Artist Biographies

KAREN ASHBROOK has been an international pioneer and advocate in the revival of the hammered dulcimer for more than 40 years. Along the way she added Irish wooden flute and pennywhistle. Her career has spanned performances and teaching throughout Europe and Asia. She performs frequently with her husband Paul Oorts, a multi-instrumentalist from Belgium. Her strong commitment to using her music as a healing art led her to become a therapeutic musician, founding Music for the Spirit -healing hammered dulcimer music. Karen is a board member of the Cimbalom World Association, which promotes all forms of the dulcimer internationally.

RUTH BARRETT is a pioneering 1970s California mountain dulcimer player, singer, award winning recording artist, and experienced teacher. She specializes in fingerpicking with a left-hand technique for cord work and melody, using the dulcimer as a second voice for harmony song accompaniment, strumming, ornamentation, and playing in open modal tunings. Ruth specializes in traditional folk songs and music of England, the Celtic countries and the United States, music of the Renaissance, and original folk music. As an ear player herself, Ruth teaches students how to hear a song they wish to play on the dulcimer and learn how to arrange it.

Ruth’s supportive teaching style has successfully taught thousands of people to play the mountain dulcimer, from private instruction to national folk festivals and music retreats including String A-Long, the Swannanoa Gathering, the Harvest Festival of Dulcimers, the Claremont Folk Music Festival, and the Winter Festival of Acoustic Music, and McCabes Guitar Shop in California for 15 years. Collaborating with dulcimer builder and player, Joellen Lapidus, Ruth transcribed Joni Mitchell’s dulcimer arrangements for the songbooks, Hits and Misses (Warner Bros. Pub.)

In 2022, Ruth taught classes at Kentucky Music week and at FunFest (Old Dulcimer Players Club) in Evart, MI. She has recorded dulcimer lessons for Kentucky Music Institute, and her dulcimer book, DULCIMER MUSE – Tunes & Songs From Far-flung Times & Places was published by Mel Bay Publishing in 2022.

KEN BLOOM has given solo concerts all over North America since 1974. These have included appearances at many major Folk Festivals and clubs in the U.S. and Canada. In the past he has been a regular performer at the Vancouver, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Owen Sound, Philadelphia, and Mariposa Festivals as well as appearing in major venues across the country and appearances on A Prairie Home Companion. More recently, his appearances have been closer to home. His North Carolina presentations include: The Stokes Stomp, Hiddenite Center, Turkey Festival (Raeford), Red Springs Highland Games, Mt. Airy Storytelling Festival, and many others. These programs include the traditional music of this country as well as Celtic and Eastern European selections. He usually uses Concert zither, Northumbrian-smallpipes, guitar, clarinet, bowed dulcimer and Minstrel banjo, but he will often include other instruments and traditions as well. He tries to introduce audiences to unfamiliar sounds in an entertaining way and expand their musical view of our ever-shrinking world. Ken has been a featured instructor in a new venture coordinated by Lois Hornbostel, "PLAYING THE BOWED DULCIMER" for the past two years at the Western Caroline University Mountain Dulcimer Week which was also offered in 2005.

ROB BRERETON is considered one of the pioneers in contemporary mountain dulcimer playing. His years of studying classical guitar have polished his playing style while his degree in music theory and composition has given him a fresh approach to arranging.
Rob was one of the first dulcimer players to arrange extensively in chromatic and other alternate tunings. Although he specializes in the standards and early jazz tunes of Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, and the like, Rob is equally adept at playing the more traditional celtic, Appalachian, old time, and other dulcimer repertoire.
Rob has taught all levels of dulcimer at most major music festivals and folk schools across the country as well as internationally. He has won several awards for his playing including a coveted Winfield National flatpicking award. Rob was one of the organizers of the Housatonic Dulcimer Celebration and continues to organize the occasional Dulcimer Cruise. He has been playing dulcimer for over 30 years and has been an internationally recognized performer and instructor since his first CD was released in 1992. David Schnaufer called Rob's playing "...strong and innovative."
Rob's music is featured on his recording, Someone to Watch Over Me available for download on iTunes, CD Baby, and most other music download sites.
In addition, Rob teaches K-6 music and has many private students. He also composes, arranges, and he directs several choirs near his home in CT.

