Any recordings?
Here's a beginning...
Brian Dewan, Tells The Story, Bar/None A-HAON 033-2
- Brian plays an amazing, immense guitar zither, electrified, that he built himself. It's a fascinating sound, the lead in all the cuts on the CD. It's hard to attach a label the style of music - he has been associated in some way with They Might Be Giants, so that may provide a clue (maybe). I would love to get close to this instrument and watch him play it.
David Michael, Sierra Suite, Spalax music?, 14268
David Michael & Randy Mead, Keystone Passage, PPCD 1005
David Michael, Winter Reveries, Purnima Productions, PPCD 1007
- David creates wonderful soundscapes using one or more zithers. On the third recording he plays a Germania harp, closely related to the Sonora.
Margaret MacArthur - several recordings on which she plays the Harp-O-Chord harp-zither
Washington Phillips, I Am Born to Preach the Gospel, Yazoo 2003
Although long considered one of the only recordings available featuring the Dolceola, recent research suggests that Phillips may have been playing a modified Phonoharp instrument. See Gregg Miner's Dolceola Pages for much more detail.
Leadbelly, Capitol T1821
This recording contains several cuts featuring backing on a Dolceola played by Paul Mason Howard.
Perry County Music Makers, Sunset Memories, Davis Unlimited 33009
Perry County Music Makers, Going Back to Tennessee, Davis Unlimited 33024
These two records may be the only authentic recordings of fretless zither playing by someone who learned in the early 1900s when these instruments were first popular. Nonnie Presson plays a special enlarged zither with 5 chords that she had custom-made.
You'll also want to check the discography on Bob's Ukelin Home, an excellent resource.
Drop me a line.
Go back to the Guitar-Zither Clearinghouse, or home.
Last update - 11 May 03