Album Notes

This is the original Trapezoid group and their landmark first album originally released on vinyl in 1975. This digital release includes several new cuts by Sam Rizzetta. The other original members are Paul Reisler, Pete Vigour, and Paul Yeaton. Their audacity to build and play on four hammered dulcimers was a first and magical milestone in American folk music. Besides six dulcimer quartets, they also play guitar, banjo, pennywhistle, mandolin, and fretted dulcimer. They are joined by the New England stringband Common Ground for three of the tunes.

Sam Rizzetta has been nominated for a National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship for lifetime achievement in the arts. His many innovations helped create the modern hammer dulcimer, and his handmade instruments have been exhibited by the Smithsonian Institution, the National Folk Festival, the West Virginia Cultural Center, and featured in Fine Woodworking Magazine.