Two of the best musicians on either hammered or mountain dulcimer are local Shepherdstown favorites, Sam Rizzeta (founder of the original group Trapazoid) and Madeline (Maddie) McNeil. Sam was a protogee of Russell Fluharty, whose name should mean all to those who know hammered dulcimer, and after building them for many years, he now consults with Dusty Strings. Both have put out many records and CD's, many now on Sam's own label.

We have two Hammered Dulcimer festivals in Shepherdstown, with the Spring Festival on for March 29th-31st. Maddie is scheduled to play at the Concert on Sat. We normally have 200 players taking classes in the Spring and 300 at the Fall festival. The town is full of them, with jams on every street corner. Locals who play other instruments, like fiddle and banjo, are in quite demand at each. Due to the weather, the Spring classes will be held at Clifftop House in Harpers Ferry overlooking the confluence of the Shennandoah and Potomac Rivers.

As for the best Hammered Dulcimer recording - period, my vote would go with two other musicians, Steve Schnider and Paul Orrts for "Momentum", a mixture of everything from samba to strathspey. Since it's got everything, I use it to run sound checks when I do HD concerts.