One-ring circus – Arts, news and events for the Seacoast | The Sound | Portsmouth, NH

Self-described as “bloody folk,” Bitter Pill plays a dark and anachronistic combination of Country, Psychobilly, Bluegrass, and Vaudeville. They just released their first album,“Prepare Your Throats,” a collection of traditional and original songs from the soundtrack of their staging of William Shakespeare’s violent, bloody, grotesquely ridiculous abomination of a play, “Titus Andronicus.” Bitter Pill is a family affair featuring Emily Butler on vocals and her dad, Billy Butler, on cello; along with Mike McKay on banjo/mandolin, Michael Wingate Seavey and/or Jon McCormack on acoustic guitar, and a rotating roster of singers, circusers, actors, and awkwards. “Exhilarated. Stimulated." NHPR "Prepare Your Throats is intriguing, creative, humorous, raw and not all that wholesome. Two mighty severed thumbs up.” Modspoke.com “There’s a lot to love about this record.” Chris Hislop