I'm sorry; I can't help it any longer. I was restraining myself from turning this into a "great zither players I have known and loved" thread because Rick's original query was so much more interesting than that, but what the heck, it's drifted without me so I'll feel free to say, loudly, BRIAN DEWAN! He sure ain't folk, but he mostly writes in ballad form. He writes quirky songs about stuff like chain letters, aliens, drinking birds (you know, the kind that bob into a glass of colored liquid in someone's picture window), wastepaper basket fires, and MORE! More to the point he builds and plays the electric zither as his primary instrument(he builds and plays lots of other things too. For example, They Might Be Giants fans will be interested to know that he built the sculpture thing on TMBG album "Lincoln."). Anyone with a passing interest in the zither and a stomach for the unusual will want to check out Brian's album "Brian Dewan Tells the Story." If pushed to the wall, I'd say Brian is a sceptic with a very healthy sense of mystery (and humor). Go ahead, listen to those sound clips on Amazon. . . Margaret