DAVID BROOKS has played guitar and banjo since the 60's, including a season as the banjoist for The Stephen Foster Story in Bardstown. He plays at local contra dances and teaches at the Louisville Folk School. He has written for the Banjo Newsletter, published a series of Kindle ebooks of clawhammer banjo tabs, and been a frequent instructor at Kentucky Music Week. He is co-author with Lew Stern of Dan Levenson: Old-time Banjo and Fiddle Teacher, Performer and Storyteller, due in Spring 2023.

PHYLLIS WOODS BROWN studied Music Education at Tennessee Tech University and was delighted when her father, Fred Woods, built both her first mountain dulcimer and hammered dulcimer.

Phyllis has always enjoyed teaching others what she has learned, and has taught and performed at numerous venues, ranging from city and county folk festivals, Old Time Festivals, weddings, fundraisers, Christmas celebrations, church services and special events.

When SUE CARPENTER first played a mountain dulcimer in 1981, she was immediately captivated by its simplicity and challenged by its fingerpicking possibilities. Her innovative fingerpicking style has won her many awards including 2005 National Mountain Dulcimer Champion.

As an instrumentalist, Sue is best known for her expressive style and exceptional technical ability. As a teacher, she is well known for her challenging, highly organized and intensive methods, nurturing patience, and energetic enthusiasm mixed with a healthy dose of fun. Since 1983, Sue has taught and performed at various dulcimer festivals and camps from Maine to California, and in 2015 she taught at the Nonsuch Dulcimer Annual Weekend in England.

Born in Quakerstown, PA, Sue likes to think that her love for the mountain dulcimer was rooted in her Pennsylvania Dutch heritage even before she knew about dulcimers or their German zither heritage. After years of playing piano and organ, Sue finally felt "at home" when she picked up a dulcimer for the first time, knowing that this was the instrument she had been unconciously searching for all her life.

MARY CARTY is a life long resident of Burlington County, New Jersey, and brings her Native American heritage into play with her handmade baskets. Many of her traditional baskets are shapes and styles with which her Lenape ancestors would have been familiar. She is a true artist and innovator who does not like to have her creativity stifled by following rigid set patterns. This is a concept Mary often stresses to her students. "I don't just teach people how to make baskets; I teach them how to be basket makers,” she often says. On the other hand Mary has a healthy respect for tradition. This is why she has researched and makes traditional baskets which her Lenape ancestors would have made. It is this blending of tradition and creativity that makes Mary Carty's baskets both unique and highly collectible. A talented basket weaver, Mary has won many awards for her original basket designs through the years, and has admirers throughout the world.

JOE COLLINS fell in love with the mountain dulcimer back in 1978. At the time he was doing occasional coffeehouses as a college student in eastern North Carolina, and a good friend thought that he might be interested in tackling another instrument besides the guitar. He took her little instrument home, and she did not get it back for three years! Today, he plays a lot less guitar and lot more dulcimer than in those early days.

A folk musician and mountain dulcimer player since the late 70s, Joe combines mountain dulcimer wizardry with good, solid vocals. He is a songwriter and vocalist, inspired by artists like Simon & Garfunkle, Gordon Lightfoot, Bob Dylan, and Kris Kristofferson. But as he grows older and pudgier, he realizes that perhaps the most profound influence on his musical bent was the old Burle Ives records he listened to over and over again as a kid. His performances are sprinkled with a lot of humor and some excellent mountain dulcimer playing - sure to bring a smile to audiences of all ages.

CAROL CROCKER first introduction to mountain dulcimer was at a school Heritage Day program. For over 20 years Carol has enjoyed sharing her love of the dulcimer with children, adults, schools, churches and senior homes. She has been a private instructor and at various dulcimer festivals and events including Dulcimer U, Winston-Salem Dulcimer festival, the Stephen Foster Dulcimer Retreat, North Georgia Foothills Dulcimer Festival, QuaranTUNE, Mt. Dora, and various other events. She is also a regular song leader on the Saturday Send in the Music Virtual Jam, and has a Send in the Music songbook “Tunes from Zoom”. Other books include “Songs of the Spirit”, African American spirituals arranged for the mountain dulcimer with a CD and digital download of “Songs of the Spirit”; “Beginner’s Guide to Mountain Dulcimer”, and “Dulcimer in The Schools”. Her website is carolcrockermusic.com
Carol holds a BS degree in Music Education from Western Carolina University and a MM degree in Music Education from UNC-Greensboro. She is a retired music teacher from Winston- Salem, North Carolina, where she lives with her husband Joe.

