#4 Butch Ross from Chattanooga, TN, USA

Butch Ross is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and collector, a live-looper and producer. He has been playing the dulcimer since 2002.

I first asked Butch what drew him to the MD?

Butch: Not sure, in my first recollection of seeing one I already knew how it was tuned and that it was easy to play. But I cannot remember the first time I saw one.

In the spring of 2002 I got it in my head that it might be cool to have a dulcimer. I had been playing guitar since the '80s, and after you're proficient on an instrument you kinda want to mess around with other toys. But I was living with another musician at the time and we had a lot of extra instruments lying around - banjos, uke, even an accordion. But no dulcimer. Someone gave me one for my birthday and it went from there. Ultimately, I feel the instrument picks you tho'.

Steve: I am a multi-instrumentalist and songwriter too. I have only being playing dulcimer for three and a half years but it certainly has me hooked. 

Butch: Like I said, it picks you.... 

Steve: How did you learn to play? What tunes were in your initial repertoire?

Butch: Well as a guitar player, (there were) a lot of the technique transfers. But not playing it on your lap, that was always weird. So I would hold it like a guitar, which made the strings upside down. At some point, probably a year in, I said to myself, "I just need to commit to playing it guitar-style" and flipped the strings. Ironically, it wasn't long after that that playing on my lap started to make sense.

I started with tunes I knew. I was a singer/songwriter at the time, so I went there first. One of the first songs I attempted was Richard Thompson's "1952 Vincent Black Lightning." One of the first songs I played live was "In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins. Not long after, I started seeing a girl who was into old-time music and that obviously sits well on the instrument. 

Steve: Some interestingly different first songs there Butch. I though everyone started on Boil 'Em Cabbage and Old Joe Clark!

Butch: Everyone does....mostly!

Steve: Are you still actively learning new stuff? What tunes are you currently playing or learning? How would you describe the type of music that you play?

Butch: Always learning new stuff. For the past few years it's been mostly classic rock and '70s songs (I'm working on a book of 70s tunes). Solving the issue of how to make those songs work on the dulcimer is how I learn new things on the instrument. However, over the summer I discovered some old time songs that reminded me of how much I love that stuff. And I've re-piqued my interest in old folk songs like "House Carpenter" and "Barbary Allen." Plus I just got reproduction of an Ed Thomas from 1929, so who knows what may come of that. 

So songs I've recently been learning would be "Indian Ate a Woodchuck," "Fare Thee Well (Dinks Tune)" and "Live and Let Die." 

Steve: our band played Dink's Tune for a while after it was popularised in the Cohen Bros, film. Nice song.

Butch: I think her lover dies in the storm. I love the way those things are implied and not said. Go listen to "House Carpenter" and then answer me this: who's the father?

My elevator pitch for what I play is I take old-time and traditional tunes and turn them on their head, making them sound more contemporary. My wife thinks I sound like the Rippingtons. 

Steve: I like that pitch, but the Rippington's? I don't think we know them this side of the pond.

Butch: You're not missing anything. If the term "smooth jazz" rings a bell, it's that.

But to me the Dulcimer is a prism. Throw what you want at it and it comes out sounding like a dulcimer. 

Steve: Nice quote.

Do you play mainly (or only) in one tuning? Which tuning(s)?

Butch: I play primarily in DAD. I used to play in other tunings for every key, until I was jamming with some musicians in Ireland and they played a set of tunes that went from Bm to G to A, and I learned in real time that that was untenable. So I decided to really explore DAD and learn it well before moving on. Especially with a 1.5 and 8.5 fret, I find I can do basically whatever I want with the instrument. 

Steve: Wow! I am quite a few years off reaching that stage. Just got my 1.5 and 8.5s and finding my way around very tentatively.

Butch: Took me months. The pattern of fat and skinny frets is something that I still use as a visual reference.

I also use a C-G-D tuning (low to high). I really like the sounds of open 5ths like that. 

Steve: That's a new on on me - I must try that.

Butch: Thought I'd invented it, but Rick Scott...the only other dulcimer player I've known to hold it like a guitar...used that tuning for his "Lotus Eater Blues" on the Pac-Rim dulcimer album.

Steve: Do you play with others - i.e. other MD players or mixed instrument groups? Are you a performer (for fun or paid?). Do you teach? 

Butch: I play with everyone, but rarely as a mountain dulcimer player. I've got a bass gig tomorrow. When I perform, its almost always as a solo act. I use a loop pedal (and a bunch of other pedals) to sound like a whole band. I'm doing that today in fact.

I love jamming with other dulcimer players. But find onstage that they tend to run all together, so that's not my favorite thing to do. I feel like it cheats the audience a little bit. 

Steve: Yes, it is fun for the dulcimer players to jam, but maybe not listener-friendly?

Butch: It is if it's mapped out, and you have instruments of complementary tonalities. If Dan Evans and I ever play together I suspect it'll be mesmerising, but that's assuming one of us is playing guitar.

I do teach dulcimer, guitar and Ukulele and I am a performer, this is my day job.

Steve: What is the music scene like in your locality? Where do you play (i.e. at home, friends houses, pub, coffee shop, etc)? Are there many other MD players near you?

Butch: Chattanooga has a great music community with lots of opportunities to play free live concerts sponsored by the city...a busking program...even our library has a fully-fledged recording studio.

Many, if not most of the opportunities, are restaurant gigs. So you're kind of background music. But there are many ways to do basically whatever you want here. That said, I make my money on the road, out of town and am gone quite a bit.

Aaron O'Rourke and Dan Landrum live a few streets over from me. Stephen Seifert and Stephen Humphries live fairly close or visit often. That keeps me honest. 

Steve: it must be handy to have those illustrious neighbours.

Butch: I never see them...ever...and Dan is currently the mayor. There's a "cobbler's children" analogy here or maybe the Londoner who's never been to (the Royal) Albert Hall?

Steve: A lot of MD players seem to collect instruments. Do you wish to admit to Dulcimer Acquisition Syndrome? Please describe your favourite (or only) instrument.

Butch: I don't have a favorite instrument, but I have a lot of them, 22 at last count (I think). I'm not a collector, but tend to be given things. If you've made a dulci-something hybrid sooner or later it'll end up in my hands. What I don't like is owning an instrument that I don't use. Even my first dulcimer, which I won't part with for sentimental reasons, I converted into lap steel of sorts so it would remain usable.

Steve: Thanks Butch - great talking to you!

Details of Butch's gigs, dulcimer books and latest CD "Found Objects" can be found on his website: www.butchross.com