If memory serves, many songs in the Ritchie family came from "Uncle Jason" and Jean wrote of this in Singing Family of the Cumberlands .
https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2015/06/jean-ritchie-1922-2015/
Here is a link for the Jean Ritchie group here at FOTMD:
https://fotmd.com/strumelia/group/24/fans-of-jean-ritchie
I'm glad I asked and appreciate your response lots! A fan of drones here!
Though Jean learned on a 3-string dulcimer, for her second instructional recording (Homespun), she played 4 equidistant strings and noted one string. For accompanying her vocals, she often strummed with her thumb instead of a turkey quill or plectrum fashioned from a plastic coffee can lid.
Very nice of you to listen to my music!
Ah, it's curious noter-drone style has been an influence on what you do! I'm wondering whether a particular style(s) of play in the noter tradition influenced you to some greater degree (for example, was Jean Ritchie a big influence or field recordings of players in the Galax tradition, etc.)?
Oh, so uncommonly good, Alex! I've ordered a couple of your cds and look forward to hearing them!
I only knew of Carol (I believe she was connected to the Smithsonian some way) so it is good to know about the work she and Mark did together. His instruments are beauties!
@ken-longfield Elements of the instrument remind me of a Mize-- what do you think? I'm wondering whether a highly skilled woodworker built it based on Bob Mize's piece in Foxfire and/or patterned this one off an actual Mize instrument. The tuning pegs look to be nicely hand-carved (and Bob Mize's carved pegs were lovely). I could be way off track with this line of thinking, though.
@peter-harklau Hey, Re-Pete! Good to see you. I still have one of the t-shirts you designed. 
@strumelia We were happy she learned the little tune and made it a little cello tune. 
(a very little cello emoji haha)
Lots of modern mountain dulcimer history and David's connections to so many players and places-- loved it! I think I've read it twice.
Way cool, Dan. I like the KY hourglass shape lots.
I've been whipped by a string before-- it smarts.
I re-tune a lot and would, once in a great while, break a string. What I noticed, finally, is my string breaks occurred when I was tuning a string down. What was happening: the string would stick at the nut, so, when tuning down, the string was "pushing" against where the string was stuck in the nut, causing the break. Now, when I re-tune, I put downward pressure on the strings between the tuning pegs and the nut-- -- no breaks.
@terry-jaye The scale in the little video sounds pretty good to my ear. Happy strumming!
@jennifer-landry I'm glad you were able to acquire that pretty Bill Berg instrument-- enjoy!
Scroll to the bottom of this page on Terry McCafferty's website for a little information:
https://www.mccaffertydulcimers.com/frequently-asked-questions
Though I'm not sure, I think Mr. Gallier is no longer building.
Jamie, I used to whack out a few Appalachian Old-Time fiddle tunes. Mostly, I play slow stuff these days.
@matt-berg The main reason I could identify the tuners is I have 8 of them here in my house.
I can vouch for the quality of this type of Schaller tuner-- they were on a Blue Lion I came by used several years ago. As has been suggested, the tuner screws on these rarely need attention.
The tuners in the photo @lilley-pad posted are of very nice planetary-type tuners and are not inexpensive. In the photo, they're on what I'm pretty certain is a Blue Lion dulcimer. The type of tuners pictured can be seen here on a Blue Lion: https://www.bluelioninstruments.com/Dulc.pix/IIW.jpg
What a lovely instrument! Made by a very skilled woodworker, for sure. No 6.5 fret and not a reproduction build of some kind. It's very cool.
@frank-dudgeon It'd be fun to try it as a trio yet our niece lives in another state and we don't often see her. We're happy you love our little tune!
@john-petry @dusty @macaodha @frank-dudgeon I'm happy y'all enjoyed the cello version of a mountain dulcimer & guitar tune! I thought it would sound neat on cello, so the last time I saw my niece I talked to her about whether or not she'd be interested in learning the tune so I sent her our SoundCloud link.