SAM EDELSTON is on a quest to make dulcimers as popular as flutes and fiddles. His mountain dulcimer videos have been viewed more than 1,000,000 times, embracing much of the rock and pop spectrum, plus bluegrass, bossa nova, Sousa, opera, and more. On acoustic and electric dulcimer, he often makes his three strings sound like more than one instrument, and has gained a reputation as an innovative arranger. Sam has performed and taught at a variety of festivals and other venues around the Northeast and across the country, and is chair of the Nutmeg Dulcimer Festival in Connecticut. He also teaches his own online courses, workshops, and lessons. As one workshop student commented, "As zany as Sam is, he is a patient, knowledgeable, caring teacher also experienced, smart, creative, etc." And as a preschooler once told her mother, "Rosie's daddy came in and sang to us today. He was so much fun. Can he be my daddy, too?" Sam proud to be a part of KMW once again.

BING FUTCH can often be found teaching music workshops at various festivals and colleges, presenting music education programs at schools and libraries and producing episodes of his video podcast, "Dulcimerica", which has been viewed by millions of people worldwide and is currently in its tenth year.

Futch is well-known for his wide variety of musical stylings, giving equal time to traditional and contemporary Americana. In 2016, he entered the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tennessee and went all the way to the finals where he was awarded "Best Solo Guitar", despite having been the only mountain dulcimer performer in the event.

DANA GRUBER is a mountain dulcimer performer and instructor from the Greater Cincinnati area. She has been a favorite at numerous festivals including Kentucky Music Week, Heartland Dulcimer Festival, Berea Learn Shops, Lagniappe Dulcimer Society Fete and many more. In addition to standard dulcimer, she also teaches baritone, chromatic and banjo-dulcimer.

She enjoys creating and teaching unique arrangements that explore the contemporary side of the mountain dulcimer and add a new dimension to traditional tunes. She has also published nine dulcimer tablature books..

HANK GRUBER has been playing guitar since he first learned to play electric guitar in the Air Force. He soon transitioned into acoustic guitar and has studied Spanish and classical guitar along the way. He has made an art of accompanying other acoustic instruments but can step into the lead with ease. Hank and his wife, Dana Gruber make up an instrumental duo of mountain dulcimer and acoustic guitar. Their music is a blend of contemporary and traditional favorites, along with their own original compositions.

LES GUSTAFSON-ZOOK is known nationally for his expressive and energetic autoharp playing. One of the world’s leading autoharp players, he’s performed and given autoharp workshops at festivals across the country.

Les is the 2001 and 2018 International Autoharp Champion at Winfield, Kansas and the 1989 National Autoharp Champion. He’s also placed 2nd four times in the prestigious Mountain Laurel Autoharp Championships in 2000, 2001, 2016 and 2018 and was inducted into the Autoharp Hall of Fame in 2014. Before moving to Indiana, he taught autoharp for five years at Linn Benton Community College in Corvallis, OR and helped found and lead the Willamette Valley Autoharp Gathering during it’s 20 year history. Les also gives private lessons online and in his studio in Goshen, IN.

Every time SADIE GUSTAFSON-ZOOK carves a linoleum block, sews a pencil case out of scraps, or admires the way her the ink in her Pilot G-2 glides over her journal, she thinks, “I should be doing this all the time.” The act of creating something tangible is the air Sadie breathes. Her songwriting is the same- weaving an internal dialogue, the stories she tells herself, warm melodies and clever chords into something real, something she can physically feel with her hands and her throat. And chances are that you’ll be able to feel them too.

Sadie is widely recognized for her songwriting, winning the 2022 Kerrville New Folk Songwriting Competition, the 2022 Newsong + LEAF Songwriting Contest, as well placing in the top two at the 2022 Rocky Mountain Folks Fest Songwriter Showcase. She’s been featured on Folk Alley and the Basic Folk Podcast and has performed at renowned festivals and venues including Kerrville Folk Festival, Rocky Mountain Folks Fest, Walnut Valley Festival, and Club Passim, among others.

DAVE HAAS lives in Charleston, WV and has been playing the mountain dulcimer since 1990. He teaches dulcimer in both private and group settings, and was the founding member of the Almost Heaven Dulcimer Club in Charleston. Dave loves to share the mountain dulcimer and its history with schools, churches, civic organizations, and has even brought the dulcimer to those in prison! Dave is a popular instructor at dulcimer festivals, and has taught and performed in over one-half of the United States, and also in the United Kingdom. He is known for his gentle, fun, and enthusiastic teaching style. Dave has released seven dulcimer instructional books/CDs, four instrumental dulcimer CDs, and a popular dulcimer chord chart.

