Patti Amelotte
Hammered Dulcimer
www.pattiamelotte.com
www.looneysfortune.com
www.flutterbymusic.com
Patti Amelotte
became interested in the Hammered Dulcimer and Traditional
Irish music after attaining a Bachelors degree in piano
performance from Chapman University. She won the California
State Hammered Dulcimer Championship and has performed
throughout SoCal as a soloist and in the bands Better than
One with Barbara Gershman and Looney’s Fortune with Matt
Tonge and Georgiana Hennessy. Her newest adventure is
teaming up with Brenda Hunter in the duo, Flutter-By Music.
They perform wonderful musical arrangements on 2 hammered
dulcimers, harp, fiddle and accordion. Patti and Brenda will
present a 1 hour concert as well as coordinated workshops as
part of SCDH September activities.
Patti has performed on many television/movie soundtracks and
with the San Diego Symphony in the “Lord of the Rings
Suite”. Patti's recordings include "Granuaile," Better Than
One - “Les Cloches d’Hiver,” Looney’s Fortune “West Coast
Irish” and "Bird in the Bush." Patti teaches private and
group lessons in Southern California and at other festivals.
As Kingsley Sessions, she hosts concerts and classes in her
studio and on Zoom. Patti also does minor repairs on/and
restringing of hammered dulcimers and sells Dusty Strings
hammered dulcimers through her business - Patti Amelotte
Music: Instruments and Services
www.pattiamelotte.com
www.looneysfortune.com
www.flutterbymusic.com
Bill Dempsey
Mountain Dulcimer,
Ukulele
http://www.billdempseymusic.net
Bill Dempsey: “I started playing trombone when I was 9
years old. I did my first professional gig when I was in Jr.
High. I started teaching in 1973. I built my first dulcimer
in 1976. My main influences are Jean Ritchie and Richard
Farina. I play 4 equidistant string dulcimer. I'm a
singer/multi-instrumentalist. The dulcimer has helped me
maintain and find peace and serenity while teaching
beginning band, violin & recorder to 3rd, 4th, & 5th
graders.” Bill is now retired from a long career as a
full-time public school music teacher. Bill continues an
active performing and private teaching schedule. He teaches
online and from his home in San Juan Capistrano, CA. An avid
surfer, he has a deep and abiding love of the sea and sea
music of all kinds.
Barbara Gershman
Hammered Dulcimer
www.dulcimernotes.com
Barbara Gershman first heard the Hammered Dulcimer on a
recording in a Yosemite gift shop and found a teacher, Patti
Amelotte. Learning to play the dulcimer provided balance to
community college teaching and led to many friendships and
musical opportunities. She founded ‘On A Lark’ Celtic trio
with Jill Cassidy and Terry Gucwa, succeeding the trio,
‘Dulcimania’. She also plays accordion, especially with
Fountain Valley Singers & Strummers. She and Patti Amelotte
perform as a duo ‘Better Than One’ for Chapman University's
annual Wassail. She also plays with the ensemble ‘Legacy,’
the ‘Sans Frontieres International Folk Dance Band’
including keyboard, performs solo, ‘shepherds’ various
dulcimer groups in SoCal and teaches beginning hammered
dulcimer. Much of this has continued during the pandemic via
Zoom and recorded videos. Barbara believes that the hammered
dulcimer is ‘Music for the Soul’ and that SCDH helps keep
traditional music alive. She is SCDH VP, Festival Director &
E-newsletter/calendar editor.
www.dulcimernotes.com
Terry Gucwa
Cello
Terry Gucwa is known for bringing a touch of class to
any musical venture as he fuses his Cello with just about
any type of music. He is a mult-instrumentalist, playing
cello, fretted dulcimer, guitar, trombone, recorder and
accordion. Terry has gained quite a reputation as an expert
arranger as part of his contribution to many ensembles: When
Pigs Fly!, On a Lark (Celtic Trio), Madison Avenue Folk
international dance band, and his international folk dance
band, Sans Frontières (Without Borders). During the pandemic
he has produced many innovative stay-at-home composite music
videos, sending arrangements and guide recordings to the 8
SF band members to video themselves. Terry then did his
wizardry at editing and included dancers! He is also the
author of “Easy and Eas-ified Jam Tunes and Songs.” He has
been a long-time supporter of The Living Tradition (TLT) and
SCDH. He publishes the SCDH Dulcimer Events Monthly
E-newsletter / Calendar.
Karen Harvey
Hammered Dulcimer
Karen Harvey was smitten by the sound of the
hammered dulcimer many years ago. Her passion for learning
and playing the hammered dulcimer has led her on a musical
journey, which includes performing, recording, teaching, and
composing. While engaged in a fulfilling professional
nursing career, Karen led an active music life, too which
has included teaching and performing in California, Idaho,
Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland, Washington D.C., and
Pennsylvania. She has played as a member for several bands
such as: Dulcimania – (California); Kairos and Friends and
Late to Dinner – (East Coast); and Lilies of the West, an
all-female string band, - (California). Karen has published
a booklet of 20 original tunes, Dancing on Waves, and
continues to compose new tunes.
