The ETSU Medicine Show - for ASA 2026

Notes on the ETSU Medicine Show

Artistic Director, Ante Ursić, musical director, Lee Bidgood. 

First tour was in northeast Tennessee in summer 2025 –  supported in grants from the ETSU Mary B. Martin School of the Arts and the East Tennessee Foundation.  The project was also informed by an ETSU class in Fall 2024 co-taught by the directors. 

The film “Free Show Tonite” (Wagner and Zeitlin 1983)  is a key inspiration for the ETSU Medicine show. Project organizers worked with tradition-bearing performers of the medicine show era to recreate a medicine in rural North Carolina in the early 1980s--actively pointing out and bracketing racism and other corrosive elements in the older shows and seeking to celebrate constructive parts of the Show. 

 

Bibliography

Hughes, Sakina M. 2025. Music, Muscle, and Masterful Arts: Black and Indigenous Performers of the Circus Age. UNC Press. 

... speak or teach at your event/institution

I have given talks about my work at universities, cultural centers, music festivals, etc.  I have also given talks about bluegrass history, Appalachian music, string band music in general, the mandolin orchestra, and all sorts of things related to the Czech Republic. 

I am also an experienced teacher in musical styles ranging from baroque music to bluegrass and old time music.  I have conducted workshops with university strings students, youth, and with general audiences at music festivals. 

I can also help you coordinate an event that would include teaching, a workshop, a performance, a screening of the Banjo Romantika film, etc.

... carry out fieldwork / field production for your project.

 

I am equipped to capture audio and video for documentary projects / ethnographic research.  I have extensive interview experience, and have done a lot of work recording musical performances in all sorts of settings.  When pressed, I can edit video as well.

Recent audio work includes field production for a National Public Radio story: Che Apalache Hopes To Open Minds And Ears With Their Latin Bluegrass Fusion, broadcast August 14, 2018..

I shot and edited a promotional video for the 2017 Upper East Tennessee fiddlers' Convention.

I shot and edited a seminar by the Earls of Leicester at ETSU in 2016.

... play solo or with a small group for your event.

 I can provide solo sounds (fiddle tunes, classical and baroque music, etc.) on fiddle/violin, viola, viola da gamba, guitar, mandolin, etc.  I work with several small groups in a variety of styles and can help you discern what sounds would fit your event best.  I have decades of experience playing weddings.

I often perform in a duo with my wife Emily, providing tight vocal harmonies and in-the-pocket instrumentals - you can hear more samples at our ReverbNation page.

... perform with the The Banjo Romantika Band Project

Lee carries on the work of the Banjo Romantika film through his performances with the Banjo Romantika Band.  The group features Lee as well as Richard Ciferský, an outstanding Slovak banjoist who is also featured in the film.  We perform a range of material, including bluegrass and old time songs and tunes , original compositions by Richard, bluegrass songs translated into Czech, as well as Lee's songs that reflect on the cultural intersections of this project.

Recent developments in the band include collaboration with Iranian Kurdish guitarist and singer Sasan Ahovan. We completed our first US tour in TN and NC in Spring 2018 and a residency at UNC-Chapel Hill.  We are currently booking dates in Europe for the 2018-19 school year.

 

Banjo Romantika Soundtrack

various

A cavalcade of bluegrass and bluegrass-related sounds, in Czech, English, and instrumental form. Features performances and interview material from the film, tracks from participants in the film that didn't fit into the Read more

A cavalcade of bluegrass and bluegrass-related sounds, in Czech, English, and instrumental form. Features performances and interview material from the film, tracks from participants in the film that didn't fit into the finished version, as well as some new material from Czech artists. The tracks here are selections by the Banjo Romantika Band and Richard Ciferský.

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    Top of the Tree 3:29
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    Zátoka 3:32
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    Bluegrass / Tennessee 4:12
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    Bluegrass / Tennessee (English) 3:41
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    When the Grasses Grow So Well 3:04
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