Thanks Alex - pleased you liked it. The link you posted is to the audio supplements to the newsletter. I believe that the actual newsletters are generally only available to club members, but the audio gives you a flavour of what is in each edition of Nonsuch News.
Hello Karen - good to hear from you again. Yes, Sandie did set a high bar so I will have my work cut out. I will definitely get back to you with an idea or two. Thanks.
I won't be at Halsway unfortunately - it is always booked a year ahead, so difficult to get in. I am still organising the Nonsuch Spring Fling event in Newcastle every year - this will be our 5th year. Be good to get you to come up North one time!
Hello - for some reason I seem to have volunteered to be the new editor of the quarterly UK dulcimer club magazine "Nonsuch News". I am therefore looking for stories to feature in 2026. We cover both hammered and mountain dulcimers (am I even allowed to mention hammered dulcimers here?). So if you have a story to share - history of dulcimers; your personal journey with dulcimers and the dulcimer community; building or collecting dulcimers; unusual tunings used; favourite tunes and songs - in fact anything dulcimer or music related - I would love to hear from you. Sorry, there's no money involved - Nonsuch Dulcimer Club is a charity - but it would be great to hear about dulcimers from a U.S.A. (or elsewhere) perspective. You can contact me at editor@dulcimer.org.uk
Thank you
Steve
In the latest of my "Conversations with Mountain Dulcimer Players" I chat with Geoffrey Reeve-Black about his UK dulcimer dealership and he tells me about some of his interesting instruments.....
https://mdconversations.blogspot.com/2023/11/11-geoff-black-from-herefordshire-uk.html
The weather in Italy will be lovely next March. Wouldn't it be nice to have a mountain dulcimer festival there? Read on, in my "Conversations with Mountain Dulcimer Players" blog:
William Duddy from Belfast, Northern Ireland is a trustee and active member of the Nonsuch Dulcimer Club over here in the UK. I had a chat with him recently about how he got into music, his dulcimers and the folk scene in Belfast. Here's our conversation in my blog: Conversation with William Duddy
Thanks @steve-smith - I guess I didn't put a contact on the blog. Oops! Most of the musicians getting involved know my e-mail details anyway. However, for the benefit of anyone on FOTMD who would like to take part please use steve@mandolinking.org.uk.
I'll have a listen to the archive stuff, though I would prefer to have people get in touch with their own recordings or videos and some background info on the songs or tunes. Cheers!
I particularly love May songs and songs about the Spring. This year I am putting together a blog and a Facebook group to release a song a day during May using any contributions I can get from musician friends.
I am looking for traditional songs or contemporary songs - accompanied (by any instrument, but dulcimer would be nice) or unaccompanied. If you are interested in contributing a song, or just listening, then check out either the blog at cmleplay.blogspot.com or search on Facebook for CMLE Play (Songs For May). Thank you!
What a great song - I must listen to more of Lucy's songs.
What a great interview with Paul! It is hard to imagine he could not have Dulcimer Acquisition Disorder given the genetics on his father's side. haha (Paul's dad has had a musical influence on me though I'll never be able to do half of what John Henry does!)
Thanks for sharing the interview-- a delight to see!
Cheers Robin!
In the last of my current series of conversations, we have Paul Crocker talking Pink Floyd, Folk-Rock and Dulcimer Acquisition Disorder:
https://mdconversations.blogspot.com/2019/09/8-paul-crocker-from-bath-uk.html
Thanks for this interview-- I had familiarity with neither Tony nor his music! Also, Tony mentions Kim Lowings and I know she has been a member here at FOTMD though am not sure whether she still has a page here or not. The Appalachian dulcimer is alive and well far from the Appalachians! :)
It is still quite an unusual instrument to see and hear in the UK @robin-thompson , but we are trying hard to get it heard!
Continuing my series of conversations with dulcimer players, here's a chat I had with Tony Gillam - how he first bought an upside-down French dulcimer; how he likes to play unexpected tunes; and about his music for well-being sessions.
https://mdconversations.blogspot.com/2019/09/7-tony-gillam-from-worcestershire-uk.html
Thanks @susie @robin-thompson and @steven-berger - I would love to meet up with Kendra and Bob and talk dulcimer heritage. Maybe we will persuade them to come over to the UK for a dulcimer festival sometime.
I had a lovely conversation with Kendra Ward about dulcimer playing in Appalachia. Kendra kindly let me use some of her great family photographs too: https://mdconversations.blogspot.com/2019/09/6-kendra-ward-from-appalachian-ohio-usa.html
He seems a lovely fellow, @don-grundy. I have met his son, Paul, who I will be "conversing" with in a future blog, but not yet had the pleasure of meeting John.
Our beloved John Henry, thank you for sharing!!!
You're very welcome @dan. It was great talking to him.
This week's "Conversation" delves into the formation of the Nonsuch Dulcimer Club in the UK, with founder member John Crocker. He also tells me about his "found objects"!
https://mdconversations.blogspot.com/2019/09/5-john-crocker-from-bristol-uk.html
CGD Tuning? Fat and skinny frets? Who's the father? All this, and more, in my conversation with Butch Ross:
https://mdconversations.blogspot.com/2019/09/4-butch-ross-from-chattanooga-tn-usa.html
Dan Evans is a professional fingerstyle dulcimer player, based in the UK, but who is often over in the USA. Here is my chat with him covering a range of topics such as education, electrification, playing Ionian and what instruments he plays....
https://mdconversations.blogspot.com/2019/08/3-dan-evans-from-olney-near-milton.html
Hi @dusty-turtle - here's a one for you, Folk Archive Resource North East (FARNE). Unfortunately no longer supported, it originated as a grant-funded project run by Gateshead Council. There is loads of stuff here, but it is a little bit tricky to navigate. http://www.farnearchive.com/browse_by_collection.asp
Here's a recent chinwag I had with Doug Berch about all things dulcimer, including playing "Lola" by the Kinks.....
https://mdconversations.blogspot.com/2019/08/2-doug-berch-originally-from-brooklyn.html
The response post I accidentally deleted was from @Robin-Thompson. Just found that out from my e-mail. This is what he said: Steve, I enjoyed your interview with Karen! I had the pleasure of meeting her, being introduced by Julie Elman.
Thanks Robin. I am looking forward to meeting Karen when she comes over to teach in the UK later this year.
I have just accidentally deleted my post from yesterday when trying to reply to Robin (?). Apologies Robin.
Here's a bit of the original post again. I was intending to write an article for the Nonsuch Dulcimer Club's newsletter and started off some e-mail "conversations" with other mountain dulcimer players. The conversations were so interesting that I decided to post them on a blog. Here is the first of them. Enjoy: https://mdconversations.blogspot.com/2019/08/1-karen-buglass-from-rockville-maryland.html