Brenda Hunter
Hammered Dulcimer
Multi-instrumentalist, Brenda Hunter, is classically
trained but feels she found her niche when she discovered
the hammered dulcimer in 1992 and, consequently, the world
of traditional music. Since winning the National
Hammered Dulcimer Competition in 1995, she has been a
featured performer/instructor at numerous festivals across
the country. Bakersfield, CA is her home base where
she plays regularly throughout the area a a soloist on both
dulcimer and Celtic harp. Brenda also performs in a due
with her husband, fellow multi-instrumentalist, Dave Ogden, in a
duo, Flutter-By Music with fellow dulcimer player
Patti Amelotte, and with her world/Celtic band, Banshee
in the Kitchen. Brenda retired from her high
school music teaching job in 2018 and is enjoying having
more time to devote to her musical pursuits. and with
Leo Kretzner
Mountain Dulcimer
leokretz@gmail.com
Leo Kretzner Leo Kretzner – Tradition Meets Innovation
Leo and the mountain dulcimer met in 1975, and neither has
been the same ever since. He has been a major innovator of
the instrument, spanning from Celtic jigs and reels to blues
and rock, and from Appalachian to contemporary, with guitar
and vocals added to the mix.
Leo has performed and taught for over forty years at folk
festivals and coffee houses all over the country. He is
working on a new album, Mixed Colors/Art of the 4-String
Dulcimer, out by Fall 2022. His other albums are Dulcimer
Fair (’77), Pigtown Fling (’79), Bold Orion (’84), and
Not-So-Still-Life (’90).
Joellen Lapidus
Mountain Dulcimer
www.lapidusmusic.com
Joellen Lapidus is one of the pioneers of contemporary
mountain dulcimer playing, songwriting, and building. She
blends Appalachian, Indian, Arabic, jazz, classical, and pop
musical styles to give the mountain dulcimer a new range of
rhythmic, melodic, and tuning possibilities. As a dulcimer
maker, her work influenced many of the dulcimer builders of
the 70's and 80's. Her instruments were known for their
innovative shapes, exquisite sound hole and peghead inlay
work. She introduced the dulcimer to Joni Mitchell and made
three instruments for her between 1968 and 1976. She has
also made instruments for David Crosby, Jackson Browne,
Wendy Waldman, Garth Hudson and Harry Stiles.
She is a gifted teacher and is the author of the 2nd edition
of her classic dulcimer instruction book “LAPIDUS ON
DULCIMER 2". She has recorded 2 CDs, “Joellen Lapidus Live
in Concert” and “Dulcimer Music For the Pelican Ballet”.
You can view her work and reach her at
www.lapidusmusic.com
Patty McCollom
Bodhran & Tin
Whistle
www.musicbypatty.com
Patty McCollom has played bodhran (Irish frame drum)
and tinwhistle professionally, for over 30 years. She is a
multi-instrumentalist, playing tinwhistle, banjo, fiddle,
and bodhran, and sings with several bands. She has toured
internationally with various groups and performed at
festivals throughout the United States. Patty is a jam
organizer and an enthusiastic leader in the traditional
music community. She is president of the The Living
Tradition, an organization promoting traditional music and
dance. Contact Patty at:
www.musicbypatty.com
or
mccollomp@sbcglobal.net
Sarah Morgan
Mountain Dulcimer
sarahmorganmusic@gmail.com
Sarah Kate Morgan started her musical journey at 7 years
old when she was introduced to old-time music through a
dulcimer that her grandfather built. From there, she has
gone on to develop a uniquely intricate and virtuosic style
inspired by the traditional Appalachian music she grew up
with in rural East Tennessee. At 18, Sarah placed 1st at the
2012 National Mountain Dulcimer Championships held in
Winfield, KS. She recently graduated from Morehead State
University in eastern Kentucky with degrees in Traditional
Music, Appalachian Studies, and Arts Administration. Sarah
Kate also performs as a regular member of the Michelle
Canning Band, has recorded many albums, calls square dances,
attempts to quilt and grow things in her garden, and works
at the Hindman Settlement School in eastern Kentucky as the
Traditional Arts Education Director.
Kevin Roth
Mountain Dulcimer
www.kevinrothmusic.com
Kevin Roth entered the dulcimer scene in 1974 and
quickly became known as one of the innovators of dulcimer
music. From 1974-1978 he recorded a dozen albums for
Folkways Records and then formed his own label now numbering
a total of forty-nine albums to his discography. In 2020
Kevin +introduced ‘Dulcimeditation’ to the dulcimer world,
and now teaches this form of playing along with his personal
life-coaching career.
Cyntia Smith
Mountain Dulcimer
www.cyntiasmith.com
Cyntia
Smith is an internationally known fretted dulcimer artist,
vocalist, composer, and arranger of Renaissance and British
Isles traditional music. Cyntia recorded and co-produced
five critically acclaimed albums with Ruth Barrett between
1980 and 1993. She is one of the pioneers in the development
of chord-melody classical fingerpicking style and has been
teaching the dulcimer and performing since 1979.
With luthier Dale Foye, she helped develop and build the
Aeolus classical dulcimer, a hybrid of the Spanish classical
guitar and the mountain dulcimer, and added her unique sound
hole carvings and custom abalone inlays to many Aeolus
dulcimers and to Mr. Foye’s guitars.
Cyntia co-founded the Southern California Dulcimer Heritage
and the Harvest Festival of Dulcimers, and served as the
artistic director from 1995 to 2006. Cyntia has been an
instructor and performer at numerous festivals across the
country, and continues to compose and teach the dulcimer.
Her debut solo album, Soul Tending, features her original
songs and instrumentals interwoven with guitar, percussion,
flute, and cello. Cyntia can be contacted, and her physical
and digital CD albums are available on her website:
www.cyntiasmith.com
Ruth Smith
Hammered Dulcimer
www.steveandruth.com
Ruth
Smith, 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.
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 Smith
Guitar & Ukulele
www.steveandruth.com
Steve
Smith, 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 at many 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 (8 CDs) are played on Sirius/XM Satellite Radio,
Pandora, Spotify, Highlander Radio Networks, NPR, and radio
stations around the U.S. They have been featured artists in
Dulcimer Players News.
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
info@steveandruth.com
2022
SCDH Month of Music Bios 