I was really lucky to have had the chance to be a kind of assistant to Fiddler Beers around 1960 at the Indian Neck Folk Festival and spent a coupleof days hanging out around him If I remember correctly, his psaltery had rather nice turned legs and seemed quite sturdy. When I mentioned that, he said that the psaltery had been brought around the Horn by one of his ancestors.

I bought the Beers Famly record when it came out and I still have it and enjoy it a great deal. It was my introduction to fiddlesticks and to limberjacks as well as some very tasteful music.

The last time I saw the Beers family was when they appeared on the Today Show. I was excited to see them there and then terribly saddened to hear for Fiddler Beers' premature death.

I do have a question about psalteries. I had never seen one before I met Fiddler Beers but I later saw hammered dulcimers. To me, they didn't look different but m memory of the psaltery was fairly non-specific. Are they the same, related, or quite separate instruments.

Sourdough