Not My Monkey New Recording by Fiddle Whamdiddle

Vi and I have been hard at work and have finally sent our newest recording off to the manufacturer this week!

Not My Monkey features our original tune (by the same name), John Denver's Matthew, Aura Lea (written in 1861 by a relative of Vi's Grandmother, George R. Poulton) and several other old-time favorites.

Recorded over 3 years, by two very gifted engineers (Latin-Grammy-winning Oscar Autie, of El Cerrito Studio, in El Cerrito, California) and Darren Radach, of Stout Studios in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Darren also served as the mixing engineer and the recording was mastered by Randy LeRoy of Airshow Mastering, Tacoma Park, Maryland.

Cover art was photographed and designed by Christina Gressianu, Loveland, Colorado.

We expect delivery by the first of February with a projected release date of March 1, 2017.

Pre-Order today and get your copy as soon as it arrives...with free postage!  (use the code: iwantmymonkey at checkout)

Photos from the Seasons of Blessing Inaugural Concert

Maggie Timeus shared this photos from the Inaugural Concert of the 

Seasons of Blessing Concert Series on January 25th.   

Don't miss the next one! 

 http://owlmountainmusic.com/seasons-blessing-concert-series/

Doug Adamz steel guitar and blues harp

Fiddle Tunes Finale

The runaway fingers of "Horse Sense"

Finish!

"Little Peaker" duet on Doug's original tune

"May the Light of Love" duet with Kaitlin

Meeting Victor, a JamPlay Student!

"Lake Ozark Blues"

Remembering Dad's stories

Chris Benson, series co-sponsor

Galax finish flourish

Learn to Play Guitar for the best possible rate!

I've been teaching guitar in my private studio for many years.

     In 2006 I was approached by JamPlay to become their first guitar instructor for a new way of teaching guitar: on the internet! I know, this is crazy, but it actually works!

     At first we just filmed lessons and people watched them at their convenience, with the ability to pause and replay, and print out supplemental material, to progress at their own rate. Then, Jeff and Kevin and Chris at JamPlay decided to try an interactive chatroom, which was hosted by the instructors, to give student/subscribers a chance to ask their questions of the teachers in real-time. The teacher was able to answer and demonstrate. However, the students often had a difficult time describing their issue.

My friend & fellow-instructor, Jim Deeming,
teaching Chet Atkins' "Windy and Warm"

     So JamPlay decided to upgrade the functionality of the chat and made it possible for students to use their own webcam and microphone to demonstrate to the teacher (and the rest of the chatroom) what they were wrestling with, or demonstrate how they had mastered that skill or song.

     The result is a powerful, interactive and supportive community of instructors with student-learners/teachers which is active most of the hours of every week.

     Since the chat has begun I've been a part of the roster of live instructors. At one time, I hosted 5 (3)-hour sessions every morning, which helped me to leave my fruitless attempts to teach music full-time in the public school system, in favor of working daily with people who were finally being successful at developing their musical skills in playing guitar.

     Now here is the reason I'm writing today.  The current annual price for an all-access subscription is $139.95  (38¢ a day, or $2.69 a week).

     After  December 28, 2014, the price is going up to $179.95, which is still reasonable, considering that there are more than 75 teachers with more than 4,500 lessons in High Definition video, available when you need it.

     Here's a link to one of my free beginner lessons, and one of my fingerstyle lessons, one of my bluegrass lessons, one of my celtic lessons, and one of my gospel lessons.

But here is the kicker:  JamPlay is offering a sale, starting TODAY with a full-year for less than $100!  

Yep, for only $99.95, you can have access to everything I teach, but even better, everything that everybody else teaches as well!  I don't want you to miss this opportunity before the price goes up.  

Click here to sign up now.

You'll be glad you did!

If this isn't your kettle of fish, but you still want to learn to play, or just have some support while you teach yourself (which is how I learned, by the way), contact me about setting up live, one-to-one lessons via SKYPE.  Or visit this link on my website for more details.


[If you want to watch my introductory video, you can do that here]

A "No Way!" Day

After I finished my final Music Together Class on Friday, I was talking with the grandparents of one of my students who said they were heading home.

"Where is home?"  I asked.

"Ohio."

"No Way! I'm a Buckeye, too."

"No Way!  What town?" she asks.

"Pemberville."

"The one just south of Toledo?" Grandpa joins in.

"That's the one!"

"That's incredible!"

