Featured Artists
Aubrey Atwater
Workshops (MD)
- 25-Fingerpicking for the First Time (NOV) … Fri 4:15
- 37-Flowing Fingerstyles - Aubrey Atwater (ADV) … Sat 10:15
- 46-Going to the Cleaners (INT-ADV) ... Sat 11:30
- 54-Using the Noter (BEG) … Sat 1:30
Aubrey Atwater is an internationally-known mountain dulcimer player and teacher based in Warren, RI. She teaches a wide variety of unique workshops and uses over twenty tunings, playing styles that that range from the deeply traditional to the modern and innovative. She counts long-time friend and mentor Jean Ritchie (1922-2015) as a great influence in her musical and personal life. In addition to being an award-winning instrumentalist and singer, and one of the country’s most popular dulcimer instructors, Aubrey is a dancer, writer, and public radio commentator.
For decades, Aubrey has performed throughout the United States and beyond, singing and playing mountain dulcimer, banjo, guitar, mandolin, and whistle, and thrilling audiences with her percussive freestyle clogging. With scholarship and humor, Aubrey conveys the heritage behind traditional folk music and dance, showing deep passion and understanding of folk history and key players.
She and her husband, Elwood Donnelly, performing as the duo Atwater-Donnelly, have released 14 recordings and 9 books.
Website: www.atwater-donnelly.com
Butch Ross
Workshops (MD)
- 15-Rock-Solid Fundamentals (NOV) … Fri 3:00
- 34-Two-Chord Songs (BEG) … Sat 10:15
- 47-You Don’t Need Any More Notes (ADV) … Sat 11:30
- 56-Playing Interlocking Parts: Creating Musical Conversations (INT) … Sat 1:30
Perhaps the only performer to have co-billed with Homer Ledford, Bill Staines, a classical string quartet, and a death metal band whose name he won't repeat, Butch Ross has been gleefully smashing disparate genres of music together for over twenty years. Treating the mountain dulcimer like a prism, he has used it to conquer everything from Bach to Beethoven to the Beatles to Metallica. His restless musical curiosity, virtuosity, and innate ability to break complex concepts into simple ideas have made him an in-demand teacher and performer at many folk and dulcimer festivals in the US and abroad.
In recent months Butch has been musically prolific, releasing a single "Elk River Blues" to which he wrote lyrics. An EP, "Three to Get Ready". He's putting the finishing touches on his next record, "A Series of Pleasant Noises," which will come out on vinyl. He is also working on live in-studio recordings he made with a full band for an NPR podcast last April.
Website: www.butchross.com
Ken Kolodner &
Mary Lynn Michal
KEN KOLODNER:
Workshops (HD)
- 32-Lefthand Lead (MID-ADV) … Sat 10:15
- 41-How to Use Chords (BEG) … Sat 11:30
- 53-Improvisation in Traditional Music (ADV) … Sat 1:30
- 62-What HD Players Can Learn From Fiddlers (MID) … Sat 3:00
MARY LYNN MICHAL:
Workshops (ALL INSTRUMENTS)
- 38-Playing for Others Doesn’t Need to Be Scary (ALL) … Sat 10:15
Workshops (HD)
- 42-Mixing and Matching (MID) … Sat 11:30
- 51-Tips to Make Everything You Play Sound Better (BEG) … Sat 1:30
- 63-How to Shift Accents (ADV) … Sat 3:00
KEN KOLODNER has toured extensively with his hammered dulcimer and fiddle, both internationally and in nearly every state in the US, and he has shared the stage with Jean Ritchie, John McCutcheon, Alison Krauss and Union Station, Doc Watson, Jay Ungar & Molly Mason, and countless others. After years of touring as a soloist and with the world music trio Helicon, Greenfire, and others, much of his performing these days is with his son in the Ken and Brad Kolodner Quartet. He and Brad also run the popular Baltimore Old Time Jam and organize the Baltimore Old-time Music Festival. Ken’s playing has been described as “world-class” (Sing Out!), “outstanding” (The New York Times), “marvelous” (The Washington Post), and “not to be missed” (USA TODAY).
