Album Notes

Brenda Hunter plays hammered dulcimer with uncommon precision, flair, and beauty. Her skilful arrangements of traditional Irish and old time folk music reveal the eclectic influences of jazz, rock, and the classics. From haunting solo airs, to rocking reels with full band backing, her current album Catching the Mooncoin shows the breadth of Brenda's abilities. (She plays a pretty mean fiddle, too!) She is accompanied by her band, Banshee in the Kitchen, with tastefully chosen flute, accordion, whistle, guitar, and Irish bouzouki. Brenda is a recent National Champion on the hammered dulcimer, and is soon to publish a book of arrangements for the hammered dulcimer in Irish music, with Mel Bay Publications.

Brenda discovered the hammered dulcimer in 1993, and the world of traditional music soon after. Her musical training began in early childhood, while singing with her family. She went on to study piano, violin, saxophone, guitar and voice, completing her degree in music education. From rock to Renaissance, Celtic to classical, Brenda has played with a wide spectrum of ensembles.

Banshee in the Kitchen released its debut CD, If We Were Us, in January 2003. Brenda?s two earlier CDs were recorded with flautist Cindy Angel?The Captive Maiden (1997) and Christmas Collage (1995)?as the duo Briar Rose.

Brenda won the National Hammered Dulcimer Competition at Winfield, Kansas in 1996, and teaches regularly at the CTMS Summer Solstice Festival in Calabasas, California. She has also presented workshops at the Ozark Dulcimer Festival in Mt. View, AR, the Sawdust Festival in Bennington, Oklahoma, the Claremont Folk Festival, and the Harvest Festival in Dana Point, California. Brenda performs regularly throughout Central and Southern California as a soloist, and with Banshee in the Kitchen.