For anyone interested in comparing how the tune was translated from our duo tune to a cello tune, here's a link from here at FOTMD for comparison:
P.S.- @steve-c You may well know the location where the long-gone Peony farm was located-- roughly, behind old Unioto School just outside Chillicothe.
@steve-c She grew up in SW OH! (Music degrees, though, from Ohio and Butler universities.)
One of our nieces is a cellist and, by my request, learned one of our mountain dulcimer/guitar duo tunes to play on cello.
You have a treasure there-- happy strumming!
@lilley-pad Don passed away a few years back.
While I'm thinking about it, John Henry was, to my knowledge, our elder participant in IADD. And he met Jean Ritchie many years ago on one of her trips to the UK. Also, Val Hughes noted some time ago that it was Jean Ritchie who introduced the mountain dulcimer to Ireland. Val contributed audio recordings here at FOTMD for IADD.
I'm willing to Zoom yet don't know that I have much to add.
@dusty I, too, like that juxtaposition! Yes, all embraced the worldwide aspect wonderfully! 
@ken-longfield My apologies-- I never meant to imply anyone was against "International". I just remember my thinking at the time was it would be helpful for it not to just be "National". Again, my apology for creating misunderstanding!
I haven't yet looked at the threads to refresh my memory. I recall when we were kicking around thoughts, I wanted all FOTMD members to feel welcomed to participate in the day, so advocated for "International".
Here on FOTMD, Ireland and the US were represented this year. If there were other countries, please, someone point me to music I may have missed. On fb, the US, England, Ireland, and Australia were represented yet there may have been others-- I hope so! There were folks who shared still photographs of instruments to celebrate, too.
I shared other photos of Dusty's sticker from a couple different dulcimer cases on fb. Dusty, your sticker may not be as famous as you are yet it is working to catch you! 
I'm typing this here so I'll remember: Dean Robinson and Dan Geddes both made nice graphics for posting on fb to promote the day. Dean's may have been made last year or the year before. Dan made a couple graphics this year, I believe. Very nice of them to have done so!
IADD is ready for kindergarten at 5 years old. 
We first celebrated in 2022. So, we just had our fourth International Appalachian Dulcimer Day. Here's the video I put on YT to announce the day to those outside of FOTMD: https://youtu.be/9IeJbS_tb48?si=hSZaLYHOaGasBtGV
I made a video announcement back in 2022 and it got quite a few views on YT-- I'd shared it to FB. I started hash-tagging posts that same year, I believe. The photo you see to the left of this posting is one I began sharing a few years ago, after Dusty sent a few stickers he designed, my way. On fb, if anyone asks questions, such as "Is there a fb page" or "Who runs it/is in charge, etc." I let folks now it's a grassroots celebration of the spread of the Appalachian dulcimer from the Appalachians to countries around the world. And no one is in charge. Any creative endeavor featuring mountain dulcimer is welcome for sharing.
Mystery or public-- each is a good choice! 
International Appalachian Dulcimer Day (with all its "nicknames") is, indeed, an unofficial holiday of obscure origin. 
FOTMD is where IADD was conceived. 
Sam, thanks for the information about Brandi's song and for the link to Tim Hanseroth-- I'd watched that some time ago yet hadn't looked at it lately.
Participation in IADD came from different countries-- Ireland, England, Australia, US, and, perhaps, other countries of which I'm unaware. So glad to see many places represented!
Happy day after IADD, y'all!
@dusty Thanks for the kind words! We made our usual put-someone-to-sleep type of tune only recorded with a camera. (We hadn't made a video in a year or two because our uploads took many hours. Our cable internet is better now.) I love your Freddy Fender cover! In my mind's eye, I see him with his thick dark hair and wearing a purple suit. So cool you covered one of his songs!
@sam-edelston Such a great spot, Sam, and I'm glad you got to promote your album (it's a very cool album)! I'm guessing one of the Hanseroth twins was the composer of the Brandi Carlile song. It was a nice one to end the spot.
@steve-c Many thanks for sharing the link for Sam's interview!
