The Old-Time Pharmaceuticals are your pan-Celtic provisioners of recreational and therapeutic folk music, delivered with the irreverent energy of a jam session in your kitchen. Whether their musical medicinals are bringing laughter, tears, or the occasional goosebump, you’ll have the chance to join in and sing along—and you just might feel better for it.
For fans of Pete Seeger, the Carter Family, the Clancy Brothers, Stan Rogers, and other standard-bearers of storytelling, participatory folk music, the Old-Time Pharmaceuticals will be a delightful kick in the pants.
MUSIC
We’ll be releasing several singles in 2026; we could use more music this year, especially songs that bring empathy and hope! As a start, here’s “Praise for the Life Returning,” a spring hymn featuring lead vocals by our friend Hana Zara.
https://old-timepharmaceuticals.bandcamp.com/track/praise-for-the-life-returning-feat-hana-zara
The second Old-Time Pharmaceuticals album, Sing a Little Too Loud and Long, is now out in the world, and you can enjoy it on all your favorite streaming platforms! If you’re old-fashioned (beyond liking traditional-sounding folk music, that is), you can also support the music by getting a physical CD from https://old-timepharmaceuticals.bandcamp.com/album/sing-a-little-too-loud-and-long.
The debut Old-Time Pharmaceuticals album, Roots & Honey, is also available!
If you’d like to support the band by buying a digital copy of the album, we’d recommend going through our Bandcamp page. You can get the album pretty much anywhere, though!
By the way, all Old-Time Pharmaceuticals songs are released under a Creative Commons non-commercial, attribution, share-alike 4.0 international license. You can read more about what that means here, but from our perspective, if nobody’s making money from the performance OR if all the money you’re raising goes toward a non-profit charity, you’re more than welcome to publicly perform our songs as long as you mention who wrote ‘em. In situations like that, you don’t even need special permission from us; permission is already included in the Creative Commons license. (We’d love to hear if you’re singing an Old-Time Pharmaceuticals song at your church or charity fundraiser, though, so if you have the time, send us an email and let us know! It’d make us very happy.)
PERFORMANCES
2026 shows coming soon!
PRESS & AWARDS
“You know, sometimes the humidity of the world takes its toll. But Roots & Honey somehow fans the sweat.”
-Bill Golembeski, Folking.com (https://folking.com/old-time-pharmaceuticals-roots-honey-own-label/)
“This [‘Joan and Victor Jara’] is one of the all-time wonderful folk songs.” – Darryl Purpose, The Folk Show, KRFC
“I was hard-pressed not to assume it [‘The Rose of Ben Nishaere’] to be one of the many traditional/arranged by songs so often found on folk records. It’s that good.” – Bill Golembeski, Folking.com
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“Sing a Little Too Loud and Long,” Finalist, Bluegrass Song of the Year, New Mexico Music Awards 2025
“The Sidheóg,” Finalist, Folk Song of the Year, New Mexico Music Awards 2025
“‘Til the Cock Crows” – Finalist, Folk/Americana Category, Great American Song Contest 2023
“Joan and Victor Jara” – Finalist, Folk Category, UK Songwriting Contest 2020; Finalist, Folk/Americana Category, Great American Song Contest 2013; Camp Ned Song of the Year, 2015
“Lullaby of the Sky” – Finalist, Special Category Music (Children’s), Great American Song Contest 2017
“The Rose of Ben Nishaere” – Outstanding Achievement in Songwriting, Folk/Americana Category, Great American Song Contest 2016; Semi-Finalist, World Music Category, UK Songwriting Contest 2020
“In the Dark Missouri’s Mud” – Winner, 2014 Santa Fe Bluegrass and Old-Time Music Festival Songwriting Competition; Finalist, Folk/Americana Category, Great American Song Contest 2014
ABOUT
The Old-Time Pharmaceuticals has a very flexible ingredient list, with friends joining in for different times and different projects. Our motive is simple and informal: we want to make our lives, and yours, a little better by sharing music.
Across our recordings, you can find the musical handiwork of
Abby Nayra
Colleen Crosson
Dexter Payne
Don Richmond
Doug Adamz
Emma Sloniker
Jeff Bruner
Jim Carlile
Hana Zara
Nancy Dunn
Pat DeSimio
Spencer Taylor
Stephanie Hanusa
For the most part, the band records songs by Pat DeSimio, who fell in love with traditional songs as a kid and wants the world to have more of them. Pat lives and writes in Las Cruces, New Mexico, with the artist Lea Wise-Surguy (to whom he’s married), entirely too many books, and one kiddo.
CONTACT
We’d love to hear from you! The best way to reach us is by email to oldtimepharmaceuticals@gmail.com.
Old-Time Pharmaceuticals 