Dave also enjoys teaching science as a Chemistry Professor at the University of Charleston. One of his favorite teaching activities is to sing chemistry songs (on dulcimer and guitar) with his students. In addition, Dave plays the guitar, sings, and enjoys leading music on Christian retreat experiences such as Kairos Prison Ministry, The Walk to Emmaus, Cursillo, and Teens Encounter Christ (TEC).

JUDY HOUSE and her husband, Kirk, are the founders of the Camel City Strummers Dulcimer Club and the Triad Dulcimer Orchestra, both of which are local. In early 2021, they founded the First National Dulcimer Orchestra, which meets weekly over Zoom and performs at festivals by invitation. They are the directors of the Winston-Salem Dulcimer Festival which is held the first Saturday in May in Winston-Salem.
Judy’s passion for the dulcimer has led to her teaching at festivals around the country and presenting at conferences and universities concerning the Mountain Dulcimer. She also enjoys working with those interested in becoming effective teachers of the mountain dulcimer and other folk instruments.
Judy has written 9 dulcimer music books with a couple more on the way!
Judy lives in Winston-Salem, NC with her husband, Kirk.

KIRK HOUSE has been playing the dulcimer for 15+ years; for the last eight years he has specialized in the bass dulcimer. He is a certificated dulcimer teacher, through Western Carolina University (Dulcimer U program). Kirk plays several different styles and designs of bass dulcimer, including 3-string, 4-string, and double-bass. He performs as part of a duo with his wife Judy House, as well as a member of the trio 'Cantabile-Jubilee', and the quartet string section, 'SASSy'. He helps direct the Winston-Salem Dulcimer Festival, as well as the Triad Dulcimer Orchestra. He recently helped found the First National (virtual) Dulcimer Orchestra. Other musical interests of Kirk’s include mandolin, bowed dulcimer, ukulele, and shape-note singing.

STEPHEN HUMPHRIES and his wife reside in Chattanooga, TN where he serves as the percussion instructor and instrumental music teacher for Silverdale Baptist Academy. Stephen also teaches as an adjunct professor of music at Covenant College (Lookout Mountain, GA). In addition to these positions Stephen keeps a private studio of percussion and hammered dulcimer students in and around the Chattanooga area. He has performed for a variety of music festivals and other events throughout the United States, as well as in Central and South America. He earned a Master’s Degree in Percussion Performance and his music education certification from Lee University in Cleveland, TN. Previously, Stephen earned his Bachelor of Arts in Music with an emphasis in percussion studies at Presbyterian College in Clinton, SC. With this education and experience, Stephen brings a solid percussive, classical, and contemporary approach to both the hammered dulcimer and percussion worlds.

JANE JOHNSON grew up in St. Albans, West Virginia, and attended the University of Kentucky where she received a degree in music education with a major in organ. A church organist for over 40 years, she also holds a Master of Music degree from UK with an emphasis in Sacred Music and a Master of Arts degree in church music from Lexington Theological Seminary. Jane fell in love with the Celtic harp seven years ago when she took a beginners’ class from Lorinda Jones. She currently performs with 15 other harpers in Lorinda’s Heartland Harp Ensemble. Her other musical pursuits include playing upright bass with the Backroom String Band and harpsichord with Musick’s Company, both based in Lexington, KY. When not making music, Jane enjoys growing orchids and touring the back roads with husband Bill in one of their antique cars.

JOHN KEANE received a degree in music education from Northeast Louisiana University. He began his teaching career in 1985 and has taught and performed throughout the country. John is an endorsing artist for Folkcraft Instruments.

KAREN KEANE earned her music education degree from Northeast Louisiana University and started her teaching career in 1988. Karen has taught and performed around the United States and is an endorsing artist for Folkcraft Instruments.

A fiddle and hammered dulcimer player of 40+ years, KEN KOLODNER has toured as a soloist and with Chris Norman & Robin Bullock in Helicon, Laura Risk in Greenfire, Scottish National Fiddle Champ Elke Baker and his son Brad in The Ken & Brad Kolodner Quartet with Rachel Eddy and Alex Lacquement. In 2019, the quartet won first place among 40 bands from around the globe in the neo-traditional contest at “Clifftop”, the largest old-time music fest in the US. Among Ken’s credits are 20+ CDs, an Emmy nomination, an “Indie” winner, a #1 World Music Billboard’s title, and various books on Appalachian fiddling and the hammered dulcimer. The Kolodners run the largest public old-time jam in the U.S. (The Baltimore Old-time Jam), various concert series, and The Baltimore Old-time Music Festival. For 18 years, Ken has held The Sandbridge Hammered Dulcimer Retreat (known as “Sandbridge”) with assistant Mary Lynn Michal. The oceanfront retreat runs for six weeks typically attracting 150+ players. Recent projects include The Complete Guide to Playing the Hammered Dulcimer (with Mary Lynn Michal), producing and recording Ken’s arrangements for two hammered dulcimers with Mary Lynn, Out from the Shadows (2022), and Helicon and Friends Live at the Winter Solstice Concert (2022).

