Medicinal Purpose

Medicinal Purpose grew out of a Pennsylvania workshop on accompanying contradances. Since then, the quintet has played an ever-widening range of dances in the mid-Atlantic region, as well as concerts, festivals, and other settings.

The Band

• Ryck Kaiser on fiddle --Ryck is a fiddler and songwriter, originally from Chambersburg, PA. In addition to his interest in old-time fiddle styles, Ryck has also been learning a large body of Cajun material, and still finds time to moonlight with a community orchestra in Harrisburg, PA.

• Henry Koretzky on mandolin and hammered dulcimer --In addition to playing with MEDICINAL PURPOSE, Henry also performs in the bluegrass quintet Sweetwater Reunion and the klezmer ensemble the Old World Folk Band, playing guitar and mandolin.

• Carol Whitfield on banjo and concertina --Carol brings the old-time clawhammer and plectrum banjo (in the old-timey style) to the band, and she is also a talented concertina player. Somehow, she also finds time to be a percussionist in a symphony orchestra and to be a medical school biochemistry professor in Hershey, PA.

• Jamie O'Brien on guitar --Jamie is a fine guitarist and singer, born in England, who bounced around with his family through Germany and France before settling in cosmopolitan Carlisle, PA. Jamie is also a freelance writer, with special interests in music (of course) and English football (he refuses to call it soccer).

• Bruce Campbell on bass --Bruce is a talented bassist, with freelance experience in bluegrass, jazz, blues, and rock, as well as old-time music. A gifted singer as well, Bruce has also launched a second (third? fourth?) career as a sound engineer.

Recordings

Their first album is UNCORKED!, out on cassette; it's a healthy dose of reels, jigs, waltzes, and more.

Here's one of many favorable reviews: "Their treatment of Southern tunes, such as the first set, "Puncheon Floor"/"Forked Deer," has more bounce than you generally hear within the festival sound of a band like the Boiled Buzzards. Instead of focusing primarily on the rhythmic features of the tune, Medicinal Purpose explores the melody. Led by the fiddling of Ryck Kaiser, the band has the capability to adjust instrumentation to the needs of a particular tune...This is darn good contradance music played with an uncommon sense of arrangement and instrumentation." -DIRTY LINEN #60 (October-November 1995)

Call Ryck at 717/957-4387 or e-mail Henry.