This information is now current for Dulci-More Festival 20 in 2014

Dulci-More Festival 20

Concert, Mini-Concert, Workshop Presenters & Vendors

Note: Clicking on most of the photos on this page will open them in a new window in a higher resolution more appropriate for use in press releases. However, we do not have higher resolution photos of all of the artists, but there should be something appropriate for most press releases here.

For Festival downloads, schedule, workshop grid, and registration, go to the main Dulci-More Festival page.

Link to Online Registration Page

(Online registration page will be taken offline around noon on Wednesday, May 21 to allow final preregistration information to be coordinated by the registrar)

Updated May 19, 2014

 

(Some Presenters Will Only Be at the Festival One Day As Indicated in the Schedule)

Concert, Mini-Concert, & Workshop Presenters

 

Bing Futch

Bing Futch and his wife Jae live in Orlando, so close to Walt Disney World that you can see the fireworks from their interstate exit. Bing was with us for Dulci-more Festivals 13 & 14.

With roots in both African and Seminole Indian tribes, Bing Futch's window on America is a unique landscape of music, words and imagery. He began playing Appalachian mountain dulcimer at Knott's Berry Farm theme park in 1986, working at a Ghost Town shop for Bud & Donna Ford.

That same year, Futch founded techno-punk band Crazed Bunnyz with synth-bassist Marc "Gadget" Plainguet and vocalist Sean "Shaka" Harrison. The trio grew popular in the international underground CCM college radio scene and have remained a fan favorite long after disbanding in 1988. Since then, Futch has enjoyed a diverse and prolific career spanning music, theater and video.

After working closely with producers of the hit NBC series "Quantum Leap" while shooting a documentary in 1992, Futch left his California hometown of Los Angeles in 1993 to pursue production opportunities in central Florida where he set up a multimedia company called J.O.B. Entertainment Inc. Some of his early video projects include the eight-part travelogue "Disney Overload", the 1994 reality series "Toastin'", serving as musical director and composing an original score for the Stage Left Theater production of "The Jungle Book: A Musical Adaptation" and writing/performing portions of the soundtrack for The Castle of Miracles at Give Kids The World Village in Kissimmee, Florida.

In 1999, Mohave was born. The award-winning Americana band has performed in a variety of venues including multiple shows at The House Of Blues at Walt Disney World, Hard Rock Live Orlando, The Bamboo Room, Freebird Live, The Orlando Fringe Festival, The Central Florida Fair and they've also opened for national acts Molly Hatchet, Subject To Change, St.  Somewhere and The Crests.

The exploration of an American experience through Mohave led Futch towards the national folk music scene in 2006 where he has become a popular touring solo performer, headlining at venues and festivals across the country. Futch's shows are always engaging affairs as he connects right away with an audience and then takes them on a musical theme park ride through a variety of sounds, styles and showpieces. Sometimes purely acoustic and other times surrounded with an astonishing array of technology, he's a one-man juke box filled with traditional and modern music, including his distinctive originals and inventive arrangements of both classic and progressive hits. Voice, Appalachian mountain dulcimer and Native American flute form the foundation for these oft-times marathon concerts with supporting percussion brought in for special performances. It's a wild, funny, moving journey in music that comes from the heart.

In just the past several years that Futch has appeared on the folk scene here in the states, he's opened for Grammy-award nominated artists Sam & Ruby, bluesman Scott Ainslie, singer/songwriter Larry Mangum, shared the stage with Zydeco king Chubby Carrier, Tom Constanten (The Grateful Dead), national fingerstyle guitar champion Michael Chapdelaine and Grammy-award nominated act The Dixie-Beeliners among others. He's also produced numerous recordings and has published several songbooks. 

Alongside his performing career, Futch has become a popular instructor of the mountain dulcimer and Native American flute. His video podcast, Dulcimerica, has been viewed by over a million people worldwide and is currently in its seventh season.

Dan Landrum

Dan is from Signal Mountain, TN. He was with us for Dulci-More Festival 14.

Dan Landrum's virtuosic hammer dulcimer playing has taken him from street performing in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Olympic Ceremonies, U. S. Presidential Inaugurations, music festivals around the country and international stages. He’s been on the road since 2003 as a soloist with greek performer Yanni and is currently featured in the PBS Special Yanni Live: The Concert Event which was released in August 2006.

His energetic playing style, and unique approach to this ancient instrument are also evident in his six self-produced CDs which are available on iTunes and through www.danlandrum.com.

Dan and his wife, Angie, took over as editors and publishers of Dulcimer Players News (from Dulci-More Festival favorite, Madeline MacNeil) about two years ago. They have continued the tradition of the magazine while adding many new features like the CD that accompanies each month’s issue. If you are a dulcimer player (mountain or hammered) who does not already get this quarterly magazine, go to www.dpnews.com to get all the information.

Mustard's Retreat

Returning from their homes in the Ann Arbor, MI area, David Tamulevich and Michael Houg (Musitard’s Retreat) have been with us before for Dulci-More Festivals 8, 10, and 15.