JOELLEN LAPIDUS is one of the early west coast innovators of mountain dulcimer playing and building. She blends traditional, pop, jazz and world music styles in her original songs and arrangements of traditional tunes. She is the author of “Lapidus on Dulcimer 2”, which was the 1st contemporary instruction book to teach both traditional and contemporary styles of playing. She is known for her stunning one of kind dulcimers which feature complex inlays, innovative shapes and woods from all over the world.
Joellen teaches in person and online and performs with her trio “The Urban Gypsies” and her klezmer band “Schmaltz”. Her latest CD is: “Dulcimer Music for the Pelican Ballet”.

ANNE LOUGH is an internationally known traditional musician with over thirty-five years experience in performance and teaching. A native of Springfield, Virginia, Anne has been around music all her life and began playing and singing folk music as a young teen. She has continued to share her love of music through the years while raising four daughters and completing a Music Education Degree from Murray State University, Murray, Kentucky, and a Master of Music Education Degree from Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC. Now living in Western North Carolina, she devotes her full time to festivals, workshops, performances and school residencies.

In addition to being a frequent instructor in mountain and hammered dulcimer at the prestigious John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC., Anne has taught and performed at the Swannanoa Gathering, Western Carolina Dulcimer Week, Augusta Heritage Dulcimer Week and at numerous other festivals and workshops throughout the country and in Ireland, Scotland, England and Belgium. Equally at home on guitar, autoharp, mountain and hammered dulcimer, Anne's mastery is impressive. Her artistic interpretation, sensitive playing style, versatility and skill as an instructor have earned her national acclaim.

Anne is also well known as an instructor and performer of traditional singing, storytelling, folklore, folk dance and the shaped-note tradition, but her repertoire ranges from classical music to old standards, show tunes and sacred music. Her programs have delighted and inspired all ages from day-care and pre-school children to Road Scholars.

JODY MARSHALL a native of the Washington, D.C. area, grew up in a musical family. Enchanted by the sound and visual appeal of the hammered dulcimer, she developed a passion for the instrument and was soon playing everything from traditional jigs and reels to Mozart to the Beatles and beyond. Her performance credits include the White House, the Kennedy Center, and Wolf Trap’s Filene Center for the Performing Arts.
Jody was a founding member of the popular folk trios, Ironweed and MoonFire, and also performed extensively with the award-winning ensemble, Connemara. She is also a popular dulcimer teacher, and has been on the faculty of many festivals and arts workshops across the nation and overseas.
The Washington Post describes Jody’s music as “lovely, lively, and shimmering.” She has several recordings to her credit, and is also the author of a book of Christmas music for the hammered dulcimer, as well as two books featuring dulcimer duets.

MOLLY McCORMACKhas enjoyed playing, teaching, and performing on the mountain dulcimer since 1989. She plays many different genres on the dulcimer including traditional instrumental and vocal tunes as well as original compositions. Her performances include her playing and singing with mountain dulcimer, hammer dulcimer, guitar and ukulele. Known as a natural teacher with a gentle style, Molly teaches and performs at festivals around the country. She loves to share the joy of making music with students on any level. For more information about Molly's music go to https://www.mollymccormack.com/

ILACE MEARS ("Eye-less") grew up playing violin and piano in Louisiana, sadly ignorant of the existence of hammered dulcimers. To celebrate turning 50, she bought one - and embarked on a tremendous adventure. Now several trophies are displayed on the mantel, including the one that says "National Champion 2016". She enjoys sharing her passion for the instrument and its versatility with her neighbors and visitors to Southwest Missouri, particularly those at the Butterfly Palace in Branson. Ilace most loves helping students reach their dulcimer dreams and has been a very favorably reviewed instructor/performer at events from Virginia to New Mexico and Michigan to Louisiana.

