Wildwood Whispers


Book Description

"Readers craving a witchy story full of found family, lush nature, and small-town secrets will find it utterly enchanting.” —Hester Fox, author of The Witch of Willow Hall Step into a world of hope, fate, and folk magic in this bewitching debut when a young woman travels to a sleepy southern town in the Appalachian Mountains to honor her best friend. Mel Smith’s life is shattered after the sudden death of her best friend, Sarah Ross. In an effort to fulfill a final promise to Sarah and find herself again, Mel travels to an idyllic small town nestled in the Appalachian Mountains. But Morgan’s Gap is more than she ever expected. There are secrets that call to Mel, from a salvaged remedy book filled with the magic of simple mountain traditions to the connection she feels to the Ross homestead and the wilderness around it. With every taste of sweet honey and tart blackberries, the wildwood twines further into Mel’s broken heart. But a threat lingers in the woods—one that may have something to do with Sarah’s untimely death and has now set its sights on Mel. The wildwood is whispering. It has secrets to reveal—if you're willing to listen . . . Praise for Wildwood Whispers: "A feast for the senses. Willa Reece has written a magical, romantic tale about our essential connections to nature and to each other." —Sarah Addison Allen, New York Times bestselling author “A beautifully woven tale of fantasy, feminism, and mystery set in rural Appalachia.”―Constance Sayers, author of A Witch in Time




Do Not Sell At Any Price


Book Description

“A thoughtful, entertaining history of obsessed music collectors and their quest for rare early 78 rpm records” (Los Angeles Times), Do Not Sell at Any Price is a fascinating, complex story of preservation, loss, obsession, and art. Before MP3s, CDs, and cassette tapes, even before LPs or 45s, the world listened to music on fragile, 10-inch shellac discs that spun at 78 revolutions per minute. While vinyl has enjoyed a renaissance in recent years, rare and noteworthy 78rpm records are exponentially harder to come by. The most sought-after sides now command tens of thousands of dollars, when they’re found at all. Do Not Sell at Any Price is the untold story of a fixated coterie of record collectors working to ensure those songs aren’t lost forever. Music critic and author Amanda Petrusich considers the particular world of the 78—from its heyday to its near extinction—and examines how a cabal of competitive, quirky individuals have been frantically lining their shelves with some of the rarest records in the world. Besides the mania of collecting, Petrusich also explores the history of the lost backwoods blues artists from the 1920s and 30s whose work has barely survived and introduces the oddball fraternity of men—including Joe Bussard, Chris King, John Tefteller, and others—who are helping to save and digitize the blues, country, jazz, and gospel records that ultimately gave seed to the rock, pop, and hip-hop we hear today. From Thomas Edison to Jack White, Do Not Sell at Any Price is an untold, intriguing story of the evolution of the recording formats that have changed the ways we listen to (and create) music. “Whether you’re already a 78 aficionado, a casual record collector, a crate-digger, or just someone…who enjoys listening to music, you’re going to love this book” (Slate).




The Best Dulcimer Method Yet


Book Description

(Ashley Publications). Easy instructions plus 139 selections by Albert Gamse for all 3 and 4 string dulcimers.




The God of the Fairy Tale


Book Description

What Treasures Are Hidden in the Enchanted Woods? More than just bedtime traditions, more than simple children’s literature, the most enduring stories are echoes of the greatest of all stories, the Gospel. God of the Fairy Tale is a collection of spiritual reflections on the truths found in classic fairy tales, truths that point us to the ultimate Truth about God, redemption, and ourselves. Delving into twenty classic folk and fairy tales, God of the Fairy Tale leads us into the mystical landscape of elves, goblins, and talking animals to reveal the jewels of truth that hide inside these most simple of stories. Through the fables of Snow White, Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel, and many others, we discover a perspective not unlike that of the Bible–a world of people trying to be something more, questing to do good in a realm fraught with evil, where a turn of the tables leaves the strong defeated and the weak victorious. Each tale is presented along with a meditation on the spiritual and theological themes present. God of the Fairy Tale will warm your heart with a world of characters, creatures, and circumstances that spin an entertaining yarn and affirm the most essential Christian worldviews.




Walking to Gatlinburg


Book Description

"A Civil War odyssey in the tradition of Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain and Robert Olmstead’s Coal Black Horse, Mosher’s latest, about a Vermont teenager’s harrowing journey south to find his missing-in-action brother, is old-fashioned in the best sense of the word....The story of Morgan’s rite-of-passage through an American arcadia despoiled by war and slavery is an engrossing tale with mass appeal." –Publisher's Weekly Morgan Kinneson is both hunter and hunted. The sharp-shooting 17-year-old from Kingdom County, Vermont, is determined to track down his brother Pilgrim, a doctor who has gone missing from the Union Army. But first Morgan must elude a group of murderous escaped convicts in pursuit of a mysterious stone that has fallen into his possession. It’s 1864, and the country is in the grip of the bloodiest war in American history. Meanwhile, the Kinneson family has been quietly conducting passengers on the Underground Railroad from Vermont to the Canadian border. One snowy afternoon Morgan leaves an elderly fugitive named Jesse Moses in a mountainside cabin for a few hours so that he can track a moose to feed his family. In his absence, Jesse is murdered, and thus begins Morgan’s unforgettable trek south through an apocalyptic landscape of war and mayhem. Along the way, Morgan encounters a fantastical array of characters, including a weeping elephant, a pacifist gunsmith, a woman who lives in a tree, a blind cobbler, and a beautiful and intriguing slave girl named Slidell who is the key to unlocking the mystery of the secret stone. At the same time, he wrestles with the choices that will ultimately define him – how to reconcile the laws of nature with religious faith, how to temper justice with mercy. Magical and wonderfully strange, Walking to Gatlinburg is both a thriller of the highest order and a heartbreaking odyssey into the heart of American darkness.