His 20+ group and solo CDs have sold over 150,000 copies, including a Billboard #1 World Music album and an “Indie” award. Ken’s two newest recordings are Out from the Shadows, a CD of his arrangements for two hammered dulcimers with Mary Lynn Michal, and Live at the Winter Solstice Concert with Helicon and Friends.
Ken founded the popular week-long Sandbridge Hammered Dulcimer Retreats, which he and Mary Lynn lead. He and Mary Lynn have also written a comprehensive book on playing the hammered dulcimer, The Complete Guide to Playing the Hammered Dulcimer.
Ken Kolodner website: www.kenkolodner.com
MARY LYNN MICHAL has a gift for teaching with a unique approach which combines her experience as a professional symphonic French horn player, her degrees in music education, and 12 years of mastering the hammered dulcimer. Having made the switch from the highly structured classical music world to a completely different style of traditional music gives Mary Lynn access to a broad range of teaching strategies.
Mary Lynn (ML) has performed and taught at numerous festivals around the US, UK, and online. She teaches classes online through her website. Her signature classes, Mastering Theory and Sharpen Your Skills, have attracted more than 350 hammered dulcimer players from around the world. ML co-teaches at The Sandbridge Hammered Dulcimer Retreat with Ken Kolodner. She also teaches nearly 100 private students as well as weekend group retreats.
Mary Lynn's debut CD, "Out From the Shadows," duo Hammered Dulcimers with Kolodner, was released in 2022.
Mary Lynn Michal website: www.marylynnmichal.com
Other Artists
Sasha Bogdanowitsch
Sasha Bogdanowitsch is a composer, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, whose work includes music for theater, dance and film, interdisciplinary performance, concert music and original songs. He is a co-founder of World In One, Vital Vox Vocal Festival, Loom Ensemble & SoCorpo. He currently performs solo and as a member of the Moving Star Vocal Ensemble and folk trio, Up at Dawn.
Workshops (MD)
- 16-Folksongs of the World (INT) … Fri 3:00
- 27-Instrumental Dance Music of the Middle Ages (ADV) … Fri 4:15
- 67-New Ways of Improvising with a Group (ADV) … Sat 3:00
Carolyn Brodginski
Carolyn Brodginski is an award-winning singer/songwriter, therapeutic musician, multi-instrumentalist, and self-proclaimed “musicaholic”. In addition to the mountain dulcimer, she plays guitar, mandolin, ukulele, and Celtic harp. She teaches private and group lessons, and at dulcimer festivals from Vermont to Georgia and online. She runs the Connecticut Mountain Dulcimer Gathering, and you may also know her from the Send In The Music virtual dulcimer jam. Since 2012, she has appeared on and produced 7 CDs.
When she’s not playing the dulcimer, she runs a monthly community sing, performs with her band, Seat of Our Pants, and with Joyful Blue, a bluegrass Gospel band. She also plays therapeutically at a memory care facility, as part of her church’s Care Team, and at an annual retreat for women with Breast Cancer.
Workshops (MD)
- 17-Take a Song and Make It Better - Carolyn Brodginski (INT-ADV) … Fri 3:00
- 24-Mountain Dulcimer 102 (BEG) … Fri 4:15
- 36-Playing With Other Instruments (INT) … Sat 10:15
- 55-Old Songs Become New - Carolyn Brodginski (NOV) … Sat 1:30
Cliff Cole
Cliff Cole fell in love with the hammered dulcimer at the Philadelphia Folk Festival in 1985 and he’s been hammering on ever since. He started off as a drummer playing rock, jazz, and blues, and
then carried that musical experience and sense of rhythm over to the hammered dulcimer and folk music. Rounding out his musical expression, Cliff studies acoustic guitar, plays the blues harp,
and enjoys singing.
He has taught workshops at many dulcimer and folk music festivals, including Nutmeg, the Cranberry Dulcimer Gathering, Pocono Dulcimer Festival, and French Creek Retreat.
Cliff performs as a member of Tachyonmetry, DayBreak, and the Dulcimer Boys. As a recording artist, his music can be found on Spotify and other music streaming platforms. He is a member of the
Nutmeg Team.