In 2012, MARY LYNN MICHAL discovered a passion for playing the hammered dulcimer. and has studied intensively with Ken Kolodner, widely regarded as one of the nation's top hammered dulcimer players. She now teaches over 70 hammered dulcimer students privately and on FaceTime (from CA, NM, NY, TN, NH, AL, CO, MD, MI, and Australia). She has prepared dozens of students to attend Ken Kolodner's Sandbridge Hammered Dulcimer Retreats, an elite hammered dulcimer retreat held in Sandbridge Beach, VA. Mary Lynn serves as an assistant teacher for Kolodner. Performances and teaching appearances include The Evart FunFest (2017, 2018, 2019), The National Cathedral (DC), The Black Mountain Festival, The Poconos Dulcimer Festival and with Kolodner in Chicago, Watkins Glen, NY and elsewhere.

JIM MILLER has been playing and performing traditional music for the past 40 years. An accomplished instrument builder and teacher, he has taught workshops at numerous festivals as well as won many awards for his musicianship including first place on dulcimer at both Galax, VA and Fiddler's Grove, NC. For twenty years, Jim was the owner of the Hampton Music Shop, in Hampton, Tennessee, where he handcrafted over 750 hammered dulcimers. He has played with Celtic, Bluegrass, Swing, Blues and Old Time bands, and has done session work on many recordings.

In addition to being an accomplished performer and workshop leader, Jim also is an enthusiastic jam facilitator who likes to get everyone involved. His "chord signing for the harmonically impared" is legendary. He plays guitar, banjo, octave mandolin, mandocello, bass, steel drum, percussion, hammered and mountain dulcimers as well as his own off-the-wall musical inventions, which are always entertaining..

2013 National Hammered Dulcimer Champion, KATIE MORITZ is a musician and teacher hailing from the Chicagoland area in Northern Illinois. The hammered dulcimer seamlessly sews together Katie’s love of traditional music from around the world, 1940’s jazz standards, Broadway musicals, bluegrass, and pop.

While studying under an Illinois hammered dulcimer master, Bill Robinson, Katie has been awarded 7 consecutive folk arts apprenticeship grants with the Illinois Arts Council (partially funded by the National Endowment for the Arts.) She has spent over a decade studying traditional music and is dedicated to teaching and continuing a traditional style of playing. At the same time, she has also spent most of her life learning and playing music in scholarly settings, which has influenced her dulcimer playing to encompass an uncommon blend of old and new. This edge has led her to receive various recognitions including placing 1st in the Mid-East and Southern regional contests, and the National Hammered Dulcimer Championship.

Katie holds a Master's degree in Design & Media and an Associate's degree in Music Performance. She has taught and performed at festivals and gatherings around the country. Along with the hammered dulcimer, Katie is a multi-instrumentalist who plays mountain dulcimer, 'ukulele, steel pan, guitar, and more.

Belgian-born PAUL OORTS performs on harp guitar, 10-string cittern, mandolin, and musette accordion most often with his wife, hammered dulcimer player Karen Ashbrook.

He is very active in the world of English, Contra, and Vintage dances in the DC-Baltimore area. With the trio Goldcrest he has performed at dance events all over the US.

As a teacher or staff musician, he has been on faculty at many week-long camps like the Augusta Heritage Center (WV) the Swannanoa Gathering (NC), Common Ground on the Hill (MD), Kentucky Music Week, Pinewoods (MA), Timber Ridge (WV), Hill County Acoustic Music Camp (TX), Hey Days (CA) and the Volksmuziekstage in Gooik (Belgium).

DON PEDI Don Pedi was born into a musical family in Chelsea Massachusetts. On weekends, his grandfather, who died before Don was born, would close his barber shop for business, and open his home in the back as a gathering place for family and friends to share homemade food, fellowship and live music. Don's grandfather played guitar, mandolin and banjo. Don's uncle Frank made his living singing and playing music. Another gifted singer is Don's dad. He'll burst into song at the drop of a hat.

To Don the sound of the dulcimer proved most alluring. In a conversation with Richard Farina, Don was convinced that someday he would get himself a dulcimer and play it. Contemporary performers like Bob Dylan, Tom Paxton, Patrick Sky, Joan Baez and others attracted Don to the Newport Folk Festival. While there he was exposed to traditional musicians like Frank Proffitt, Doc Watson, Mississippi John Hurt, Almeda Riddle and such that where a major influence on his musical tastes. By 1966 Don was traveling a lot. With Cambridge as a base, he lived for various periods of time in different parts of the country. In 1973, while living in the Colorado Rockies, Don met Tad Wright and Keith Zimmerman, a couple of musicians from Asheville, NC. After hearing Don play, they invited him to join them. He did, and they piled into Tad's 1969 Volkswagen mini-van and drove to North Carolina.

