Artist Biographies

After a full career in elementary education, LAURIE ALSOBROOK has found a perfect blending of her two passions, teaching learners and playing the dulcimer. She has participated in a variety of festivals, online and in-person. Festival credits include QDF, Black Mountain, Nonsuch, Dulcimer U, NGFDA, Dutchland, CFDF, and Dulcimer Daze. She also served as co-host/organizer and instructor at the Stephen Foster Dulcimer Retreats, both digital and in-person events.

Laurie is a regular contributor to the Send in the Music Virtual Jam, offering free tab to the participants and serving as a song leader. She also hosts a weekly informal zoom jam AND has a YouTube channel featuring her "No Frills" collections.

SALLY BARRETT is a Clawhammer banjo player and vocalist from Southern Indiana. She learned to play the banjo from Don Neuhauser, a local dulcimer builder and instrumentalist, and studied voice at Montana State University while pursuing her degree in Music Education. She enjoys teaching children and adults, and is known for her lighthearted and joyful approach to teaching. She has taught at Winter Weekend for her local dulcimer group, the Corydon Dulcimer Society, at the Ohio Valley Gathering, and is excited to join the teaching staff at KMW!

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.

After years of playing piano and organ, SUE CARPENTER bought her first mountain dulcimer in 1981 and 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 at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, KS.

As a teacher, Sue is well known for her challenging, highly organized and intensive methods, nurturing patience, and energetic enthusiasm mixed with a healthy dose of fun. As an instrumentalist, she is best known for her expressive style and exceptional technical ability. She delights her audience and balances her repertoire with a wide range of styles and tempos: traditional, folk, original compositions, ragtime, fingerpicking, and strumming.

Born and raised in Quakertown, PA, Sue likes to think that her love for the mountain dulcimer was rooted in the Pennsylvania Dutch Country 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 unconsciously searching for all her life.

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 a lot more dulcimer than in those early days.

This 2007 National Mountain Dulcimer Champion combines mountain dulcimer wizardry with good, solid vocals. He is a songwriter and vocalist, inspired by artists like Simon & Garfunkel, 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.

LANCE FRODSHAM is one of the original Kicking Mule West Coast dulcimer players. He has taught workshops from California to Appalachia. A recording artist and author, Lance has recorded several CDs and written two instruction books for Mel Bay. At home with Celtic, American Roots music and World Music, Lance plays a variety of instruments including the mountain dulcimer, guitar and l'epinette des Vosges. Lance makes his home in Vancouver WA.

BING FUTCH brings big energy to every stage, unleashing a torrent of music with his voice, Appalachian mountain dulcimer, ukulele, Native American flute, and looper pedal. With every performance, Bing paints sonic images using traditional and modern brushstrokes.

Bing is an endorsing artist for Folkcraft Instruments and has written several books for them, including the best-selling Method For Beginning Mountain Dulcimer. He’s also worked with V-Picks to develop a pick specifically for mountain dulcimers. This collaboration resulted in both the “Bing” Lite and “Bing” Ultra-Lite models.

Alongside his in-person performances, Bing focuses his energy on Patreon, where he produces monthly workshops, and Dulcimerica, a video series on YouTube that’s been viewed by millions of people worldwide and is currently in its 17th year. When not touring the United States, he resides in Orlando, Florida with his wife, Jae, and five adorable cats.

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.

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 nine years ago when she took a beginners’ class from Lorinda Jones. Now she enjoys teaching others the music of this beautiful instrument. Jane currently performs with 15 other harpers in the Heartland Harp Ensemble in Elizabethtown, KY, and in the Harp Friends trio. 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. She is delighted to return to KMW for a third year.

ANNE LOUGH is an internationally known traditional musician with over forty years experience in performance and education. 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. After teaching high and middle school choral music for two years and spending many years in church music, Anne now devotes all her time to festivals, workshops, performances and school residencies.

Anne brings to the stage, school or workshop the finest of traditional music. Her sincerity, enthusiasm and love for the music she presents, combined with dedication to preserving and sharing our cultural heritage, brings joy and warmth to all her audiences. Anne's programs have delighted and inspired all ages from day-care and pre-school children to senior citizens. Equally at home on the mountain and hammered dulcimer, autoharp and guitar, her educational programs and performances range from traditional music and folk songs, shaped note singing, classical, sacred and American popular music to folk dancing, storytelling, folklore and cultural history.

RANDY MARCHANY is a hammered dulcimer player, who, along with Wes Chappell and Suzy Gorsline, is one of the original hammer dulcimer players for the band No Strings Attached, with which he has been since 1980. He plays the hammered dulcimer and keyboards, and was trained as a classical pianist. He took up the instrument in 1978. An award-winning quartet, No Strings Attached's music has been described as "eclectic, jazz on acoustic instruments and world beat". The eclectic brand of music they play has allowed them to open for such artists as Mary Wilson and the Supremes, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Nickel Creek, Doc Watson, Stephen Bennett, Tommy Emmanuel, the Dixie Chicks, Turtle Island String Quartet, John Hartford, Hot Club of Cowtown, Hot Rize, Alison Krause and Union Station, and John McCutcheon. They have played in European venues such as Cardiff Harbour Festival, (Wales), the Pontardarwe Festival (Wales), the Cork Music Festival (Ireland), Folk Club Zuriche (Switzerland) and in U.S. venues ranging from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and CBS TV's Morning News program. Marchany started teaching workshops on hammer technique at the California Traditional Music Society's Summer Solstice festival in 1984. Since then, he and Chappell have taught at various workshops and camps such as the Augusta Heritage Arts Workshops in Elkins, West Virginia, the Swannanoa Gathering in Black Mountain, North Carolina, and the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas. He experiments with different styles of music on the hammered dulcimer and loves to play swing and jazz tunes on the instrument.