"Where in Toledo do you live?" I inquire.

"Over by Anthony Wayne High School."

"No Kidding?  One of my good friends, Kerry Patrick Clark, used to live just down the street from Anthony Wayne High School,"  I report.

"No Way!  Kerry Patrick Clark?  His wife, Amy, is my best friend!" she says in disbelief.

"No Way!  They just moved from there to Maumee," I mention.

"I know!  I spent three weeks helping them pack and move!"

"Bless you!  I know they appreciated your help," I exclaim.

Grandpa says, "I actually grew up in Perrysburg."

"Now I've got a small world story for you,"  I begin.  "I was hiking up to Chasm Lake at the foot of Long's Peak in Colorado."

The jaw of my student's mother goes slack as she says in disbelief, "No Way!  I'm from Colorado."

The in-laws chime in:  "From Fort Collins."

My turn:  "No Way!  I just moved from there this year, which high school did you attend?"

"Rocky Mountain," she replies.

"This is wild!" we all exclaim.

We all shake our heads in amazement and line up for a photo of the meeting.

Grandma messages the photo to Amy Clark (Kerry's wife) and as I am leaving the rec center gives me her report.

"I just sent the photo to Amy, and she wrote 'No Way! We love that guy!"

And that's the way it was that day!

Glimpses from S.E.A Summer Touring

Here are some photos of our Trio (S.E.A) from our Summer Touring:

Kentucky Music Week, Bardstown, Kentucky

Westwood House-KU Lutheran Campus Ministry, Lawrence, Kansas

Courtland Arts Center, Courtland, Kansas

And here is video of our performance at Kentucky Music Week



Ain't we got fun?!

Fiddle Whamdiddle Summer 2014

Vi and I have had some great gigs playing together this summer so far!

We had a fun night at Avogadro's number at the end of May, and then a terrific time at the Avery House for July 4th Independence Day Celebration.

Some different friends captured these moments as images to evoke that fun:

The tent was provided by Streetmosphere, Beet Street's summer music program. [Photo by Franklin Taggart]

This looks way too cheerful to be Blacktail Weasel and the Ground Squirrel Clan!  [Jim Frye Photo] Listen to that tune here.

Here are some nice close-ups while we play (which is musician for "work"!) [Pics by Pabo]

Open Mic Night at Freight and Salvage

It is an important acoustic and folk venue, and it is an historic Open Mic:  the longest-continually running one in the East Bay.

Freight and Salvage Coffeehouse on some alternate Tuesday nights is the host to the Open Mic.

Open Mics are part of how I got my start and developed my chops in Fort Collins:  Avo's, Lucky Joe's, The Canyon Open Mic in Masonville and more.

Signing up to play a new tune, or test one's stage presence as a performing artist, to get known in a new area, to meet other song-singers and song-writers are some of the reasons that men and women add their name to the list.

As a listener/observer, Open Mics are always hit-or-miss in:
the talent department,
or the ready-for-prime-time department,
or the stage-presence polish-department,
or trying-out-the-new-material department,

but that's exactly the point.

On a recent Tuesday, I threw my hat into the ring, bought the ticket to get in, hitched up my baritone mountain dulcimer and traveled the BART across the bay.  Important learning: Arriving 20 minutes before door opened almost didn't get me a spot to play.  There were several other hopefuls behind me in the line who DIDN'T get a slot to play that night.

Before I went, I thought I'd check in my with colleague, Kerry Patrick Clark, about which song to sing for my "Freight" debut.

I have a large repertoire, I play many instruments and when faced with a "one-song-set" am sometimes stymied by which one to choose.

"It's a no-brainer," he said, when I finally reached him on the telephone.

Then he named the perfect song, but it was one I had completely overlooked when trying to balance: instrument, style of song, goal of song in giving my debut performance on this stage.

"We need to move the audience to laugh, or to cry, to move them toward community," he noted.  "It's the stories that have the power."

Of course he was right, and I played the one he suggested.

I drew #26 out of a line-up of 28 performers and even though I waited for nearly 3 hours through all the preceding performers [and found myself really being moved by a third of them!] I had a blast!

And my sweethearts: (my spouse and my daughter) both came to smile and support me....
....and they said,

"you did good."

Off to California

Here I am in my new studio, with just a tiny sampling of my work behind me!

The physical transition was completed with my arrival in San Mateo last Saturday at 4 pm.

