Bigfoot, Bluegrass & Boogie Fests Too
Good Morning, Y'all & Happy Friday!
So this week I corresponded with a number of local dulcimer players (within a couple hours' drive time) and they've been filling me in on nearby music festivals.
We can attend, of course, the Evart festival (ODPC Funfest), and that's only a five-hour drive from home. Folkcraft (and Aly and I) have been attending the Funfest for years; I think I started going there every year around 2012. Evart is known still as a hammered dulcimer festival, but it has always embraced other traditional instruments, so Folkcraft has been a vendor there for quite a long time.
But closer to home? It turns out there are three traditional music festivals within a couple of hours' driving time, and one of them is well under an hour's travel.
Bigfoot & Bluegrass
The "Bigfoot And Bluegrass" festival is in Gwinn, Michigan on September 25 and 26, 2026. Lots of music, it looks like. I know at least one dulcimer player from down state who's planning on attending, and there are community events and outdoor activities, too. It's just 23 miles from home, so this one is really attractive just because of the proximity to our new home town of Rock, Michigan. (And no, we're not actually living in the town of Rock, we're a few miles outside of town, but that's the nearest place "on the map" we can identify with!)
Summer Concert Series & Boogie Fests
And getting away from traditional music, our little town has a regular Wednesday night concert series throughout the summer. Local bands, mostly, but fun community events (with live music!) in July and in August. Last summer I was camping in our woods (this was "before our cabins were built") and I could hear the bass guitar through the forest. The trees attenuated all of the high frequencies, but when the wind was still, and the aspen trees weren't rattling their leaves, the bass guitar was clear as could be.
Our little town also has a three-day "Boogie Fest Too" event. Live bands for three days, dancing, ATV riding on the trails, and camping. I looked up the scheduled acts on YouTube - found live performances for a couple of the groups - and they're GOOD ensembles. Mostly contemporary-ish music, but one group (Copper Box) had a mix of all kinds of genres, from polkas to Pink Floyd to traditional repertoire. Boogie Fest Too is September 4-6, 2026.
But Back To Traditional Music
Marquette, Michigan (on the shores of Lake Superior) is about an hour's drive north of us. Marquette hosts the "Hiawatha Traditional Music Festival" on July 17 - July 19, 2026. This festival has been happening for nearly 50 years. Lots of regional and national level performers here. I didn't see any dulcimer players as headliners, but maybe next year!
Also on that same weekend, July 17-18, 2026, there's the Aura Jamboree, in the very small community of Aura, Michigan. This town of roughly 200 has lots of local talent, including a dulcimer player (not me!) with a solo act on the main stage. Aura, Michigan, is on the east side of the Keweenaw Bay, on the coast of Lake Superior. Our little town of Rock is largely sheltered from the big winter storms, but I would imagine that Aura measures its snowfall in yards, not in feet or inches.
It looks like this year (maybe all years?) there is a big focus on traditional Finnish music and dancing. Which makes sense, since so many Finnish people moved here in the late 1800s and early 1900s. I'm told that the Upper Peninsula of Michigan has the largest population of Finnish people (or their descendants) outside of Finland itself.
So I now have eight "Wednesday Night Concerts" to enjoy in Rock, and a three-day festival in Rock. Plus, three traditional music festivals. All without getting on a road larger than two lanes, and all within a two-hour drive.
There's Still Much Work To Be Done
I need to be staying in the workshop, finishing off dulcimer orders, but there's so much going on in our neighborhood that I'm already deciding which events to attend this year, and which ones to put off until 2027!
I'm going to go finish off another dulcimer now, Y'all. The move put the shop so far behind schedule, but I'm gaining on the backlog, I promise!
Have a great weekend - maybe go find a concert local to you, and sit and enjoy the performers?
Thanks for reading!
Richard Ash - luthier-who-will-probably-hear-more-guitar-players-than-dulcimer-players-this-summer-but-that's-okay-since-the-guitar-players-will-all-upgrade-their-instruments-to-dulcimers-eventually!
FOLKCRAFT® DULCIMER PLAYER OF THE WEEK: RICHARD SWITZER
Folkcraft: How long have you been playing the dulcimer?
Richard: I started playing the dulcimer in 2005 and joined a DAA Dulcimer Club. My first dulcimer was a teardrop McSpadden.
Folkcraft: When did you get your first Folkcraft dulcimer?
Richard: My first Folkcraft® is a teardrop FolkRoots® walnut/butternut dulcimer which I received on Wednesday, December 13, 2023. On Thursday, December 14, I was playing Christmas carols on it in a church program. (It was ordered after the 2023 Kentucky Music Week.)