Mustard’s Retreat ( David Tamulevich and Michael Hough), met in Ann Arbor, MI in 1974, as short order cooks, both on hiatus from their studies at the University of Michigan. Discovering a mutual interest in music/writing and performing, they put together 3 songs one day after work, and took them to the legendary Ark coffeehouse’s open mike night. They were a big hit, and, on the spot, were invited back to do a 45 minute set 2 weeks later. Within a year and a half they had both quit the restaurant and were doing music full time. 40 years later, they have 12 highly acclaimed recordings of their own, plus 3 more CDs with their songwriting collective, The Yellow Room Gang. Mustard’s Retreat has performed more than 4,000 shows over those years, traveled more than 1 million miles and in doing so, have earned a dedicated and loyal following, many of whom have been coming to hear them since the 1970s. Michael and David joke on stage about attracting people “with long attention spans”, but it is what Mustard’s Retreat gives them that turns audiences into such loyal fans.

Spike Barkin, who produces the prestigious Roots of American Music Festival at New York City’s Lincoln Center, wrote to thank them for their “folk from the heart,” going on to say it seemed like David and Michael “take your living room on the road with you and invite people in as friends.” David Siglin, of Ann Arbor’s premier folk clue, The Ark, where Mustard’s Retreat did that first open mike, and have head-lined many, many times since said, “In order to last, there has to be more than just talent – you have to enjoy playing, enjoy audiences and enjoy being in front of them. Audiences go to your shows because they know they will be entertained.” Margie Rosenkranz, manager of the Eighth Step at Proctor’s Theatre in Schenectady, NY, who has presented Mustard’s Retreat many times, said a Mustard’s Retreat show “reminds us why we’re doing this, pulls people together,” adding that the duo transcends the vagaries of passing trends because they remain so “in tune with the audience.”

“I work with them several times a year and always wish it was more.” said Canadian songwriter Garnet Rogers, who also produced their landmark recording The Wind and the Crickets. “The thing that always impresses me is the incredible openness they have with the audience. They stand up there and just radiate friendliness; the audience is included in the whole process, encouraged to sing along and talk back. I’ve learned a lot from them in that sense.”

“They are so warm and friendly and giving on stage, completely in touch with their audience,” said Tom Paxton, a folk music star for more than 40 years. “There are no barriers at all, and you just love to watch that and be part of it. But the thing that strikes me about them from Jump Street – and that makes it all work so well – is that their time is so tight. Michael is such a wonderful, simple bass player; his time is just flawless. And that’s why two guys can move you musically the way they do – they have a gorgeous sense of time and tempo, a real musicality to what they do. They’re nice guys on stage and entertaining as hell, but there’s also music in them.”

While both Tamulevich and Hough are grounded in the early traditional 60s folk music boom, they also were influenced by the songwriters of that time, and their shows represent an eclectic blend of music, old and new, with a big dash of storytelling. “We have never performed the same show twice,” says Tamulevich, “Each night is its own unique moment, unique audience. For us, that is the exciting thing, the magic: to craft a shared experience and leave people entertained and moved…and with moments and songs they will take away with them and remember, ponder, rediscover; hopefully for years to come.” Many of those moments are the result of their well-respected and broad body of original material, written both individually and together. “We take our writing very seriously.” says Tamulevich, “No matter if it is a serious or humorous song. A song is a tool to communicate a feeling or a story, and we want it to be as sharp and finely focused as we can make it. It is a challenge that we happily embrace. Each song is a unique puzzle, and it is fun to see where it can and does take you as you write it. Michael and I are both very different people and writers; having different strengths, and that diversity, when we can get it right, can make a song a whole lot richer and more effective. It is a very rewarding process.”

Those memorable songs have been a hallmark of Mustard’s Retreat from the first. The spooky, Mallon’s Bridge, that tells the story of a haunted bridge in Ireland and the midnight encounter that takes place there, has been a staple of Folk radio on Halloween since it first came out in the early 1980s. There’s A Dance Tonight celebrates love and community , the poignant Part of Me Remembers, the humorous Michigan Mosquitoes, the anthemic ( Ours is a) Simple Faith and Gather the Family…to the insightful and powerful Pay the Toll….all and more have received extensive airplay and many have been covered by other singers.

“And it is still new, fresh, exciting….and fun” concludes Tamulevich. “We still really enjoy all of this: the writing and the performing. Audiences let us know that they enjoy it as well. They have taken our music and made it a part of their lives: that is the ultimate compliment, and as long as they want to see us, we plan to keep performing.”

Stephen Seifert

Stephen Seifert was with us for Dulci-More Festival 17 and had appeared earlier in the Dulci-More Concert Series. He will be joining us from his home in Chattanooga, TN.

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.

Stephen was Adjunct Instructor of Mountain Dulcimer with David Schnaufer at Vanderbilt's Blair School of Music from 1997 to 2001. He also taught, performed, and recorded with Mr. Schnaufer as a duo throughout the country. Stephen has authored ten books, four CDs, and 16 instructional videos.

Most recently, he has been teaching hundreds of students around the world via http://dulcimerschool.com.

