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Original Dulcimer Players Club The Original Dulcimer Players CluB presents Three Evenings of Acoustic Music Featuring the Hammer Dulcimer Thursday, Friday and Saturday July 13, 14 and 15, 2017 7:00 p.m. Osceola County Fairgrounds Evart, MI Thursday Evening Thornapple Valley Dulcimer Society 6:15 Silver Strings Dulcimer Society 6:40 7:00 p.m. Live from the Squirrels’ Nest Brian Scott Sharon Broyles Gage Milton Mike 2 Gracie Fisher Mary Lynn van Deventer John and Karen Keane Phyllis Woods Brown Christine Shoemaker Brett Ridgeway Colin Beasley Friday Evening Mountain Dulcimer Show 6:30 7:00 p.m. David and Annette Lindsey Wanda Degen Jon Weinberg Butch Ross Hedda Doyle Larry Unger Wendy Songe Randy Clepper Tim Seaman Stephen Seifert Bing Futch 2 Saturday Evening Hammer Dulcimer Show 6:15 Dulcimer Drawing 6:50—must be present to win 7:00 p.m. Bill Robinson & Friends Ilace Mears, 2016 National Hammer Dulcimer Champion Matthew Dickerson Pam Bowman Sam Rizzetta Scott Freeman Steve and Ruth Smith Katie Moritz Mark Grobner Mark Alan Wade Rick Thum 3 Colin Beasley Pam Bowman Pam Bowman is a native of Colin Beasley comes to the Evart area, hailing from Evart from Hattiesburg, Marion, Michigan. She has Mississippi. He attends the been performing with the University of Southern hammered dulcimer for Mississippi and is majoring about 20 years as a duo with in construction engineer- Jeff Gardner on guitar and ing. In 2016 he placed 2nd with a five-piece group called Just Jammin, playing in the National Hammered gospel, country, and bluegrass music. Dulcimer Championship in Winfield, KS. In April he became the 2017 Southern In 2005 Pam won the Southern Regional Hammered Regional Hammered Dulcimer Champion at the Dulcimer Competition in Mountain View, Arkansas. Ozark Folk Center in Mt. View, Arkansas. Colin Pam gives private lessons and group lessons on the again proves the value of skill and training as a per- hammered dulcimer, as well as teaching work-shops cussionist in playing the dulcimer. He was a drum- and performing at various festivals. Pam also per- mer at Baker High School in Mobile, Alabama. forms her unique hammered dulcimer style and ar- rangements for many other venues. She has eight recordings available. Phyllis Woods- www.pambowmanmusic.com Brown A performer at heart, Sharon Broyles Phyllis Woods-Brown has been entertaining In 2003, out of curiosity, Sha- audiences for over 40 ron O’Connell attended the years. She studied mu- world's largest dulcimer fest in sic at Tennessee Tech Evart, MI. She brought her University but found her true musical passion in flute and guitar. Since then, old time and traditional music when she was intro- she launched a wonderful ca- duced to the hammered and mountain dulcimers. reer in adding hammer and mountain dulcimer as she has Phyllis is a singer/songwriter with five CDs availa- traveled to several states as ble. She plays by ear but teaches by music when an instructor and performer, sharing the stage with she has taught at various festivals. Her philosophy national dulcimer champions. It's been an honor for of music is that if you learn to embellish your own her to be featured in musicians' CDs and at weddings, music, you are not tied to someone else’s arrange- art exhibits and church events, as well as the Indian- ments. apolis Municipal Band, the Indianapolis Children's Choir, the Mayor's Banquet and more. Her Dulcimer In addition to her solo career, Phyllis teaches and by Sharon studio offers private and group lessons as performs with Brett Ridgeway as "155 Strings and well as workshops and jam sessions. Using her mas- a Pair of Hats". ter’s degree in education, her heart truly melts while working with children and music! www.phylliswoodsbrown.com www.dulcimersbysharon.com 4 Randy Clepper Wanda Degen Originally from Tennessee, Wanda Degen’s lifelong love of Randy Clepper now lives in music shines through in her Ohio. He is an accomplished performances as she sings and player of Irish traditional mu- plays the autoharp and "both sic on cittern/bouzouki, fin- kinds" of dulcimers! She has gerstyle acoustic guitar, and taught private lessons at Elder- hammer dulcimer. His play- ly Instruments in Lansing since ing has been described as 1977. Wanda won the Great “magnificent”, “strong and confident” (Dulcimer Play- Lakes Regional Mountain Mu- er’s News) – “a Celtic guru” (Wood ‘N Strings). Randy’s sic Autoharp Competition at the Flint Bluegrass background covers many styles of music including tra- Festival in 1983 and has placed in the top five as a ditional music from around the world, folk, pop, rock, finalist at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, jazz, classical, funk (yes, funk) and bluegrass. He is an Kansas, and at the Mountain Laurel Autoharp active player in