Folkcraft: Where do you enjoy playing your dulcimer?
Richard: I enjoy playing at churches, assisted living and nursing homes, for groups such as the Kiwanis Club, and at our club meetings. I have also played for several funerals. I enjoy attending festivals and...
CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF RICHARD'S STORY AND READ ABOUT OTHER FOLKCRAFT PLAYERS LIKE RICHARD & YOU
FOLKCRAFT® PLAYERS - WE WANT TO INTERVIEW YOU!!
No new player to add to our online dulcimer community today, but we are glad to be able to re-feature Richard, a very active dulcimer player. Way to get out and spread the dulcimer joy, Richard!
There's still plenty of room for more of you, folks! Maybe we could feature you and your Folkcraft dulcimer(s) next week?
Who's Going To Write In Next? Keep The Family Growing?
It really is super-easy to join our online dulcimer community. Just three easy steps:
1) Send an email to: newsletter@folkcraft.com
2) With the answers to the four questions below
3) Attach a photo of yourself with your Folkcraft dulcimer(s)
We look forward to receiving your submission & featuring you in our newsletter real soon!
1. How long have you been playing the dulcimer?
2. When did you get your first Folkcraft dulcimer?
3. Where do you enjoy playing your dulcimer?
4. What other hobbies, or interests, do you have besides playing dulcimer?
WE'RE OFFERING A $25 FOLKCRAFT GIFT CARD TO ANYONE WHO ANSWERS THE FOUR EASY QUESTIONS LISTED ABOVE, AND SENDS IN A PHOTO (OF YOU WITH YOUR FOLKCRAFT DULCIMER). IT'S REALLY SO EASY TO DO!
WE JUST LOVE HEARING FROM Y'ALL!
This Week's Featured YouTube Video:
This week, we will work on (and think about) that "A" string. Instead of moving so far up either D string, let's try finding these notes closer to where you are on the A-string. Have fun! Click on the image below to listen & learn.
We have a slew (that's a fancy luthier word for "bunch") of videos for you to watch on our YouTube channel. Click here to see the full list. Be sure to comment on a video, and subscribe to the channel - either action helps us a LOT with YouTube's suggestion algorithms.
As we close out the month of love, we've got a pair of books by two of our dulcimer-community power couples: Larry & Elaine Conger and John & Karen Keane. The Conger book is full of standard and bass dulcimer duets, and the Keane book has duets for Native-American flute and standard dulcimer. Get together with your own loved one, or favorite music-making partner, and give one, or both, of these excellent volumes a try. Just click on the covers to download.
STANDARD & BASS DULCIMER ARRANGEMENTS
by Larry & Elaine Conger
Amazing duets from an amazing music-making couple. Larry and Elaine have brought us something special - duets for standard (DAD) and bass (DAD, an octave lower) mountain dulcimer.
You need this book! (47 pages)
DULCI-FLUTE
by John & Karen Keane
Here's a SUPER collection of duets for mountain dulcimer and Native American flute. To my knowledge, only a few of these collections have ever made it into print, and we carry ALL THREE OF THEM here at DulcimerDownloads.com and Folkcraft.com.
These are all original tunes (not rehashed versions of old-time songs!) Notation is written out for the flute, and chords for the dulcimer. Give this a try - you'll have a blast!
A recording of each song is included (performed by the authors). This will allow you to really get into the playing quickly! (29 pages)
These books are published by Fingers Of Steel, and are made available here as an authorized, licensed download.
SOME OF THE SONGS IN THIS BOOK:
Beautiful Star Of Bethlehem
CC Rider
Greensleeves
Greensleeves Jig
I Am A Pilgrim
I'll Be All Smiles Tonight
Just A Closer Walk With Thee
Kelly's Fancy
King Of The Fairies
Midnight Special
Pig Ankle Rag
Saint James' Infirmary
Single Footin' Horse
Swingin' The Blues
Wade In The Water/Motherless Child
We'll Understand It Better By And By
SONGS IN THIS BOOK:
Caddo Lake Waltz
Bear Creek Springs
Sunwatch Village Fantasy
The Winds Of Ouachita
At Sequoyah Caverns
Midnight On Bayou Bodcau
Cedar Creek Serenade
The Ghosts Of Natchitoches
Chickasaws On The Mississippi
The Leaves Of Shongaloo
Mysterious Poverty Point
Powhatan Transfer
The Backroads Of Coahoma County
Senatobia Winter
The Battle Of Three Trees
Coushatta Trace