I can't even begin to describe the beauty I witnessed while crossing Utah and Nevada on I-80:  the colors of rock, the shades of tan, the raw umbers, burnt siennas-- I finally realized where Crayola got the names for some of the crayons that I used from my 64-color box.

The mountain peaks reaching up to scrape snow or rain out of the clouds, or was it the clouds leaning down to be scratched like Baloo the bear in Jungle Book?

The clouds hovering over the Great Salt Lake, the snow draped peaks with the deep blue-green of the tree lines in a band of color below, while the spring-yellow slope that rose to meet the tawny border that separates them all like the fancy parfait treats made by my mother.

The perspective I learned in art class in Junior High was demonstrated with the long road to infinity stretched ahead.

Towns every two hours apart, a family friend to visit in Reno, the foggy, snowy Sierras which gave way instantly to SPRING!  The bright orange of California poppies and the white bobbing heads of jonquils on springy green stems.

I didn't come close to hearing everything I'd planned to hear from my iPod, but instead kept repeating tracks over and over to sing with Holly Near, Sandy and Pat of Emma's Revolution, Jim Croce and more.

So now I am here, learning my way around, correcting forwarding errors at the post-office, finishing the fiscal transitions and sitting on my back porch, watching the planes in their final approach across the Bay to SFO.

Pinch me!

Celebration: Music Director’s Final Worship

Steve Eulberg, the Director of Music at LCM/CSU for the past 16 years, will be present to lead worship music for the final time on February 16, 2014 at 5:15 pm.  Please come and share in celebrating his service to the community.  Steve is leaving to join Pastor Connie in San Mateo, California at the end of February.

The community of Lutheran Campus Ministry at CSU has had a long tradition of a using variety of worship settings (the Lutheran Book of Worship, Gather, The Chicago Folk Mass).  It has also had a tradition of creating worship forms that served the community in their worship of God.  (e.g. St. Thomas Celebration).

In addition to being published in This Far By Faith, Worship DVD (AugsburgFortress), Chalice Praise (Chalice Press), and Upper Room Worshipbook(Abingdon) Eulberg has continued this tradition by creating several liturgical settings of music in use in worship at St. Thomas Chapel during his tenure:

St. Thomas Blessing & Praise was commissioned by LCM in 1998.

Christ Is Our Peace (2002)

Dulcimer-Friendly Evening Prayer (1995)

Advent Chorale Service (using Dulcimer-Friendly Worship, Vol I: the season of Advent)

We Have This Treasure (2006)

Hope for the Future (2008)

Sophia’s Dance (2009)

Anam Cara (Celtic Worship) (2010)

An Evangelical Lutheran Worship Setting (using selections of liturgical settings from the ELW.)

Several World Music Celebrations.

Several of these worship settings are in ecumenical use at congregations, camps and retreat settings across the USA and Canada, testimony to how the gifts of Campus Ministry continue enrich the entire church.

(this post originally appeared on the lcmcsu.org website)

Farewell to Fort Collins (or How to Start a Musical Career)

(Here is the original edit of my Farewell to Fort Collins "Soapbox" Article for the Fort Collins Coloradoan.  You can read the shorter, Soapbox edit here.  If you'd like to explore making a living in music, come to the workshop I'm hosting Dick Weissman on February 1, 2014. More info here.)

When we moved to Fort Collins, about 40,000 citizens ago, I had no idea what I was going to do  with my time and skills, other than parent our two children.  After a dozen years of serving as a pastor in the innercity of Kansas City, I was exhausted and ready for a change, and I was feeling a vocational tug in the direction of music.  To be honest, this was the tug that had been there since my earliest memories as a child.  I didn't know exactly how to go about starting such a career, although I felt confident in both my performing and teaching abilities since music had been a key organizing tool for our multi-ethnic congregation in Missouri.

The short story I like to tell is this: I threw every line into the water and pulled on the ones that bit.

I played special music for worship at an ecumenical set of congregations, I gave programs for   Church Women's United, the CSU Women's Association, Rotary and Kiwanis.  I contacted the local funeral homes and provided music for several funeral and memorial services.    I led music for Brownie and Girl Scout Day Camp at Lee Martinez park for two years.

I walked a block from my house to meet Russ Hopkins at KIVA studio, and he became my recording engineer, mentor, co-producer and peer.  With him I recorded and produced many records which have gone on to win awards and acclaim and continue to find the ears of appreciative listeners.