Mark Alan Wade

Mark Wade was with us previously for Dulci-More Festivals 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, and 15.

Mark Alan Wade is an avid hammered dulcimer performer, composer and teacher. A National Hammered Dulcimer Champion, he can be heard on more than a dozen recordings and is a columnist for the Dulcimer Players News journal. An active private teacher, Mark’s students include the 2004, 2007 and 2012 USA National Hammered Dulcimer Champions. Mark has also published four instructional books with Mel Bay, Inc.

When Mark was a student, his trumpet playing was his gateway into music schools, since the American dulcimer was not a standard conservatory instrument. His exceptional trumpeting allowed him to expand his musical limits throughout academia, which culminated in his Doctorate of Musical Arts in Trumpet Performance from The Ohio State University. All the while, the formal training of his trumpet studies was being absorbed into his dulcimer playing. This is the very essence of Mark’s unique style- a blend of traditional dulcimer playing with his formal classical training. Currently Dr. Wade is an Assistant Professor of Music at Denison University where he teaches trumpet, music theory, and directs the wind ensemble. Mark is proud to serve the dulcimer community as the only professor in the United States offering dulcimer lessons for academic credit. Mark was an invited lecturer and performer at the 2013 Cimbalom World Congress in Taipei, Taiwan. In addition, he has toured Austria, Slovakia and Hungary as principal trumpet of the Classical Music Festival Orchestra and Brass Quintet of Eisenstadt, Austria. On various occasions, he has performed for audiences of notables including: Presidents George Bush Sr. and President Bill Clinton, Ross Perot, and the former U.S. Secretary of Defense, William S. Cohen. Wade has also performed with the Beach Boys and the Lancaster Festival Orchestra (Asst. Principal), Columbus Symphony Orchestra, West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, the Central Ohio Symphony Orchestra, Benedict College Community Orchestra (Principal), the Springfield Symphony Orchestra (Principal), and is a section member of the Newark-Granville Symphony Orchestra.

Mark and his wife, Cristina, live in New Albany, OH with their two sons. He has published six instructional books for hammered dulcimer, 7 CDs, as well as various arrangements of classical pieces in sheet music. More information can be found at: markalanwade.com or “friend” him on Facebook.com.

Bob Zentz

Bob Zentz returns for Dulci-More Festival 20 from Norfolk, VA. He was previously with us for Dulci-More Festivals 9 & 10 and for our Dulci-More Concert Series.

Bob Zentz began performing professionally in his native Norfolk, Virginia, in 1962, in "The Troubadours," with James Lee Stanley. In his college years, Bob was a founding member of The College of William & Mary's "Minutemen" singers from 1962-64, and president of the Old Dominion College Folk Music Society from 1965-66.

In 1966, Bob began a two-year stint as a sonar man in the U.S. Coast Guard, aboard the high-endurance cutter CGC Sebago. During this time, his songwriting came to the attention of Hollywood, and upon leaving the service in 1969 he was hired as a writer for the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. But fate had other plans for Bob -- the show was cancelled by CBS and Bob stayed on in L.A., teaching guitar at Long Beach City College and continuing to perform and write, winning the William E. Oliver Songwriting Award in Los Angeles in 1970 for his song, "Jeremy."

After the 1971 San Fernando earthquake literally shook him out of bed, Bob packed up and returned home to Norfolk, with a dream of creating a special place for people who loved traditional music and acoustic sounds as much as he did. He named it for the man who embodied his ideal of the singer, and the song -- the late Norfolk country singer William Conrad Buhler, immortalized by Bob in song as "Ramblin' Conrad ... a veteran, a wino, a handyman, an ex-con, a backstreet minstrel and a bar-room troubadour."

Ramblin' Conrad’s Guitar Shop & Folklore Center became the hub for all things folk in Hampton Roads for 23 magical years, from several locations around town before closing in 1995, a victim of changing times and lives. In its time, Ramblin' Conrad's offered many things to many people: acoustic instruments of any kind, from any time; traditional music in record and print; a concert venue that brought many of the world's finest folk musicians to Hampton Roads; and a special moment in time, when anyone with a song in their heart found a warm welcome, and a place to call their own.

The Ramblin' Conrad's experience also existed virtually for more than 27 years over the public radio airwaves, beginning in 1977 with the program "In The Folk Tradition," and also in the community through the Songmakers of Virginia -- now known as the Tidewater Friends of Folk Music -- which Bob founded in 1971, modeled after Songmakers of California, which he came to know and admire during his time in L.A.

Over the years, Bob participated in many folk ventures, near and far. He began teaching folk music classes in Old Dominion University’s Rainbow Program in 1971; he created and ran the "Old Dominion Folk Festival" from 1972-81; and became a fixture at the Virginia State Fair beginning in 1980, appearing for his 28th year consecutive year as resident performer in the Heritage Village in October 2009. He appeared on PBS's long-running program "A Prairie Home Companion" in 1982, and crewed and performed aboard Pete Seeger's Hudson River sloop "Clearwater," helping to repair the Hudson River and spreading the word about preserving our waterways, from 1989-91. Bob's recording of his composition, "Horizons," was selected in 2006 to be on a tribute to environmental author and pioneer Rachel Carson on the centenary of her birth, entitled "Songs for the Earth."