the Central Ohio Irish music scene. He Gathering in Newport, Pennsylvania. Through her has also taught and performed at many traditional work as a teaching artist with two national pro- music and arts festivals across the country. grams - the Lincoln Center of New York and the In 2003 he teamed up with well-known dulcimer play- Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the ers Dan Landrum, Mark Alan Wade, and Bob McMur- Arts of Vienna, Virginia - thousands of Michigan ray to form the group, Hammer On, producing a CD of school children have experienced both hearing and the same name. playing dulcimers & autoharp. www.randyclepper.com www.wandadegen.com Matthew Dickerson Hedda Doyle For the past eleven years, Matthew has been delighting au- Hedda Doyle has been sing- diences with his sweet and cheer- ing for as long as she can ful style of playing the hammered remember. Harmonizing dulcimer. with her sisters and mother He developed a keen interest in while doing the dishes is the instrument in his early teens after learning a variety one of her fondest memo- of other instruments, including guitar and penny whistle. Celtic music led him to discover the unique and pleasant ries. One day her future sound of the hammered dulcimer. brother-in-law, Ron Bor- His first dulcimer was one he built from scratch, and owski, an Evart attendee for after teaching himself to play, he quickly became an ac- many years, started coming complished artist with the talent and skill necessary to around the house with his guitar to date her sister win the Mideast Regional Hammered Dulcimer Competi- Ada. He observed Hedda’s keen interest in the gui- tion in 2012. Shortly after this achievement, he entered and won the National Hammered Dulcimer Champion- tar, and he showed up one day with one just for ship at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas. He her. She was hooked. When living in Sarnia, ON she produced his first album“ When I’m Happy & I Know was part of Sisters of Soul, an R&B band. Since It” in August 2014 and is currently working on his second moving to Okemos, MI, she enjoys making music album due to come out in Fall 2017. with her husband Mike Doyle (who, by the way, she With a genuine appreciation for great music and talent in met at Evart) and their friends. She enjoys folk mu- multiple genres, he continues to reach for new heights in sic, digs Motown, loves the Beatles, grooves with both style and performance as he joins the ranks of the best dulcimer players in the country. the blues, and is getting into jazz. www.thedulcimerguy.com 5 Gracie Fisher Scott Freeman Gracie Fisher, age 16, Scott Freeman comes to Evart will be entering her from Lafayette, IN where he junior year back in Ma- lives with his family. In 1999 ple Valley Jr. Sr. High he won the National Hammer School after spending 5 Dulcimer Championship at months in Mexico her Winfield, KS. Scott has worked last school year. She with the Children’s Museum has been apart of the of Indianapolis as a resident dulcimer festival since teacher and introduced the dulcimer to thousands of inner age 8 alongside her grandparents. The great musi- city youth through workshops and performances. Today he cians inspired her, so she continued to come every continues to work with local arts and education programs year since. The festival is the highlight of her sum- to bring traditional music into the schools through hands- mer! She is entering a program into the field of on interaction with “Fiddlers in the Schools”, sponsored by manufacturing engineering technology for a de- the Indiana Fiddlers’ Gathering. Scott records with Oui- gree in precision machining. She will be finished bache (WEE-ba-SHAY) Records, a record label dedicated to by age 18 but would love to also continue with traditional and Americana music. He has four albums of music in her future. She has grown to love playing mostly original music. the hammer dulcimer with the help and encour- www.scottevanfreeman.com agement of her grandma, Sally Seaver. It's a love she wants to share with everyone. Mark Grobner In 1995 Mark Grobner lost his leg in a fork-lift Bing Futch accident, an event that changed his life. He had just earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology. You never know what to expect In the lengthy hospitalizations and challenges next during a performance by following the accident, Mark made the decision Bing Futch. Whether playing to become a chaplain. “One of the most im- mountain dulcimer, ukulele, Na- portant things I learned was the power and tive American flute or singing a compassion of human presence.” capella, Bing deftly slips through Mark has provided therapeutic music in hospi- the many genres of Americana tal, hospice, and long-term care settings since 2002.
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