New From East Tennessee

[Psalteryman]

Hi Folks,

My wife Cathy and I live in Clinton, TN. We travel in a 1980 MCI-9 bus conversion. We started with a coach someone else had converted and then rebuilt what we needed to make it fully wheelchair accessible. Cathy has had ms since the mid 80's. We bought the coach in June 2008.

I am a woodworker and work from home. I build and sell a musical instrument called the bowed psaltery. We travel to craft fairs, craft demonstrations (at Southern Highlands Craft Guild shops), and to a few dulcimer festivals.

The main places we travel to frequently are Gatlinburg, TN, Cumberland Gap National Park, and Asheville, NC. We are in Asheville today and headed home after a five day demo at the Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Our longest trip was to Hattiesburg, MS back in Feb. for a dulcimer festival.

We have stayed at Tapps RV Park while in Asheville this year.

Good to be here,

Rick and Cathy

[RickO]

Hi Rick and welcome to the forum! You'll find some great folks here willing to help with any problems or just engage in good discussion!

Glad you found us.

Rick

[Lorna]

Okay is it a little odd that I know what a bowed psaltery is... and a dulcimer? too much time living in the Appalachians? I grew up next to a friend, who, as an adult, built her house next to my parent's place.... Franklin folks don't usually move too far from their families. She played the autoharp. Her husband bought her a really beautiful looking and sounding autoharp for her birthday one year that was over two hundred years old... she would let my toddlers pluck at the strings... just about gave me a heart attack. She said they couldn't hurt it since it was so old! Only thing they could do was break a string and she could replace that! I guess that attitude is what she grew up with and may explain why the whole family (mom, dad and 4 kids) all played multiple instruments from early ages.

[JMonroe]

OK, I didn't know what a "bowed psaltery" is, and had to look it up. Cool.

Welcome aboard!

[Psalteryman]

Lorna, Not unusual that you know. I have folks by my table all the time that know what they are, but more common for others to ask "What the heck is that?"

Your story reminded me of two brothers I know that are really good bluegrass musicians, one of them played with Doyle Lawson for a short time. They said their dad had several instruments that he played. He stored them under his bed and warned the brothers not to mess with them. Of course it was a short time before both of them were making music. :-)