Bob has also represented America and its folk traditions far and wide. He represented the U.S. in Shanty Tour, Finland, in 1997, and was an instructor at the inaugural Common Ground, Scotland, in 2002. He performed at the Scottish National Folk Festival in 2002, was featured U.S. artist at the Australian National Folk Festival in Canberra in 2004, and performed that same year in Auckland and Wellington for the New Zealand Maritime Museums. A featured performer at the 2004 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Bob is also a regular member of the faculty each summer at Common Ground on the Hill, held at McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland.

Local accolades in the Hampton Roads area include the 1992 John Sears Award for Community Service from Festevents and the City of Norfolk. He created the program, "Life of the 19th Century Mariner" for the Mariners Museum in Newport News in 1995;  composed and performed "(Ode to the) Schooner Virginia" at the keel-laying ceremony in 2002 and launching ceremony in 2004; and was music consultant and performer for the multimedia theater experience, "Chesapeake Celebration" in 2004. He was a founding member of the Outer Banks Opry in 2003; received a grant from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation in 2004 to present "Music of the Chesapeake" in Virginia Schools; and was profiled by Public Television's "Virginia Currents" in 2003 for recognition of his many contributions to music and the community, at home and abroad.

As a performer, Bob is a prolific musician, playing several dozen instruments in a repertoire of more than 2,000 songs. His albums span the genres of folk, traditional, Celtic and maritime music and beyond, and his recordings also appear on other artist compilations. As a songwriter, he is celebrated by fans and peers alike; dozens of performers have covered his original compositions, three of which have been published in "Rise Up Singing," Sing Out Magazine's award-winning community songbook.

Two of the most storied songwriters of the 20th century praised Bob's work, each in his own way. Upon hearing Bob's first release, Mirrors and Changes, country legend Johnny Cash was moved to send the young artist an encouraging letter, saying, "Mirrors and Changes ... is one of the finest works I've heard by any artist." And in 2007, at a symposium at the Library of Congress' American Folklife Center honoring members of the Seeger family for their contributions to American music, music legend and humanitarian Pete Seeger asked Bob, "Are you still writing those good songs? Your songs get around!"

Today, Bob has no intention of slowing down. He continues to perform nearly every week the year, much of it on the road, and has followed up the 2007 release of his sixth album, "Closehauled on the Wind of a Dream," with the new CD "Horizons" in January 2010. He carries his "informances," rich with "edu-tainment," to elementary school students with his "Homemade Music" program; to K-12 teachers as an instructor for the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching (NCCAT);  and to elders as a program developer and leader for Elderhostel along the Intracoastal Waterway.

From schools to concert halls, festivals to fairs, museums to libraries, and everywhere in between, Bob is dedicated to a life of presenting, performing and introducing traditional music and its derivatives to those who are already fans ... and those unaware of its existence.

Bill Schilling

Bill Schilling is a high-energy folk-style singer and multi-instrumentalist who believes that this type of music should be inclusive. He is the founder and leader of Dulci-More and the Dulci-More Festival and a member of many other groups, which share or support the music. At Dulci-More Festivals, he has performed solo and as Bill Schilling with Carol Ellis; Bill Schilling, Linda Sigismondi, and Marge Diamond; Bill Schilling & Folks; Threes Co.; Whistler's Lane; and presented his Schilling's Slides, Songs, & Stories program. Bill has put together the music that Dulci-More uses and has it available in several volumes and formats: Dulci-More Public Domain Songbooks -- Volumes 1, 2, 3, Christmas Volume (all with numbers for lap dulcimer melody strings as well as music, chords, and lyrics), Autoharp Volume (with melody chord numbers in place of the dulcimer numbers), General Volume (with DAA Numbers) which is the full size version of the four smaller volumes plus much more material, Lyrics with Chords for those who prefer not to have the written music, but want to play along, and Lyrics Only for those who just want to sing along. The full size version is over 300 pages with over 300 songs. Bill has released a CD, Songs from Canal Days, with Linda Sigismondi and continues to threaten to release more recordings upon the world. Since 2005 with Dulci-More members Marcy and Dale Tudor, he has been the Music Coordinator and a regular instructor for Folk Music at Weatherbury Farm, the Tudor’s award winning farm vacation bed and breakfast in Avella, PA. Bill has also been an instructor at John C. Campbell Folk School.

Dulci-More

Dulci-More: Folk & Traditional Musicians is a club that started in January 1993, at the First United Methodist Church of Salem. The purposes of the club are to have fun with folk-style music and to share that music with others. The club meets at 7:00 pm on the first Tuesday and Third Tuesday (note: it was the third Wednesday until January, 2000) of each month just off the sanctuary in the Unity Classroom of the First United Methodist Church of Salem, 244 South Broadway, Salem, OH 44460. All levels of acoustic instrumentalists and singers are always welcome at the meetings to jam, to learn, to listen, or to perform. Call ahead if you are coming from far away since performances or special meetings may be scheduled a few times a year on regular meeting nights.