I went weekly to the Bluegrass jam at Avogadro's Number on Wednesdays, and was warmly welcomed into the experience of learning, playing and sharing music by ear.  I played the weekly Open Mics at Avo's and Lucky Joe's, and several others as they cropped up around town.  I auditioned to play at Barnes and Noble, and landed a Wednesday lunch-time gig at Deja Vu (at the time, the oldest continuously running coffeehouse in town) that lasted for 10 years!

I auditioned for the accompanist job for the Rainbow Chorus, and didn't get it.  But I filled in when they needed a sub and then was commissioned by them to create and arrange a suite of songs for their millennium concert and recording.

I've played Noontime Notes in Oak Street plaza and on the Old Town stage, all the stages at the Lincoln Center, the Fort Collins Museum in both of its locations, several locations on the CSU campus, Walrus, Ben and Jerry's, Stone Lion and Starry Night for First Night, and most Old Town street corners with Streetmosphere and countless weddings all across the Front Range.

I was the guitarist for Agua de Vida Luterana, the Music Director of First Presbyterian Church in Loveland, the choir accompanist for Westminster Presbyterian Church in Fort Collins and the Director of Music for the Lutheran Campus Ministry at CSU.  I have been a Substitute Teacher and para-professional in the Poudre School District at Lincoln (then-) Junior High.  I have taught well over a hundred students in my private music studio and have watched some of them go on to music careers, while others enrich their lives with their musical participation.

I started and ran the Colorado Dulcimer Festival located here in Fort Collins for 10 years and have passed the mantle of leadership on to an able and dedicated crew who are preparing for the 11th one next Feb 7-8. (coloradodulcimerfestival.com)

Fort Collins, it turns out, was the perfect location for me to root and expand a new career that has taken me to perform and teach across the USA, Canada, Mexico, England, Scotland and Germany.

And now It is time for us to pull up the tent stakes and move. 

My spouse, Connie Winter-Eulberg, has been pastor of the Lutheran Campus Ministry at CSU since 1997, and has accepted a call to become the pastor of St. Andrew's Lutheran Church on San Mateo, California.  So that means it is time for me to re-establish Owl Mountain Music in a new nest.  But I want to express my deep gratitude and appreciation for all that the citizens and community of Fort Collins has meant to us.  I will be back, and in fact have some events already planned early in 2014, so I look forward to seeing many of you then.

If you would like to bid us farewell, come on by our Bon Voyage Hootenany at the Community Creative Center at 200 S. Matthews In Fort Collins on Saturday, Dec. 14th from 6:45 to 8:45 pm.

Changes: A New Nest for the Owl

As the traveler, usually I am telling stories about where I am going and how glad I am to return home.  And, since I enjoy both the leaving and the returning, I love sharing about both movements.  One of my teachers in seminary talked about this as the rhythm of "Access and Retirement".  Going out and coming in; like a contradance.

But today's post is about a change in venue.  But not the ones to which I travel to perform and teach.  This time the venue change is the location of where I'll return.

My spouse is a pastor, and after nearly 17 years of joyful and grateful service to the campus of Colorado State University through Lutheran Campus Ministry, she has resigned her call in order to accept the call to be Pastor of St. Andrews Lutheran Church in San Mateo, California.

This will be a huge change for us since we have grown to love being Coloradoans, but it is time and we are ready for the next adventures that await.  And, since both of our children are in the Bay Area (for the near future, anyway), we'll have the joy of connecting with them more frequently in person!

The timing of the change is certain for Connie, who will begin her service on January 1, 2014, but is less certain for me, since I will remain behind to fix up and prep our house for sale and stay with it until it sells.  So, I am assuming I'll be around for a couple of months, anyway.

I will continue teaching and performing and traveling, while preparing to re-root Owl Mountain Music, Inc. in its third nest since beginning in 1990.  For those of you keeping score:  Kansas City, MO, Fort Collins, CO and now San Mateo, CA.

Dancing at Aunt Darline's 1984

There are some other changes that have been underway this year:

I am also excited that I've been able to let go of responsibility for the Colorado Dulcimer Festival, which I began and ran for 10 years with a dedicated crew of volunteers.  These volunteers have incorporated and are planning to carry it on for several years into the future!

And, I am delighted that Scott Berwick has been elected to the office of Secretary-Treasurer of the Traveling Musicians Union, Local 1000 AFM.  He takes over when my term ends on Dec 31st of this year.

