and to deny the bottle with austerity.
Nick Jacobs: Guitar, Viola
Born in France’s high-society, Nick Jacobs, viola player for the rich, ran away from home and stowed away on Le Chat Noir to the United States and traveled the wide frontier learning the looks and sounds of the four-string’d guitar.
Andrea Noel:
The Soviet Union’s strife gave the devotchka the discipline needed to debase the classically-trained violin to the harsh, grating, heathenish fiddle. Jumping the Berlin Wall, she avoided trouble by creating devilish rhythm on the washboard.
