Appalachian Dulcimer Traditions - Paperback

by Ralph Lee Smith (Author)

This book describes the recovery of the Appalachian dulcimer's lost history, tracing the dulcimer's roots in a German instrument, the scheitholt; describing the early history of the scheitholt and the dulcimer in America, and outlining the development of distinctive dulcimer styles in Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and Kentucky. This fully revised and expanded edition provides additional information about the instrument's history before the Civil War and discusses traditions and types that are still being discovered and documented.

Author Biography

Ralph Lee Smith is a leading authority on the history of the Appalachian dulcimer and is a performer and teacher of traditional American folk music. He is the author of Folk Songs of Old Virginia (2009) and Greenwich Village: The Happy Folk Singing Days, 1950s and 1960s (2008).