Workshops (HD)
- 31-Mapping the Dulcimer with Scales and Chords (BEG) … Sat 10:15
- 43-Crooked Tunes (ADV) … Sat 11:30
- 52-Blues on Hammered Dulcimer - Cliff Cole (MID) … Sat 1:30
Kayte Devlin
Sultry voiced folk singer-songwriter Kayte Devlin is a Vermont Country Girl putting a pop-folk twist to her songs and selling them worldwide. At an early age, she was selected by a scout for "Star Search" as the “artist who would perform her own songs.” Her songs have been honored in Music City Song Festival Competitions, Song of the Year competitions, and the CDBaby charts. Kayte studied lyric- and songwriting and music production through the National Academy of Popular Music, where she was coached by Grammy-winning songwriters, and she’s also a past two-time president of Connecticut Songwriters Assoc., which contributed to her continued growth and success. You can hear her music on any of the streaming platforms, and she’s particularly proud to be a featured artist on Women of Substance Radio.
www.reverbnation.com/kaytedevlin
Workshops (OTHER)
- 28-Finding Your Voice: Beginner’s Guide to Lyric Writing (ALL) … Fri 4:15
Sam Edelston
Photo: Malorrie Bator
Sam Edelston is on a quest to bring dulcimers into widespread public awareness. Though he's best known for his arrangements of many kinds of popular music on acoustic and electric mountain dulcimer. It's less known that he has also been playing diverse music on hammered dulcimer for more than 30 years. (He's teaching both kinds of dulcimer at Nutmeg this year.)
Sam has performed and taught at festivals as far away as Kentucky, Minnesota, Maine, Louisiana, Colorado, and many online festivals, and his mountain dulcimer YouTube videos have been heard more than 1,000,000 times, in more than 190 countries. Two of his videos have gone viral, and another is shown in the dulcimer exhibit at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix. Sam also plays guitar and banjo, and is chair of this festival. Check out his 2024 CD, "Making Waves," which features dulcimers fronting a rock band, playing classic rock and pop music.
Workshops (HD)
- 22-Managing Your Bounces (MID) … Fri 4:15
Workshops (MD)
- 44-Picking Out Melodies (BEG) … Sat 11:30
Ron Ewing
Ron Ewing has been playing mountain dulcimer since 1970, and has built over 1,700 during that time. He is especially known for his innovative designs, like the baritone, dulcimette, dulcimer capo, the 1 1/2 fret, and his lively renditions of Irish, Appalachian, and Euro dance tunes. He lives in Columbus, Ohio.
Workshops (MD)
- 66-The Many Moods/Modes of the Capo - Ron Ewing (INT-ADV) … Sat 3:00
Gerry Heinrich
Gerry Heinrich has been a woodworker for over 50 years. While working as a cabinetmaker, he was exposed to all kinds of acoustic music. One day he saw a YouTube video featuring a mountain dulcimer, “the easiest stringed instrument in the world to learn to play.” Somebody loaned him a McSpadden dulcimer to teach himself to play, and he was off to the races. Not long after, he designed and built his first dulcimer in his eastern Pennsylvania workshop.
His instruments are characterized by creative designs and soundhole patterns using a variety of species of woods, with a special focus on reclaimed wood.
Workshops (OTHER)
- 19-Dulcimer Building from a Woodworking Standpoint (ALL) … Fri 3:00
Lori Keddell
Lori Keddell has been playing the dulcimer since 1985, and has taught classes and workshops for both children and adults in building and playing cardboard dulcimers. She was instrumental in organizing Albany, NY's first Mountain Dulcimer Music Festival in 1989, and has been the coordinator since 1991. She was on the staff of the Cranberry Dulcimer and Autoharp Gathering from 1987 to 2016, and has been an instructor at numerous festivals in New York, VT, MA, PA and CT. With George Haggerty, she taught a week-long Dulcimer Elderhostel class in Vermont for many years. She has published 5 books of arrangements for the mountain dulcimer, each with an accompanying CD. Her newest book, “Lullabies and Night Songs for the Mountain Dulcimer” contains 78 lullabies from around the world. She has also contributed many pieces of music to the monthly newsletter of the Dulcimer Association of Albany.
