Las Cruces band’s debut album moving up the charts

“Roots & Honey,” the debut album from Las Cruces band Old-Time Pharmaceuticals, has charted with Folk Alliance International (www.folkradio.org/chart/july-2020/#albums), reaching #43 on the 70-slot chart for July 2020 and keeping company with folk stars Indigo Girls (#49, tie), Gillian Welch (#49, tie) and Yo-Yo Ma (#55), the band said in a news release.

 The Old-Time Pharmaceuticals is comprised of Abby Nayra (vocals, banjo, harp) and Pat DeSimio (vocals, guitar). “Roots & Honey” features 11 original songs “which sound more like the timeless, anonymous folk songs that have circulated for centuries,” the news release said.

“The goal is for the songs to sound like they sprung up, fully formed, from the dirt,” said DeSimio, the band’s songwriter.

The news release quoted Folking.com reviewer Bill Golembeski about the opening track of “Roots and Honey.”

“I was hard-pressed not to assume it to be one of the many traditional/arranged by songs so often found on folk records,” Golembeski said. “It’s that good” (www.folking.com/old-time-pharmaceuticals-roots-honey-own-label/).

“This is one of the all-time wonderful folk songs,” songwriter Daryl Purpose said in the news release about the album track, “Joan and Victor Jara.” Purpose’s two most recent albums have topped the Roots Music Report chart, the news release said.

As Nayra and DeSimio “look forward to performing more around Las Cruces when the pandemic abates,” “Roots & Honey” is available for free streaming at www.soundcloud.com/patrick-desimio and available for digital download through multiple sites, including Apple Music and Amazon. The physical album is available through the band’s website, www.oldtimepharmaceuticals.com.

For more information, email oldtimepharmaceuticals@gmail.com.