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Butch Ross can't do anything
right.
- He plays the mountain dulcimer.
- He plays it standing up like a guitar.
- He holds it upside and strung backwards.
- And Butch Ross plays rock n roll on it.
Despite all this wrongness, somehow it all sounds just
right.
Okay, sure, he plays his own funny, poignant songs and
some traditional mountain tunes, but somehow, in Butch's hands, they
rock, too.
Besides, it's pretty clear that Led Zeppelin always
intended for "Stairway to Heaven" to be played on the dulcimer. It just
took Butch to figure it out.
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 Fariña. Almost
immediately, he offered to sign him to his Blaine St. Records and
produce, for free, his debut CD "the Moonshiner's Atlas."
The dulcimer has opened other doors for Butch Ross as
well: a full-ride scholarship for a graduate degree in folk studies, a
quickly-earned reputation amongst the dulcimer community as one of the
most innovative and exciting players on the scene, endorsement offers,
including one builder who working with him on a "Butch Ross Signature
Model,," opening slots for wide variety of performers from Hayseed Dixie
and Little Country Giants to the Jazz Mandolin Project, Great Big Sea
and the legendary Jean Ritchie. Additionally the dulcimer has found him
invited to play festivals and clubs in England, Scotland, Ireland,
Sweden, Belgium, Germany and most recently Budapest, Hungary.
Christie Burns discovered the hammered dulcimer at a
renaissance fair when she was 15. Since then the instrument has
dominated her life. She has a BA in ethnomusicology from UCLA, and
studied Irish traditional music in Ireland. While there she founded of
the Cork Dulcimer Festival, the only Irish festival for the Hammered
dulcimer. She has won numerous contests for the hammered dulcimer,
including California state champion, and second place at the national
championships in Winfield, Kansas. She has taught and performed at
numerous festivals in the United States and Europe.
Maureen received her first dulcimer for Christmas,
1989. She has studied dulcimer with the finest teachers in the world
since that time. Maureen also is intensely interested in researching the
instrument's history and the culture from which it came.
For the last seven years, Maureen has taught classes
and workshops in the Appalachian dulcimer to hundreds of students in
more than sixteen states. Covering both how-to-play and the history of
the instrument, Maureen brings an enthusiastic and down-to-earth
approach to the amateur musician. She utilizes mnemonics and
visualization in her teaching style.
Maureen's style and music preferences for the dulcimer
are varied. Coming from a childhood exposed to Big Band music, rock and
roll, classical, and folk music, she loves almost every type of music.
Utilizing the wonderful drones of the dulcimer, Maureen plays
traditional music from the Appalachian and Ozark mountains. She also
flatpicks songs to create waves of arpeggios that pull the listener into
the music. Sing-alongs are interspersed in both her classes and
performances. Gospel and sacred music are featured in her classes and
concerts.
Maureen approaches both her workshops and performances
with a warmth and sense of humor that makes the student and audience
feel at ease. She creates a comfortable and creative atmosphere for
learning.
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