MOLLY McCORMACK has 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/

CHERI MILLER has been playing rhythm guitar for the past forty years accompanying her husband Jim. She has played in old time, swing and contra dance bands providing a solid danceable beat. A retired public school teacher with thirty-three years of experience, she holds a BA, MA, and EDS degrees in education and taught in an after school elementary string band program for fifteen years. She enjoys performing and jamming.

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.

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 is an artist-educator who has designed, facilitated, and collaborated in arts programs with the Kentucky Center for Performing Arts, Kentucky Educational Television, the University of Louisville, and other educational venues. He has served on the Visual Arts faculty at the Kentucky Governors School for the Arts and as an Associate Education Curator at the Speed Art Museum. Martin received his Bachelor of Fine Art from the Louisville School of Art at its Anchorage campus and his Master of Fine Arts from the University of Cincinnati.

While Rollins’ artwork has been exhibited locally, regionally, and nationally, he is at heart still the kid who drew and colored his way through childhood and beyond. His work is known for its color and the expressive qualities he brings to images of the moods and qualities he find in the streets and fields at different times of the year.

BUTCH ROSS was given a mountain dulcimer for his birthday a few years ago, at the time the regionally touring singer/songwriter had no idea of the impact the instrument would have on his career. "I thought it's be cool to have one around the house, but I found myself playing it more and more. It had made music fun for me in a way that I hadn't felt since I first picked up the guitar." More than "making music fun," this primitive mountain instrument began to open doors for him too. Not long after adopting the dulcimer he met Robert Force a musician, producer, independent label owner and all-around hippy who had once written a best-selling book on the mountain dulcimer. He saw in Butch "a spirit, talent and vision" that he last saw in his own idol; 60's folk-icon Richard Farina. Almost immediately, he offered to sign him to his Blaine St. Records and produce, for free, his debut CD "the Moonshiner's Atlas."

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.

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.

SUSAN TRUMP has been a favorite instructor and performer on the dulcimer scene for the past thirty years. She is known for her clear teaching style and interesting, playable arrangements. She has authored four books. Her latest book/CD set is Music from the Muses, a collection of twenty-one original pieces for Intermediate players. She has written a book of O'Carolan arrangements, A Classical Collection, and Novice Level Chords and Fingering Book and Instructional CD. She also has currently available, Lessons in Your Living Room, a monthly subscription series which includes separate arrangements for novice and intermediate-and-up level players, backup chords, duet parts, intros and endings with an instructional CD. Susan is the producer of the classic Masters of the Mountain Dulcimer series, featuring instrumental selections from many of the finest players in the country. The third in the series is Masters Play Music for Christmas. She has four solo CDs to her credit. Her newest CD, Songs of Faith and Hope, a collection of inspirational, uplifting songs for everyone is being touted as her best ever!

MARK ALAN WADE performs throughout Europe, Asia, and North America as a soloist on dulcimer and trumpet. A classical trumpeter by trade, Mark earned his master and doctorate degrees in music from The Ohio State University and has played hammered and mountain dulcimers for over 30 years. His style uniquely marries his classical precision and technique with his wild traditional dulcimer playing. Mark’s playing brings Celtic & world music to life and authenticity to familiar classical pieces. Mark has published five dulcimer books with Mel Bay, Inc., as well as 5 self-published books on topics ranging from technique to Irish ornamentation. A National Champion himself, 6 of his students have also won the National Contest. Mark lives in Akron, Ohio with his wife and two sons.

2023 Walnut Valley Festival Mountain Dulcimer Champion DAVID WILSON loves music and loves to help students play their best by teaching good technique and having fun. He has taught a variety of stringed instruments for thirty-five years in private lessons, music camps and festival workshops.

As a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, record producer, instructor and touring musician, David has contributed to nearly 300 folk and acoustic music recordings, including National Champion Mountain Dulcimer players Gary Gallier and Les Gallier, National Hammer Dulcimer Champion Ilace Mears, Dave Para & Cathy Barton, mountain dulcimer songstress Anne MacFie, Kentucky Standard Band mountain dulcimer player Nancy Barker Johnson and hammer dulcimer player Alice Burton, hammer dulcimer players Nancy Dailey and Princess Harris, to name a few.

David is a founding member of acoustic progressive-fusion group The Undergrass Boys and Radio Flyer, voted the 1985 Best New Bluegrass Band in America. David recorded and performed in Beyond Reach with Larry Lee (Jackie Blue) and Randle Chowning (If You Want to Get to Heaven), founding members of The Ozark Mountain Daredevils. He also recorded and performs with renowned songwriter and author Marideth Sisco & Blackberry Winter (Marideth was in the Academy Award winning film “Winter’s Bone” and did most of the soundtrack). David appeared in and contributed to the soundtrack for the film “Chrystal” starring Billy Bob Thornton and Harry Dean Stanton, and composed music for the soundtrack for the Debra Granick (Director, Winter’s Bone) film “Stray Dogs”, a documentary about Viet Nam veterans. He is also featured on the Laura Ingalls Wilder documentary playing tunes on Charles “Pa” Ingalls’ actual fiddle.

David and his lovely wife Julie live in Springfield, Missouri. They operate a fiddle repair shop and an acoustic music recording studio. David plays on the worship team at their church. They enjoy weekend getaways, day trip adventures and spending time with their seven children and 10 grandchildren.