DEBBIE PORTER grew up with the tunes her grandmother sang in the cotton fields and the country music greats she heard on the Louisiana Hayride. She is a regular teacher and performer for the Quarantunes Virtual Dulcimer Festivals. Debbie created the Dulcimers for David project to honor David Schnaufer, which provides instruments to young people across the country through CD and DVD sales and donations. Her original song Hard Driving Rain won the Songwriting category at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield a few years ago and she loves to teach the “user-friendly” mountain dulcimer and ukulele.

RICK QUISOL, aka "Dimestore Dandy", began strumming simple ditties on his ukulele as a way to unwind after an evening of playing drum gigs. Since then, he has developed a large repertoire of Early Jazz, Country   Western, Blues and Pop tunes and has had the pleasure of opening for uke virtuoso, Jake Shimabukuro and performing on a Lucas Film documentary about Tin Pan Alley music. He brings his professional performing experience to the classroom and passionately shares his technique knowledge to make playing the ukulele an enjoyable experience. A San Francisco Bay Area native, Rick lives in Louisville and performs with his Hot Jazz combo, The Derby City Dandies and teaches at the Louisville Folk School. Page 1 of 1 Rick Quisol, aka "Dimestore Dandy", began strumming simple ditties on his ukulele as a way to unwind after an evening of playing drum gigs. Since then, he has developed a large repertoire of Early Jazz, Country   Western, Blues and Pop tunes and has had the pleasure of opening for uke virtuoso, Jake Shimabukuro and performing on a Lucas Film documentary about Tin Pan Alley music. He brings his professional performing experience to the classroom and passionately shares his technique knowledge to make playing the ukulele an enjoyable experience. A San Francisco Bay Area native, Rick lives in Louisville and performs with his Hot Jazz combo, The Derby City Dandies and teaches at the Louisville Folk School.

LIL REV is a musician best known for his Yiddish music, and is also a renowned ukulele and harmonica player.
In 1984, he was given an old Wendell Hall Banjo Ukulele which started his passion for the instrument.
Since then, Lil Rev has released a series of books, focusing on ukulele and harmonica instruction, as well as providing instruction locally through workshops. His performances feature a multitude of instruments and story-telling.

MARTIN ROLLINS has worked extensively as a visual artist / educator for the Kentucky Arts Council’s Artist-in-Residence program, The Speed Art Museum, The Asia Institute Crane House, The Kentucky Center, and Jefferson Community and Technical College. While most know Martin’s landscapes and cityscapes in oil pastels, he also works in watercolor and other media as well.

STEPHEN SEIFERT's teaching and playing has made him a favorite with dulcimer players all over the country since 1991. In that time, he's been a featured performer at hundreds of dulcimer festivals and other music events including Kentucky Music Week in Bardstown, KY, Dulcimerville in Black Mountain, NC, the Augusta Heritage Center in Elkins, WV, the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC, the Ozark Folk Center in Mountain View, AR, Stringalong near Milwaukee, WI, the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, KS and The tono American Music Festival, in Tono, Japan.

Stephen has been a dulcimer soloist with the Nashville Chamber Orchestra, now know as Orchestra Nashville, since 1996 and is featured on their Warner Classical recording of Connie Ellisor and David Schnaufer's Blackberry Winter, a concerto for mountain dulcimer and string orchestra. The piece continues to be in regular rotation on many classical stations around the U.S. (The recording album is titled "Conversations in Silence" and can be sampled and purchased on iTunes.) Stephen most recently performed this piece with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, and the Montpelier Chamber Orchestra.

DANNY SHEPHERD has been a performing musician for over 45 years. During his early years as a drummer he joined the band at school and played in local rock bands. While attending Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, TN he received his draft notice and enlisted in the US Army. During his 21 year career as a Military Musician he taught percussion at Armed Forces School of Music in Little Creek, VA, performed across the United States, Central/South America and the Caribbean. His final assignment was as the Enlisted Bandleader with the 79th Army Band, Ft Clayton, Panama.

He has presented dulcimer, ukulele, bodhran, and folk percussion workshops at the Kentucky Music Educators State Conference, Kentucky Music Week, Yellowbanks Dulcimer Festival, Gateway Dulcimer Festival, Ohio Valley Gathering, UNICOI Dulcimer Festival, Henderson Dulcimer Festival, and Red Hill Dulcimer Festival and Heartland Festival.