Mountain Marge Diamond

I, Marge Diamond began playing dulcimer twenty-seven years ago. Without any musical background, but with tons of enthusiasm, I passed through the beginner stage. Progress was slow and quite painful at times, but persistence began to pay off. By attending dulcimer workshops when ever possible and hanging out with other musicians I began to pick up some technique, learned to keep a fairly good beat, and began making a few fiddle tunes my own.

Learning to play was an amazing thing for me, but then there are the fantastic people I have met along with the tunes. I just would never have believed that adults could come together to share music and have so much fun. There is nothing to compare. For twenty-seven years I have been doing this, and it still feels new and fresh. I am still learning. There is love shared with the learning of the music.

Currently Marge plays with The Oberlin Dulcimer Group and Dulci-More. Marge has performed and taught Dulcimer workshops since 1987. She has been on hand teaching and performing at all of the Dulci-More festivals, at most of the Fort New Salem Festivals, at several of the Kent State Folk Festivals, and has been on hand for some of the COFF festivals. Since retirement in 2003 Marge has been pursuing her love of making art. With her business, Winsome Expressions, she makes airbrushed music themed shirts, "Ultimate Totes", and other items for sale. Marge has one recording, Beyond Cabbage. which has occasionally been available on CD.

Janet Harriman

Janet Harriman is a Dulci-More member who moved from Alliance, OH to North Chili, NY a few years ago. On her own as a Dulci-More member and as a member of Humours ’n Hammers, she has been presenting hammered dulcimer workshops at Dulci-More Festivals for several years. Beyond the hammered dulcimer, she has also regularly played flute with Dulci-More and with Humours ’n Hammers.

Janet has always loved music, and began her journey into its beauty and intricacies as a young child, as there was always music around her in the home. Sixth grade found her beginning flute in school, and from that she taught herself to play piano. High school and college furthered her skills. Since that time she has played piano for church singing, choirs, solos, and small groups. She has participated in community bands and orchestras, as well as small folk music groups. She has taught music in schools, and learned to play many instruments. It was in 2002 that she first heard the Hammered Dulcimer, and it was "Love at First Hammer!"

She currently writes and arranges music, as well as performs it, and teaches music, piano, music theory classes, and workshops at festivals. She has written a book of hymn arrangements for Hammered Dulcimer, as well as a book of original tunes. Her latest endeavor has been a book on Music Theory for Hammered Dulcimer players. She currently plays in "Striking Strings" out of the Eastman Community Music School in Rochester, NY, (currently her home town) with Mitzie Collins as director.

The Hired Hands

The Hired Hands are a very local group for our festival (living about a mile from the festival site) and have attended some workshops at the festival in the past as well as a couple of Dulci-More meetings over the years. Their preference is for Scottish music (with some Irish and other Celtic music mixed in). Dulci-More Festival 15 was the first time that some of the group members gave workshops at a festival, and they were back for Dulci-More Festival 16, 17, 18 (featured in an evening concert that year), and 19. They also played for the Dulci-More Concert series in December of 2012. They are returning for Dulci-More Festival 20. These sisters from the Miller family include:

Allison Miller began her musical career at age three with Suzuki piano lessons under the tutelageof Carol Wunderle and although she continued to play piano for the next thirteen years, she picked up the harp at age fourteen and began to explore the traditional music scene. She attended workshops at the Ohio Scottish Arts School and, after completing an undergraduate degree in biology, had the opportunity to pursue post-graduate studies in Clarsarch (Scottish small harp) and Scot's Song at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, Scotland. Allison taught with the Comhaltas coinin Erin group in Scotland, has taught both privately and publicly in America, and has appeared in concert in Scotland, Canada, and at multiple venues in the States. She and Sairey play as a duo, "The Hired Hands,' and they released their first CD, Something, in the spring of 2009. She has her Doctorate in Physical Therapy and hopes to bring both good tunes and ergonomic playing techniques to the field. She has competed extensively and has been awarded the title of National Scottish Harp Champion of America after winning the 2012 National Scottish Harp Competition.

Sairey Miller has studied the Suzuki piano method under Mary Louise Foster for ten years, and discovered her love of traditional music when she began to play harp at age eight. She has taken workshops at the Ohio Scottish Arts School, at the 2007 Edinburgh International Harp Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, and has had the privilege of studying under such diverse musicians as Sue Richards, Ann Heymann, and Sharon Knowles of the US, Wendy Steward, Catriona McKay, and William Jackson of Scotland, and Robin Huw Bowen of Wales. She has completed two Bachelor’s Degrees in Biology and Philosophy and is currently pursuing Graduate School as a Physician Assistant. Sairey was awarded the title of National Scottish Harp Champion of America after winning the 2008 National Scottish Harp Competition.

