The Left Hand Dulcimer Band an interview by Carol Stober Talladega, Alabama
An unforgettable scenario occurred at an annual Tennessee Mountain Folk Festival where traditional musicians gathered to share their tunes and k1lents. The group entertaining on stage consisted of two dulcimer players and a fiddl er. Nothing unusual, until a cluster of teenagers seated on blankets requested a Cindi Lauper song. Everyone listened intently as a contemporary arrangement
captured the imagination and spirit of folks unaccustomed to rock and pop. But these guys pulled it off, and sounded 100% old-timey as their voices blended with their mountain instruments. Familiar mostly to audiences in the Southeast, Dan Fraley and Don Dietz are the original core of the Left Hand Dulcimer Band, which at times has included Autoharp, flute and fiddle players.
There's nothing unusual about left-handed Don playing his instrument backward, but Dan has two left hands! He smiles as he relates how innocently he began learning the left-handed playing style that gives their sound a hidden subtleness that intrigues audiences with both traditional and contemporary musical tastes. "The duo first met," Dan explained, "when I hired Don to do some carpenter work on my back porch, and he discovered an old thermos jug that had myoid squadron insignia on it. He then remarked, 'I was in that squadron lOO!' This
was in Yuma, Arizona. We were in the same place at th e same time and didn't know each other." But once acquainted they discovered interests in common.
"Don brought hi s instrument over to show to me, and I'd never seen a dulcimer in my
life. I said, 'Let me try this,' and in abou t three weeks I'd picked up the basic chords from Don's coaching. It seemcd to be fa irly casy and I felt like I was accomplishing somcthing, so I stayed with it. was right-handed but I didn't realize he was showing me left-handed until I already sk1rted learnin g. So I'm stuck! That was seven or eight years ago." Don says that he didn't give Dan much choice but to learn it his way, and a rudim entary Left Hand Dulcimer Band was born. Don's folk music roOlS date back to the 60's when he picked up guitar play ing and later it developed into rock and roll. He first saw a dulcimer in 1968 and was mystified by it. Five years later an old army buddy built one from a kit, tuned it to Mixolydian, and thought that Don's guitar experience (albeit left-handed) WIIIoTER
1988 .
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