Short Press Bio
Too Sick Charlie is a one-man band roots revival,channeling the raw spirit of folk blues with a cigar box guitar, a stomp, harp, and a voice steeped in soul. Blending grit, groove, and heart, he brings handmade authenticity to modern roots music-proof that the blues is alive, well, and still raising a little hell.
Too Sick Charlie (Eric Heiligenstein, M.D.) plays the cigar box guitar, a once forgotten instrument of American blues and roots music. His music has been described as traditional Upper Midwestern cigar box guitar blues.
Too Sick was born in a Nassau blue Chevy Bel Air that was being used as a beagle pen on the outskirts of Belleville, Illinois. He performed on the Mississippi River Medicine Show Circuit for several years before transitioning into a practice of medicine. After developing various snake oil cures for ailments that proved unfounded (but very, very profitable) he made his way to Madison, Wisconsin where he lives a quiet, ascetic life of medical study, song writing and robustly varied acquiescence to almost constant temptation.