Danny has performed at the UNICOI Dulcimer Festival, Kentucky Music Week, Yellowbanks Dulcimer Festival, Gateway Dulcimer Festival, Ohio Valley Gathering, Henderson Dulcimer Festival, and Red Hill Dulcimer Festival, the Derby Day Arts Festival, and the Arts Council International Festival.

A native North Carolinian, RUTH SMITH fell in love the with sound of the hammered dulcimer at an apple festival in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Her many years of classical training give her a special touch, and she is recognized for her delicate, expressive style. Dirty Linen Folk & World Music Magazine says “Ruth Smith's touch on the hammered dulcimer is absolutely magical, with exquisite phrasing, highlighting the range of the instrument especially on her own pieces.” Ruth enjoys composing music especially for the hammered dulcimer and her compositions have been featured on NPR's All Songs Considered, SiriusXM Satellite Radio, PBS TV's Song of the Mountains and in Dulcimer Players News. A popular instructor, she teaches hammered dulcimer workshops at festivals and folk schools throughout the country and is the author of From Heart to Hands and Touch of Grace, hammered dulcimer instructional books of her compositions and arrangements.

STEVE SMITH from the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, has been a professional musician since 1965. He performs, teaches, and records with wife Ruth in the Acoustic Americana duo Steve & Ruth Smith. Steve is an ASCAP award-winning songwriter, fingerstyle guitarist, old-time banjo and ukulele player. For 18 years, he taught Recording/Audio Production and Copyrights, Publishing, & Licensing at Appalachian State University, Boone, NC. In the 1970s, Steve worked in Nashville as a songwriter for three publishing companies, performer, and studio musician. Steve, along with wife Ruth, lived and worked professionally in Hawaii for 15 years (1975-1990). Steve teaches workshops nationally at festivals and folk schools on songwriting, guitar, ukulele, clawhammer banjo, music copyrights, publishing, & licensing, and performing and recording techniques.

Ranked as the most influential dulcimer player of the last decade by readers of Dulcimer Player News, RICK THUM has made his mark on every aspect of the hammered dulcimer world. Rick is perhaps best known for his festival performances, which have regularly earned him the “most popular performer” title at the largest national dulcimer festival. He brings a combination of passion and friendly accessibility to his teaching that makes his workshops and master classes favorites at festivals across the country, and has tapped this teaching experience to produce the best-selling instructional CD series for hammered dulcimer, the “Original Song of the Month Club”. Rick is also the designer of the highly-regarded ‘Professional’ hammered dulcimer, bearing his name. Yet for all his time in the studio, onstage, in the classroom, and in the luthier’s shop, Rick is most at home at a late-night jam session, where you might even find him playing instruments other than the dulcimer from time to time.

MANDY TYNER teaches mountain dulcimer and clawhammer banjo online and locally. She began playing the dulcimer back in 2009 and immediately fell in love with it. Work and family cause her to move several times and she landed in the foothills of the Smoky and Blue Ridge Mountains in N. Georgia.
Mandy began teaching banjo in 2012 and added dulcimer in 2018. She has a YouTube channel called Banjo Lemonade where she uploads free lesson videos weekly for dulcimer and banjo. Mandy currently has an online lessons program as well that provides individualized practice schedules every week to students based on their needs.

PAM WEEKS is an outstanding fiddler, Appalachian dulcimer player, singer, and tunesmith. Pam is fiddler and singer in the Maine-based Cajun dance band, Jimmyjo & the Jumbol'Ayuhs, sings and plays several instruments in the folk trio, T-Acadie, is fiddler for the Maine contradance band, Scrod Pudding, and performs solo or with guitar player and caller Bill Olson. (Look under "Links" for more info about the bands.) She is an accomplished tunesmith and has composed scores of tunes, from lively jigs and reels, to entrancing airs and beautiful waltzes. Many of these tunes have been picked up by other musicians and are played throughout the U.S.and abroad.

DAVID WILSON is a founder of the Undergrass Boys, a long running acoustic, fusion jam band and is also a founding member of Radio Flyer, who won the KFC/City of Louisville competition for the best new bluegrass band in 1985 (runner up was 14 year old Alison Krauss with her group Union Station). David has been seen for decades at folk and bluegrass festivals all over the U.S. and Canada. He also appears in the Billy Bob Thornton movie Crystal and is part of the soundtrack.