Mountain Born: The Jean Ritchie Story

Thanks to Deborah DJ Hamouris for sharing this video in The Dulcimer Community—mastering the art of dulcimer.

By Russ Farmer.

I built my first mountain dulcimer in Columbus, Ohio in 1980 and took it with me to work at a church camp in Michigan (1982); then to Chicago where I worked at a church in the shadow of Wrigley Field on Addison Street (1982-83); then to the inner city Westside of Denver on Colfax Avenue (1983-84).  When I returned to my seminary graduate school the fall of 1984 I had my Celebration of Life, by Jean Rtichie book with me in the chapel and one of the Administrators recognized Jean's photo on the front.  They had been classmates in college at Kentucky University!  Hers was the first book I found that focused on both music and story of the mountain dulcimer in a way that made sense to me.

--Steve Eulberg