Brown Bird looked to their fans when they were hit with unforeseen medical expenses. Brown Bird is a young Rhode Island based acoustic band that draws from many styles, including blues, outlaw country, roots-rock, Eastern European and early American. The band (which consists of main members David Lamb and MorganEve Swain) has been performing full time for several years, and were featured in 2011’s Newport Folk Festival. However, Brown Bird recently ran into serious medical expenses when it was announced that Dave Lamb was admitted to a hospital with severe anemia. Brown Bird took to the online crowdsourcing website YouCaring.com to fund raise enough money to assuage the medical costs. Brown Bird writes:

Dear Friends, Family and Fans- We need your help.

On Friday night, May 10th, Dave was admitted to a hospital in Houston, TX with complaints of fatigue and shortness of breath. After an initial blood test, we were told he was severely anemic, with dangerously low red blood cell levels. Dave had been fighting and been treated for flu-like symptoms for the past six weeks, but until now we were unaware of the seriousness of his condition. Since admittance into the hospital, he has had several blood transfusions, which he is responding to well, and has undergone several tests to determine what is causing his illness. As of yet we still do not have a diagnosis, but are maintaining optimism.

We will be able to fly home on Saturday to pursue treatment in RI, and will be canceling a large percentage of shows until Dave is well enough to get back on the road. For us, canceling shows means not only disappointing our fans and missing out on what we enjoy most, but also going without income. Since the 10th we’ve already accrued over $29,000 in medical expenses and losses, and will be faced with ongoing expenses once we’re home. We love being full-time musicians, but it can be a financially challenging lifestyle, and without health insurance or day jobs to fall back on, our situation is dire.

We humbly ask you to help us out in any way you can. We set up this fundraiser to help us pay for the medical expenses we’ve already accrued, and for the projected cost of treatments. There are unknowns ahead of us and the possibility for needing more is very real, but we promise to keep you updated and are eternally grateful to the support our friends, family and fans already give us. There’s nothing we want more than to be back on the road, and with your help, we could be back out there very soon.