Laura Miller has studied the Suzuki piano method under Mary Louis Foster since age six, and picked up the violin at age 10. She attended the Ohio Scottish Arts School and was duly converted to the realm of traditional music -- she now plays only Scottish, Irish, Quebecois, and Welsh fiddle tunes. Since 2005, she has studied under fiddle masters Andre Brunet of Quebec, Anna Wendy Stevenson and Mike Vass of Scotland, and Ed Pearlman of Maine, and she has competed at the Ohio Scottish Games, the Ligonier Highland Games in Pennsylvania, and also at the 2010 National Fiddle Competition in Virginia. She is currently playing with small folk groups and enjoying the college music scene where she is studying Liberal Arts at Wyoming Catholic College in Lander, Wyoming.

Micah Miller has studied the Suzuki piano method under Mary Louis Foster for the past nine years and picked up the Anglo concertina in 2005. With the concertina she is mainly self-taught, learning tunes by listening to CDs and playing with her sisters. In addition, however, she has had the chance to take workshops with brilliant concertina players such as Grainne Hambly, Caroline Keene, and Frank Edgley. The lighthearted tone of her concertina may be heard on several tracks on the family CD and she often joins her sisters onstage. She plays many local gigs and sessions, most recently being involved in a musical recording project for Christendom College in Front Royal, VA, where she is currently studying.

Maggie Miller began playing the piano at age 6 and found her niche in the traditional music scene when she picked up the tin whistle two years ago. She enjoys performing with the family band and has attended tin whistle workshops at the Celtic Roots Festival in Goderich, Ontario. Depending upon the tune, Maggie will pull out a multitude of smaller penny whistles, the Irish low whistle, piano, or percussion...so listen out for some amazing diversity of tones during the program!

Jeanne McDougall

Jeanne McDougall from Norfolk, VA regularly performs with Bob Zentz. This is her first Dulci-More Festival. With a friendship dating back to the early 1970s, Bob and Jeanne combine his lifetime of bringing traditional music as "edu-tainment" to students of all ages, with her work as a Ph.D. candidate with a growing reputation for helping restore lost musical "soundscapes" and adding to an understanding of music in a historical context. She writes, sings, and plays ukulele, guitar, mountain dulcimer, and recorders.

Bob and Jeanne are old friends and life partners who share a love of music and history -- which they love sharing with others!

Jeanne is from eastern Virginia and began playing folk music in the mid-1970s. A McDougall by marriage, her own Scots heritage is Wallace through her maternal grandfather. Jeanne's range spans contemporary acoustic and bluegrass as well as Celtic music, and she is also an accomplished songwriter. A resident of San Diego from 2000 until 2012, Jeanne was a member of longtime Scottish favorites Glenfinnan and also teamed with singer Marc Townsend in the duo McDougall & Townsend. Prior to moving to San Diego, Jeanne played in a number of bands over the years, including the trio The McDougalls with her daughters, and in spring 2001, founded the House of Scotland Ceilidh Band.

Projects include:

It Happened at the White House (2007) -- A selection of traditional American tunes prepared for storyteller Lynn Ruehlmann's dramatic presentation of true stories of the lives of the eight Virginia presidents and their wives, near the banks of the Potomac River.

The Stingray Point Story (2008) -- A collection of original songs composed for Raynell Smith's play of the same name, written for the 400th anniversary of the arrival of John Smith's shallop at the present-day Stingray Point, Virginia, where the Rappahannock River meets the Chesapeake Bay. This project was selected to be part of the Opening Plenary Session of the American Historican Association Annual Meeting in January 2010.

Musical Virginiana, Vol. 1: Stories from the Rappahannock and Potomac (2008) -- Music from the previous two projects, in the first of a series of music from our home state of Virginia.

Homemade Music (2009) -- Based on the program Bob has taught for many years to help students of all ages to learn some of the fundamentals of music, combined with songs from Jeanne's repertoire – a gift for your family from ours.

The Day Kikotan Became Hampton (2010) -- Part of the 400th anniversary of the founding of Hampton VA, the oldest continuous English-speaking settlement in North American, this program features a "re-imagining" of musical encounters between Algonquian and Anglophonic cultures on the lower Virginia peninsula.

Shipmates (2010-2012) -- A nautical trip through a collection of traditional and original maritime songs, with two more adaptations of nautical poetry by C. Fox Smith, including the title track.

“The Prints They All Tell Us:” National Song Selections from 1810 to 1821 (2011) -- A collection of newspaper songs that appeared in American publications during the long war of 1812, prepared for the USC/ Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute’s symposium for The Civil War of 1812 by Alan Taylor.

Created Equal (2012-2013) – a musical setting and video adapted from the Gettysburg Address, with a study guide, for the 150th anniversary of the address, November 2013.

“Fit to be sung in Streets:” Political song in British Colonial America, 1750-1776 (2014) – based on Jeanne’s dissertation of the same name, this program reveals the soundtrack to revolution.

