Page 59 - Blues Festival Guide Magazine 2016

The other two strings were left to named the winner of the solo-duo “Best Guitar” award. Holy
drone open like a bagpipe, and cow! I’m still pinching myself over that one.
its distinct hypnotic sound worked One of the reasons I entered the IBC was to expose a new
perfectly for playing fiddle tunes audience to the Appalachian mountain dulcimer. I like to think of
and hymns. myself as a dulcimer pimp; someone who enjoys turning people
The mountain dulcimer onto its charms. My goal is to see a mountain dulcimer in every
languished in relative obscurity household, because I think strumming this little three-stringed
until the late ‘50s when folk wonder is one of life’s most sublime joys. To demonstrate that the
songstress Jean Ritchie brought it blues can be played on it has also become a passion. I’ve taught
out of the Kentucky hills and onto Mississippi Delta Blues workshops from California to New York,
stages in New York City. Richard publishing Blues Method For Mountain Dulcimer 101 along the
Farina, who was a friend and way and recording the album Unresolved Blues, using it as the
contemporary of Bob Dylan, is primary instrument. It truly is a remarkable thing and a warmly
often cited by many dulcimer expressive tool for the guitarist's toolbox. My IBC win has already
players as the man who brought resulted in a flurry of new bookings at blues festivals across the
the instrument to their attention. In country, and I’m looking forward to taking the mountain dulcimer
the ‘70s, Joni Mitchell popularized into new settings to be heard by new audiences. If you see me
The mountain dulcimer first alternate tunings on the mountain at a festival, be sure to stop me and ask to see one. Once I get
appeared in the early 19th
century in the Appalachian dulcimer, using the instrument to it into your hands, you’re going to fall in love just like so many
Mountains Photo by Bing Futch compose and perform songs such others have.
as “California” and “A Case of You’ll want one and I’ll hook you up. That’s just what a
You.” Many years later, Texas-born David Schnaufer brought the dulcimer pimp does.
humble instrument to Nashville, TN, where he was featured on
albums by Johnny Cash, The Judds, Chet Atkins, Emmylou Harris Bing Futch is a full-time musician who has also worked as a
and Linda Ronstadt. Perhaps the most high-profile artist to take print journalist. His work has appeared in The Orlando Weekly,
up playing the mountain dulcimer is pop diva Cyndi Lauper, who Connections, Ink-19, InSite, Axis and Jam. He lives in Orlando,
was a student of Schnaufer and used it to compose her hits “Time Florida with his wife, Jae. www.bingfutch.com.
After Time” and “True Colors.”
I first encountered the mountain dulcimer in 1986 as a
17-year-old budding musician working at Knott’s Berry Farm
theme park in California. I was fascinated with the dulcimer’s
sound and ease of play, and it’s been my main songwriting and
performance tool for 30 years. Modern dulcimers are equipped
with extra frets, specialized body designs and electronics. There
are a number of models that include banjo-style, cello-style and
even resonators. As a full-time touring musician who specializes
in Americana music, I’ve taken the mountain dulcimer from one
side of the country to the other, performing in concert, presenting
at school and library programs and teaching workshops on how
to play it.
In 2015, I competed in the International Blues Challenge
(IBC) in Memphis, TN, and, using only my double-fretboard and
resonator dulcimers, advanced to the semifinals. Before then,
the only mountain dulcimer I’d heard at the IBC was played
by David Kimbrough III, son of blues legend Junior Kimbrough.
When I asked David how the instrument was received when he
competed in 2002, he replied, “Well, the judges didn’t really
understand, but what are you gonna do?”
When I returned to the IBC in 2016, it became clear that
the judges were feeling very favorable about roots-based blues,
whether by style, content or instrumentation. It felt fantastic to
make the semifinals once again and was extremely satisfying to
advance to the finals. But anyone at The Orpheum Theatre on Author Bing Futch describes playing the dulcimer as “one of life's most sublime joys.”
Saturday night knows I was completely mind-blown when I was Photo by Bob Trester

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