Early Luthiers of the Blue Ridge Plateau - Fiddlers Week 2015

Early Luthiers of the Blue Ridge Plateau Showcase, held at Chestnut Creek School of the Arts on August 4, 2015. This was one of the Heritage Music events that was part of our Fiddlers Week programming during the Galax Old Fiddlers Convention. Speakers include Phyllis Gaskins, Ken Landreth, Tom Barr, and Kevin Fore. This project was funded in part by Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, and was filmed by Rebecca Jones of Cedar Springs Productions.

[@dulcimoredan]

This is what it is all about!!! Thank you for posting.

[@tomiskind]

Interesting, thanks! I guess the discussion on "dulcimers" is confusing to me as usually people are talking about a type of zither including "lap" or "appalachian" dulcimer? There is so much of it that when you refer to the original instrument by the name (the common hammered dulcimer) you have to add a description.

[@lapboard340]

What about the Clifford Glenn and Frank Proffit style banjos?

[@chestnutcreek3444]

It sounds like it's time for another exploration of luthiers expanding further out into the Virginia and North Carolina mountains! Clifford and his father Glenn were important banjo and dulcimer makers, and the mountain style fretless banjos made by Frank Proffit and others since have definitely been influential, especially in the western North Carolina region.