I got to rock a regional Folk Alliance conference

Because FOTMD is a special community, I'll give you the long version of this story.

I have a personal mission to spread dulcimer music to the broader musical community and the general public. So when I was invited to perform at the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance music conference (NERFA) in the Presenters' Showcase, where I knew the vast majority would be playing original songs on guitar or occasionally keyboards, I chose to do two "cover" songs. (Of course, back in the day, when "the Folk" were playing Old Joe Clark, they were playing cover songs, too.) For the Presenters' Showcase, a performer has to be nominated by someone like a DJ or concert promoter, and the winners are chosen by a selection committee. I was honored to be nominated by Philadelphia DJs Rusty Crowell and Jan Alba, who cohost a wonderful radio show. The showcase is held on the first evening of the conference, and nearly everyone who has arrived attends it, probably about 300 people from all aspects of the folk music community in the Northeast US, so it's a reasonably big deal. By the way, this actually happened in November, but it took them a while to send me the video.

Here's a link to my two-song set, which consisted of Billy Joel's "She's Always a Woman" and then from the musical The Greatest Showman, "This Is Me." But before you click it, I invite you to continue reading to get the what and why.

I gave Rusty and Jan the choice of one song from my CD (they've played several tracks on their show), and they picked She's Always a Woman. It's an intentionally beautiful instrumental arrangement with a lot of movement beyond just the melody. Really shows off how much you can do with just three strings - listeners might think there are two instruments playing. Tuned DAD, making light use of the 1+ and 8+ frets. My dulcimer was plugged in, but I only used effects to provide a nice tone. I've been performing this song for a little over ten years.

For my second song, The Greatest Showman is based on the life P.T. Barnum. "This Is Me" is sung by his sideshow people, the "Oddities." He has ridden to success on their backs, and in this scene he has excluded them from his big High Society party. They stride into the room like a collective jilted lover and sing this anthem about how they've been put down all their lives, they're proud of what they've achieved, and they're not gonna take it anymore.

I introduce the song, saying that to me it's about anybody who has been put down - because of who they are or what gender, or who they love, or how they worship - or what disfavored musical instrument they play, or what disfavored type of music they enjoy. "This is for all of us ."

Still on the same DAD dulcimer and plugged into the same pedalboard, I start this song in C, playing sparsely and simply, with no minimal effects. At the last line of the chorus, " This. Is. ME ," I raise the key to D, raise the temperature of my playing, and add reverb.

After the second verse and chorus, I raise the temperature again, by inserting the theme from "The Great Gate of Kiev," from Modest Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition." Twenty-some years ago, I took a very deep dive into this suite on the hammered dulcimer, and actually arranged some of the "pictures" for that instrument. The Great Gate follows an episode called "The Hut on Fowl's Legs," which is about the folk tale of Baba Yaga, a witch who lives in the forest and chases children, and you can hear the frantic chases in the music. That movement climaxes with the chase movement abruptly stopping as it reaches the Great Gate, and I see the desperate children escaping to safety and strength and security. And then I return to the main  song, lowering and then re-intensifying the energy. Whether you're a "strange" sideshow inhabitant or or the kid that was always picked on, a player of a "strange" instrument, this anthem has broad shoulders for you. (The analogy of the real-world city of Kyiv was in my mind, too, but that wasn't a factor in my choosing it.)

I think the dulcimer got a lot of people's attention that weekend.