Workshops (MD)
- 35-Learn to Play in EAA (NOV-INT) … Sat 10:15
- 45-Minor Modes in DAC Tuning (NOV-INT) … Sat 11:30
- 64-Singalong Chords (BEG-NOV) … Sat 3:00
Jody Marshall
Jody Marshall, a native of the Washington, DC 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. She has been performing and teaching dulcimer for more than 30 years and was a founding member of the popular folk trios, Ironweed and MoonFire. She also performed extensively with Connemara. She teaches at dulcimer festivals and workshops across the country and internationally, as well as private lessons in her studio and online.
In 2024, Jody received her certification as a Certified Music Practitioner through the Music for Healing and Transition Program (MHTP). She plays therapeutic music for patients and staff on a regular basis at DC’s MedStar Georgetown University Hospital.
Workshops (HD)
- 12-Christmas Ensemble - Jody Marshall (MID-ADV) … Fri 3:00
- 21-Hammered Dulcimer 102 - Jody Marshall (BEG) … Fri 4:15
- 33-Learn to Play "Yesterday" (ADV) … Sat 10:15
- 48-Music for Comfort and Healing (MID-ADV) (All Instruments) … Sat 3:00
Dave Neiman
Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Dave Neiman has been performing and teaching hammered dulcimer since the early 1980s. His passion for dulcimer has taken him to music festivals, concert stages, and street performing venues in many parts of the US, as well as Canada, Europe, and twice-yearly tours of Japan throughout the 1990s. In 1987 Dave won first place in the National Hammered Dulcimer Championship.
Dave started out playing traditional New England dance tunes on dulcimer but, influenced by his classical and jazz guitar studies, established a reputation for his arrangements of classical and popular pieces. Dave has four recording: Spectrum, an assortment of folk melodies from various cultures; Early Works, a collection of Baroque and Renaissance composition; The Door to Christmas, with Steve Schneider, carols from various countries; and Balance on Air, with Beverly Woods, a variety of English and Irish tunes.
Workshops (HD)
- 11-Hammered Dulcimer 101 (BEG) … Fri 3:00
- 23-Solo Arranging (ADV) … Fri 4:15
- 61-Beginning Backup - Dave Neiman (BEG) … Sat 3:00
Workshops (ALL INSTRUMENTS)
- 58-Guided Jam Session - Dave Neiman (All Instruments) ... Sat 1:30
Carol Walker
Carol Walker is a happily retired high school choral teacher (recipient of the NJ Governor's Teacher of the Year Award in 2003), and performs on mountain dulcimer, piano, harp, melodica, and upright bass. In 2022 she formed the New York Dulcimer Orchestra, based in the Lower Hudson River Valley. This 20-member ensemble enjoys presenting performances at libraries and retirement communities in NY and NJ. Carol's folkloric research single-handedly brought traditional music of the Isle of Man to the mountain dulcimer, leading to a CD of Manx tunes, "Alas, the Horse Is Gone," as well as two books of "Tailless Tunes." Carol's instructional works include the three "DNA* Dulcimer Ditties" book/CD sets, as well as DVD on the Homespun label. Carol published her 10th and 11th dulcimer tab books in 2023, and Pooh Songs: Volume Two.
Workshops (MD)
- 14-Mountain Dulcimer 101 (BEG) … Fri 3:00
- 26-Welsh Love Songs (INT) ... Fri 4:15
- 57-Hi-Yo Silver and AWAY! - Carol Walker (ADV) … Sat 1:30
- 65-Duets, Canons, and Rounds, Oh MY!! (NOV-INT) … Sat 3:00
Dwain Wilder
Dwain Wilder, founder of Bear Meadow Folk Instruments, has been building mountain dulcimers since 1991. He regularly gets orders from as far away as Europe, Great Britain, and the Far East. Dwain is also one of the few dulcimer builders who takes on apprentices and teaches them the craft. In addition to his instrument building, Dwain has also published poems in various periodicals and collections, and writes occasional essays on Zen practice.
Workshops (ALL)
- 39-Laparoscopic Dulcimer Surgery (ALL) … Sat 10:15
🔶 Dwain will be our Dulcimer Doctor. 🔶
To make an appointment for your instrument, contact him at this LINK.
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