2017
SCDH Festival Bios 
Meet Our Visiting Artists!
Bios Of All Artists &
Performers Will Be In Printed Program
CD Sample:
“Waltz for
Susan”
Composed by Bob Webb
Performed by Heidi Muller an Bob Webb on
their CD
‘Dulcimer Moon’
www.heidimuller.com
Heidi Muller and Bob Webb cross the musical boundaries
between original songs and traditional tunes, blending each other’s
influences from the Pacific Northwest to the Appalachian Mountains.
Featuring mountain dulcimers, guitars, mandolin, electric cello, and
Muller’s crystalline vocals, they have released four duo recordings: Up
Hurricane Creek, Dulcimer Moon, Light the Winter’s Dark, and Seeing
Things.
They tour widely to concert halls and festivals such as the Berkeley
Dulcimer Gathering, Colorado Dulcimer Festival, Kentucky Music Week,
Dulcimer Chautauqua on the Wabash, Ohio Valley Gathering, and Great
American Dulcimer Convention. They have performed at the National Music
Museum and appeared on the NPR live performance radio show, Mountain
Stage.
Heidi and Bob have each played mountain dulcimer for over 30 years and
had parallel introductions to the instrument before teaching in their
own communities.
HEIDI, living in Seattle and performing as a songwriter and guitarist,
mainly taught herself, influenced by the dulcimer playing of Joni
Mitchell and Lorraine Lee Hammond. She began to offer workshops across
the Pacific Northwest.
BOB, who already played cello, guitar, and mandolin, picked up a Homer
Ledford dulcimer in 1967 in Virginia. He taught himself in Charleston,
WV, inspired by dulcimer maker Ray Epler and local traditional
musicians. He designed his own cardboard box dulcimers and taught over
700 children and adults to make and play them in southern West Virginia.
Heidi and Bob met at a Northeast Folk Alliance conference and started to
perform together in 2003.
Described by Dulcimer Players News as “one of the dulcimer community’s
best songwriters and performers,” Heidi enjoys both strumming and
fingerpicking and has written eight mountain dulcimer songbooks
including Dulcimer Duos and West Virginia Fiddle Tunes. She especially
enjoys writing harmony arrangements for two or more parts.
Bob was an original member of the house band for the NPR show Mountain
Stage, where he used his electric dulcimer, guitar, mandolin and cello
to accompany such artists as Odetta, Tom Paxton, Shawn Colvin, Bill
Staines and Arlo Guthrie. He also performed for several years
with Dave
Haas and has engineered and appeared on Dave’s CDs. Bob has a snappy
strumming style and enjoys playing tunes based on chord patterns and
interesting rhythms. He has published his own books for dulcimer,
mandolin and fingerpicked guitar.
Heidi and Bob live in Joseph, OR where they continue to make their
living performing, touring, teaching, recording, and hosting their own
summer music camp, Dulcimer Week in the Wallowas. For more information,
please visit www.heidimuller.com
Ruth and Steve Smith, from the Blue Ridge
Mountains of North Carolina, play a unique blend of
Appalachian Americana music with Celtic roots featuring
hammered dulcimer, mountain dulcimer, guitar, and old-time
banjo. Ruth and Steve play and sing the music reminiscent of
the old homeplace where family, love, faith, and sense of
place are the foundations of heritage and traditions.
They have been playing music together for over 40 years and
have performed extensively in the U.S. from North Carolina
to Hawaii and abroad in Scotland, England, Japan, Korea, the
Philippines, Hong Kong, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand,
Tonga, and Canada.
RUTH, a native North Carolinian, studied music at the
University of Illinois and composes music especially for the
hammered dulcimer. Her compositions have been featured on
NPR's All Songs Considered, Sirius XM satellite radio, PBS
TV "Song of the Mountains" and in Dulcimer Players News
magazine. Dirty Linen Folk & World Music Magazine says “
Ruth Smith's touch on the hammered dulcimer is absolutely
magical, with exquisite phrasing, highlighting the range of
the instrument especially on her own pieces.” She teaches
hammered and Appalachian mountain dulcimer workshops at
festivals and folk schools throughout the country and is the
author of From Heart to Hands and Touch of Grace, two
popular hammered dulcimer instructional books of her
compositions and arrangements. Ruth is also accomplished in
traditional Appalachian fiber arts, including weaving and
spinning.
STEVE, an ASCAP award-winning songwriter, adds fingerstyle
guitar, clawhammer banjo, ukulele and vocals to the duo.
Dulcimer Players News says, “He is a master storyteller and
the perfect vocalist to convey the meaning of his lyrics.
His songs stand out for their imagery and melodic strength
…on par with John Denver’s songs.” Dirty Linen Folk & World
Music Magazine says Steve’s accompaniment on guitar and
banjo provides "a traditional…rich, true sound" to their
Appalachian Americana music. Steve has a Master’s degree in
Appalachian Studies from Appalachian State University with
an emphasis in Appalachian music and folklife. He teaches
workshops nationally on guitar, banjo, ukulele, recording,
songwriting, copyrights & publishing, live sound
reinforcement, and performing techniques.
Steve and Ruth perform annually at MerleFest and other major
festivals nationwide, as well as on the PBS TV series Song
of the Mountains, NPR’s All Songs Considered and Thistle &
Shamrock. Their recordings are played on Sirius/XM Satellite
Radio, Pandora, Spotify, Highlander Radio Networks, NPR, and
radio stations around the U.S. They have been featured in
Dulcimer Players News magazine.
In 2014, Steve and Ruth were inducted into America's Old
Time Country Music Hall of Fame for their performing,
preserving, & promoting traditional country music. They were
named "Americana Instrumental Group of the Year" at the 2013
Appalachian Cultural Music Association Awards, and were 2009
Roots Music nominees in the JPF International Music Awards,
the world's largest awards for independent musicians.
www.steveandruth.com