Mike Paquet and Texas Medicine

Texas Medicine does what no other band is doing today: It plays original songs that cut straight to the heart of American consciousness. Mike Paquet's lyrics call to mind the associative symbolism of Arthur Rimbaud and Bob Dylan, and his music cuts a broad swath through the history of American song, from ragtime to jazz to blues to folk to gospel to rock to electronica to avant-garde classical. The boldly acoustic instrumentation of piano, cello, violin, acoustic guitar, double bass, mandolin, harmonica, glockenspiel, and tambourine is a breath of fresh air in the midst of countless electric guitar bands, and recall earlier, gentler periods in American history. But the performances and the songs themselves are anything but old-fashioned; they challenge the very fabric that American society tucks itself under every night.