So, now I am in the process of shedding, shredding and packing in preparation!  All activities which make a perfect fit with autumnal rhythms.  Let's dance!

The Sound System Died...but the Music Lived On!

Near the end of the 2nd to last set in the concluding Saturday night concert at the Lagniappe Dulcimer Society's annual Fete in Port Allen (Baton Rouge), Lousiana, there was a loud pop(!) and the sound system stopped working.

Ken Bloom and his new friend, Charlie Patton of Mississippi, were playing a duet of bowed dulcimers on Klezmer Tunes and everything went suddenly....acoustic.

These were acoustic instruments, however, so the music didn't stop.

My set was the final one of the night and because it was clear that they high school gymnasium was going to be an unplugged venue, I launched into my set, reminding people that this is how Old Time Music was always played.  

The mountain dulcimer isn't a loud instrument, but it did just fine with She Thinks My Dulcimer's Sexy, and then the Dulci-bro (a resonator instrument that uses the first "amplification" technology of the twentieth century) sang out loud and clear.

Sharrie George's Taylor guitar did just fine with my fingerpicked version of Didn't Know I Was Lost (Until You Found Me), and Ken Bloom joined me for a Galax Dulcimer / Bowed Dulcimer duet on Miss McLeod's Reel, (thanks for the instrument loan, Bob Magowan!) and I ended the set with our planned trio:  me: hammered dulcimer (thanks Peggy Carter!), Ken and Charlie Patton on bowed dulcimers dancing up the fine Ragtime Annie tune.  (See photo on right.)

Reviews from those in attendance were that the sound was fine and well-balanced.

It is a little bit anachronistic that we players of old-time musical instruments have come to depend upon modern electronic sound systems, and we listeners of live music have come to expect that that amplified sounds are "better" for listening...when in this instance, those leaning in to listen had a fine experience without the electronic support!

Artist Interview for Concerts in Your Home

Here is a link to an interview that was conducted while I was on the road in Kansas early last summer.

The interview was conducted by Fran Snyder of Concerts In Your Home for the artist's directory of this network which gets performing musicians connected with people who like to host concerts in their living rooms!(which, incidentally, is one of my favorite places to play.)

http://lrnblog.posterous.com/renewal-interview-steve-eulberg (This link has been removed, so please look below!)

Some interesting questions led me to some interesting answers.

Please let me know what you think!

Act Name: Steve Eulberg

Member of CIYH since: 2008-06-19

1. Describe your most memorable house concert experience.

Anytime someone who is leaning away begins to move toward live acoustic music:

For Example:

My teenaged godson's girlfriend was brought by him to one of my house concerts.  She related to his dad on the way home, "When I heard this was going to be a Folk concert, I was pretty scared.  But this was a great concert!"  

When people from different parts of my life show up in the same place and begin (or discover) connections with each other! The crooked lines make the straightest paths to relationship phenomena!

For example:

A friend from college agrees to host a house concert at her parents' home in central Ohio.  One of my on-line JamPlay students, who has hosted a house concert for me before, comes with his wife and one of my far-flung students from southern California flies into town for a continuing education event, but convinces her daughter that they must both come to my concert before she goes to her daughter's home.   Turns out that the daughter and my college friend have some connection that they hadn't realized before.  And here we all are, filling a living room with song!

2. What's your best opening line? (from one of your songs, or one of your favorites) 

Can't choose just one!

Growing Up in an uneasy time, blue stars on the windows.... (from "war is sweet" on "a piece of it all")

or 

Mailman's come and gone, brought a letter from my old mom, still singin the same old song....(from "porch swingin' " on "a piece of it all")

You and I agree, we should live apart.... (from "sad" from "a piece of it all")

Rippling Wave of a bounding squirrel, jumping rope of a knee-socked little girl... (from "beauty in the world" from "a piece of it all")

3. What song is most likely to make you cry? (if you were the crying kind)

My name is Sam, I'm the family dog.... (Berkley-Hart on Crow)

4. How many miles did you drive last year?

oy, The car now has almost 230,000 miles on it...but I couldn't tell for sure about last year.  Several flying miles, too.

5. What is your favorite thing about house concerts?

The personal connection and the ability to interact with an audience.

6. If you could no longer sell your music on CD, what would you do differently?

Use the digital downloading process I've got set up.