Gary & Toni Sager

Gary & Toni Sager are from Waverly, Ohio. They performed and did workshops for us at Dulci-More Festivals 12-19, as well as vending with Prussia Valley Dulcimers Acoustic Music Shop and are back again to do all of those things for Dulci-More Festival 19. Gary became interested in the Mountain Dulcimer in 1991 after seeing David Schnaufer's "Fischer's Hornpipe" video on CMT. He built a dulcimer in late 1991, then began building seriously in 1992 and has been building and playing since that time. Gary has taught playing workshops at Fort New Salem Dulcimer Festival, Dulcimer Doin's in Dayton, Ohio, Buckeye Dulcimer Festival in Ashley, Ohio, The Great River Road Dulcimer Festival in Grafton, IL, Yellowbanks Dulcimer Festival in Owensboro, KY, Chestnut Ridge Dulcimer Festival in Greensburg, PA and several other local festivals. Gary and Toni have done occasional performances at some of these festivals. Their CD is Rats in the Fence Corner. Gary can be heard on Doug Felt's A Little of This & A Little of That CD.

Toni has been playing the autoharp for about nine years, after getting an Oscar Schmidt as a Christmas present. She had seen a lady playing one at the Fraley Mountain Music Festival at Carter Caves State Resort in Ky. and fell in love with the instrument. Toni mostly plays chord style as she plays along with husband Gary, who plays the mountain dulcimer. She has taught beginner workshops at several regional festivals. She really enjoys getting folks started on the autoharp. Toni and Gary have done occasional performances at several dulcimer festivals. Their recently released recording of instrumentals, Rats in the Fence Corner, features them with appearances by Doug Felt and Stephen Seifert.

Linda Sigismondi

Linda Sigismondi is a mountain dulcimer player and folksinger from Gallipolis and director of the Fort New Salem Dulcimer Festival. Her music includes traditional Appalachian tunes, traditional and contemporary folk music, and some original compositions that feature environmental themes. She has five mountain dulcimer books: Appalachian Ballads & Songs, Songs from Canal Days, Christmas Songs, Celtic Tunes, and Old Time and Fiddle Tunes. Linda has released a recording, Songs from Canal Days, with Bill Schilling and has companion recordings for her other books. She also plays guitar, Native American flute, Kratz zither, and MacArthur harp. Linda has taught workshops and performed at many folk music festivals in West Virginia, Ohio, and New York. Linda has played at Fort New Salem, West Virginia, for the Harvest and Christmas Festivals for many years. She is a Dulci-More member, attending a few activities a year even though she lives in Gallipolis. She has won many competitions at Roscoe Village Dulcimer Days and other competitions. Linda has been part of all of our Dulci-More Festivals.

Smokin Fez Monkeys

The Smokin Fez Monkeys is a modern jug band that puts the fun back into music again. They play a wacky mixture of songs and tunes from several decades ago, mixed in with a number of snappy original ones written by a few of the band members. There are more than a few surprises along the way. It’s a sort of a ragtime-cartoon-Vaudeville-circus-hobo-gypsy-jazz thing.

The band consists of:

Tim Wallace is a well-known northeast Ohio singer and songwriter mostly known for his intelligently funny songs. Tim is a veteran of the Kent State Folk Festival and a winner of two songwriting contest at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield KS in 2006. Tim sings with a rich, deep voice and plays a variety of instruments including jug, banjo/guitar, slide whistle and various noisemakers. Monkeyname:Bullfrog Willie Plunkett

Holly Overton is one of the real musicians in the group. She plays fiddle extraordinarily well. A classically trained violinist, she has a great sense of music and always finds just the right thing to make a song really pop. She will surprise you with exquisite vocal work. Monkeyname: Princess Petunia Lee Petalbottom

Bill Drake is the percussionist of the group, but he’s also a multi-instrumentalist (great guitar player), and singer. Bill plays a whole collection of drums, bells, blocks, washboard, and pretty much anything you can put on a stick. That's right. A stick. A jinglestick, to be precise. Bill has a great solid feel for the rhythm of the tunes. Think Spike Jones! Monkeyname: Gnarly Snag

Jim Stone is the other half of the rhythm section on upright bass. Jim also wears many hats: Fedora, cowboy, derby, etc. Occasionally the band will let him play guitar, too. Monkeyname: Uh, Clem

Mark Sherepita is the other songwriter in the group. He’s no longer officially in the group, but often joins us at shows. His style fits perfectly with the jug band genre. His songs are also very interesting and funny in a twisted sort of way. Mark also sings and plays a resonator guitar, harmonica, trombone, and scary percussion instruments. Monkeyname: Rattletrap Jack Hokum

The members of the Smokin Fez Monkeys come from around northeastern Ohio. They played for Dulci-More Festival 14.

Square Thirteen

Square Thirteen is named for a block of real estate in historic downtown Lancaster, Ohio. It is the place where General William Tecumseh Sherman and Senator Thomas Ewing grew up, and it communicates our desire to connect with history both instrumentally and with our songwriting.

The band came together from different perspectives, each having been forged in varying musical fires: Craig Heath has a background in gospel music. Laura Elder comes from the Celtic music world. Jeff Branham comes from a well-known bluegrass tradition. Barbie, our newest member has a diverse background in vocal harmonies. Their album, Simple Song fuses acoustic guitars, a mountain dulcimer, and an electric bass with unique vocals for a beautiful and interesting mountain sound. Snow Globe is their new Cd featuring both original and traditional Christmas music.