Appalachian Dulcimer Traditions


Book Description

The Appalachian dulcimer is one of America's major contributions to world music and folk art. Homemade and handmade, played by people with no formal knowledge of music, this beautiful instrument arrived in the light of the 20th century with virtually no written record. Appalachian Dulcimer Traditions is a first-hand report to enlarge our knowledge of the dulcimer's history by searching the hills and "hollers" of Appalachia, looking at old instruments, and listening to the tales of old folks. After reviewing the instrument's special musical features, the book describes some related instruments, and reveals little-known facts about the dulcimer's origins on the early Appalachian frontier. The book then describes three major design traditions of the dulcimer, each centered in its own geographical area, and focuses on important makers in each of the three traditions--the Melton family of Galax, Virginia, Charles M. Prichard of Huntington, West Virginia, and "Uncle Ed" Thomas of Kentucky. A final chapter describes four Appalachian makers of the folk revival transition, who began making instruments the old-time way and modernized them to meet the needs of Post-World-War-II urban players. The book concludes with listings of dulcimer recordings in the Archive of Folk Culture of the Library of Congress.




Dulcimer Songbook


Book Description

Thomas Balinger Dulcimer Songbook 70 popular songs for dulcimer in D-A-D tuning Revised Edition 2017/2018 (TAB fret numbers: 1 2 3 4 5 6 6+ 7) 70 popular tunes arranged for dulcimer in standard mixolydian tuning D-A-D (6 1/2 fret models). Progressively graded from simple melody playing on one or two strings to easy fingerpicking arrangements of 10 popular songs, this collection is aimed at the beginning player. Plus chord symbols, dulcimer chord diagrams and a collection of strumming patterns for song accompaniment. Songs: 1. Amazing grace 2. America (My country 'tis of thee) 3. America the beautiful 4. Auld lang syne 5. Aura Lee 6. Away in a manger 7. Banks of Allan Water 8. Banks of Sacramento 9. Banks of the Ohio 10. Barbara Allen 11. Bound for the Rio Grande 12. Buffalo gals 13. Bury me not on the lone prairie 14. Camptown races 15. Can the circle be unbroken 16. Careless love 17. Cindy 18. Clementine 19. Cotton-eyed Joe 20. Danny Boy 21. Deck the halls 22. Down by the riverside 23. Down in the valley 24. Finnegan's Wake 25. Give me that old time religion 26. Good night, ladies 27. Go, tell it on the mountain 28. He's got the whole world in His hands 29. Home on the range 30. Home! Sweet Home! 31. House of the rising sun 32. I'm on my way 33. I once loved a lass 34. Jingle bells 35. John Brown's body 36. Jolly good fellow 37. Kum ba yah 38. Little brown jug 39. Michael, row the boat ashore 40. Morning has broken 41. My Bonnie lies over the ocean 42. Nobody knows the trouble 43. Oh! Susanna 44. Old folks at home 45. Old MacDonald had a farm 46. On top of Old Smokey 47. Over the river and through the woods 48. Poor Paddy works on the railrway 49. Scarborough fair 50. She'll be coming round the mountain 51. Shenandoah 52. Shortnin' bread 53. Skibbereen 54. Skip to my Lou 55. Swing low, sweet chariot 56. The John B. sails 57. The minstrel boy 58. The Wabash Cannon Ball 59. The water is wide 60. The wild rover 61. The yellow rose of Texas 62. Tom Dooley 63. Twinkle, twinkle, little star 64. Up on the housetop 65. Waltzing Matilda 66. Wayfaring stranger 67. What shall we do with the drunken sailor 68. When the saints go marchin' in 69. Whiskey in the jar 70. Yankee Doodle




You Can Teach Yourself Dulcimer


Book Description

Madeline MacNeil's performances are characterized by her effortless vocals and impeccable mountain and hammered dulcimer playing. In this book she reveals some of the secrets of her success with the mountain dulcimer. Early on, she reminds the reader that the dulcimer is not a toy or a stringed kazoo but a serious, expressive musical instrument capable of stretching as far as the imagination. She endorses both playing by ear and learning to read standard notation. In easily-understood language she manages to explore some very complex, even esoteric concepts, making this a particularly valuable book for the beginning instrumentalists. You Can Teach Yourself Dulcimer is simply a great fundamental book. Twelve intensive lessons in 95 pages with arrangements in both DAA and DAD tuning. Standard notation and tablature. Illustrated with photographs and drawings. Includes access to online audio and video.




Method for Beginning Mountain Dulcimer


Book Description

Bing Futch's "Method For Beginning Mountain Dulcimer" is the most comprehensive how-to-learn-the-dulcimer book available. You'll learn the basics, sure, and start playing songs right away. Even better, though, is the depth of content that Bing provides for you in this one incomparable volume - technique, repertoire, theory, history, and FUN! Once you've worked your way through this book, you'll be a competent dulcimer player that can enjoy playing with any group. You'll have a great time honing your skills with Bing, and you'll end up with a wealth of technical skills, music fundamentals, and dulcimer repertoire!