7. When is the last time someone critiqued your song, suggested a way to make it better, and you agreed?

I was saying "I Said Nothing" too many times in that song and someone suggested that I say it less, and let the actually "nothing" say it.  Tremendous advice!

8. Have you ever watched yourself do a full concert on video? If so, what did you learn?

Yes.  Recently released one on DVD.  I should wear taller socks or longer pants!  Lighting design can make a big difference....sometimes I go with the flow and the flow takes me where I shouldn't go...Could use more tightness in my between song banter when I have full sets.  I can certainly craft that for the showcase or festival sets, but have to continue working on that wrinkle.

9. Is there anyone you like to go to for songwriting help or advice? If so, who?

Russ Hopkins, Kiva Records.

10. What is the best stage name of all time?

Slim Pickens.

11. Car you drive vs the car you'd most like to drive. 

I'm renting a Prius for this tour and so, at the moment, it fits both categories!

12. What percentage of your songs are about love relationships?

30%

13. You can bring back any dead artist, and be their apprentice for a month, who do you choose?

Jim Croce, hands down.  That dude could tell a vivid story!

14. You can recruit anyone in the world to manage your artistic career, who is it?

Holly Near.

15. You can work with any living record producer. Who do you choose for your next project?

Ken Whiteley, Pyramid Records in Toronto.

16. You must personally destroy every instrument you own, except one. Which do you keep? Which do you destroy first/last, and why?

My voice is the one I keep. 

I refuse to destroy the instruments, I'll give them away...or if I must appear to destroy them, I'll disassemble them, distribute the parts and instructions on rebuilding them to people across the world.

17. Cat, dog, or goldfish?

Dog.

18. Writing retreat. You can go anywhere in the world for 2 weeks, where do you go? One instrument, one suitcase - what do you bring?

Nova Scotia--never been there and I'd love to see what it brings out of me.

Guitar, my pillow and my slippers.

19. Plan B, or no Plan B?

Plan B is work Plan A harder, or adapt it and work it smarter.

Albuquerque, here I come!

Whiskey Before Breakfast kicks off the Faculty Concert on Friday night (L-R:  Ken Kolodner, Gretchen van Houten, Steve Eulberg, Neal Hellman, Janita Backer, Irma Reeder and Scott Reeder )

I was honored to be part of an amazing staff and faculty for the 3rd Annual New Mexico Dulcimer Festival in Albuquerque in the middle of October.

Hosted by Hope in the Desert Episcopal Church with mind-tickling views to the east:

(A controlled burn...we always hope!)

and the sunset to the west (looking out the front doors of the church each night:

The glories of the American Southwest on stunning display

were inspiration to the many students who gathered from across the region and the country.  Students were present from California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma and parts east.

Bluegrass on Mountain Dulcimer was a very popular class!

I was able to teach with some of my mentors and now friends!

Neal Hellman's ChordBook finally opened the mountain
dulcimer forme nearly 30 years ago.

Janita Baker:  her Blues and Ragtime book
expanded the dulcimer for me!

And I was tickled to have Ken Kolodner fiddle away with me on Mississippi Sawyer, Liberty and Ragtime Annie:

Fiddling master Ken Kolodner

and Miss McLeod's/Have You Gone to Meeting, Uncle Joe? for which I played Galax style:

Backstage warm-up

And, of course, everyone was glad to know that "She Thinks My Dulcimer's Sexy":

Best played on Baritone

Scott and Irma Reeder and their compadres put on an amazing event that helps to anchor both kinds of dulcimers in the Rocky Mountains!  

Next up?  The Colorado Dulcimer Festival, Feb 1-2, 2013 in Fort Collins!

Special thanks to Peter Eshrick for sharing these photos.  View his entire photo album here

Back in the Studio

Friday, October 5, 2012, Vi Wickam and I stepped into Aaron Youngberg's Swingfingers Studio to begin recording tracks for our debut CD, Old School OldTime as FiddleWhamdiddle.  Here are some photos from our 1st session:

My first mountain dulcimer in its dulcimer "cubbie"

Hammered Dulcimer Set-up

Brent Hawley adding mandolin and guitar

Engineer Aaron Youngberg at the controls

Vi "tuning up"

Another view of the dulcimer cubbie, with McSpadden Special

My Ben Seymour Galax dulcimer ready to go 

Vi in the fiddle booth as we get ready to go...

Our CD release party is set for Friday, December 14th at Avogadro's Number in Fort Collins.