The members of Square Thirteen are from the Lancaster area. Laura performed and di workshops for Dulci-More Festival 18 as part of Evening Rose. Laura and Jeff did an extended open stage segment for Dulci-More Festival 19.

Stringed Fantasy

Stringed Fantasy returns from the Canton-Massillon and beyond area. Current members include Rosalind Wilson, Alma Houston, Greg Zuder, Linda Hill, and Sue Wheeler with hammered dulcimer, guitar, folk harp, violin, recorder, accordion, percussion, etc. They enjoy playing Celtic, folk, civil war era, and a variety of music. Several are Dulci-More members and some are members of the Canton Folk Song Society. Sue and Roz started giving workshops at Dulci-More Festival 2, and Stringed Fantasy has been with us for Dulci-More Festivals 3-11, 14, 15, 18 & 19.

Adam Sutch & Sutch Sounds

Adam Sutch and Sutch Sounds will return this year from Daisytown PA. Adam is 24 years old and has been playing, performing, competing, and teaching the hammered dulcimer now since the age of 11. Adam is currently completing college. Adam has been the Mid-eastern Regional Hammered Dulcimer Champion. In 2009, he placed second in the National Hammered Dulcimer competition at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas and third in 2008 (and he was in the top five in 2010 and sixth in 2007). His group Sutch Sounds consists of his brother, Aaron, age 21 on the marimbula; his brother, Austin, age 16 on the bodhran; and his grandparents, Ron & Darlene Howes, on guitars (and sometimes solo or with just his grandfather). Their repertoire includes a wide variety of music including original, Irish, Celtic, traditional tunes, and much more. He and his band, Sutch Sounds, have recorded four CDs: one completely compiled of original songs, two CD’s of Irish and traditional tunes, and one album of Christmas favorites. You can see Adam’s upcoming events or learn more about him at http://adamsutch.tripod.com.

Sutch Sounds performed at Dulci-More Festivals 12, 14, 15, 17, 18, & 19.

Alice & Earl Whitehill

Alice Whitehill is a Dulci-More member from Hookstown, PA. She has been a part of all Dulci-More Festivals. Alice sings and plays dulcimers, autoharps, guitars, and more. She is often joined in performance by Earl Whitehill (her husband), Rachel Huff (her daughter), Deb or Kristi Boyd, or others. She also leads the Dulcimer Players of the Upper Ohio Valley. She and Earl have won a variety of competitions at Roscoe Village Dulcimer Days. Alice sells musical instruments and supplies as Stitches & Strings and is a vendor at this Dulci-More Festival.

 

Additional Workshops by Tom Ball, Mary-Jo Ward, Dulci-More Members (Jim Miller, Kathy & Richard Small), Festival Vendors

Performers & Performance Order Subject to Change as Needed

 

Festival Vendors

Alice Whitehill (Stitches & Strings)

Alice Ann Whitehill will be back again for Dulci-More Festival 18 with stock from Stitches and Strings. Alice expects to have a variety of instructional, song, and tune books for different instruments. She will also have accessories including strings, stands, electronic tuners and tuning clips, picks, and more. Alice also has several instruments in the shop including lap dulcimers and Oscar Schmidt guitars and autoharps. Alice is a Dulci-More member and has been a part of all of our Dulci-More Festivals. Alice has regularly contributed prizes for our Name That Old Time (or Other) Tune Contest and will do so again this year.

Lynn McLeish

Lynn will have a selection of home made and other musical accessories available for festival attendees. This is her sixth time vending at a festival, but she was in charge of our Dulci-More Festival kitchen for Festivals 13 & 14 and is once again a key part of the planning and working group for this year’s festival.

Prussia Valley Dulcimers Acoustic Music Shop

Gary and Toni Sager were with us for the first time at Dulci-More Festival 12 and this will be their ninth year with us. They have been vending at festivals around the country for several years with the Prussia Valley Dulcimers that Gary makes and many other products. After years of doing that, they also opened their Prussia Valley Dulcimers Acoustic Music Shop in Waverly, Ohio a couple of years ago with a full stock of folk instruments, books, recordings, and accessories. The shop is located at 122 North Market Street, Waverly, OH 45690; 740-941-1271.

Timbre Hill Dulcimers

Paul Conrad is from Holmes County, Ohio. He started building mountain dulcimers for a while in the mid 70s, and he returned to building them in 2005. He mixes woods in visually stimulating patterns on some of his dulcimers to give them a unique look. He has taken his dulcimers to several festivals. This is Paul’s seventh time at a Dulci-More Festival.

Winsome Expressions

Marge Diamond will be back with Winsome Expressions including airbrushed music themed shirts and other items for sale. Look for her latest "Ultimate Totes" with music themes. Marge is based in Elyria and can be reached at mtmarge7@windstream.net.

 

 


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Contact Information

Bill Schilling, Dulci-More Festival Director

984 Homewood Avenue

Salem, Ohio 44460-3816

234-564-3852

234-564-DULC

bill@billschilling.org

bill@dulcimore.org