Bill Collins and Nina Zanetti provide a patchwork quilt of mountain dulcimer music in this album. Stitched together are pieces that present a variety of sweet music yet blend comfortably together. This is an album one can listen to all day and never tire of hearing. You can tell that Bill and Nina enjoy the music they play. Mountain dulcimer players will have their horizon stretched and be encouraged to explore the intricacies of the instrument by listening to The Sum of the Parts. If I were allowed only one mountain dulcimer album to take with me to a desert island, this would be the one.

Love this album! Beautiful playing, beautiful, lyrical expression.

At a recent dulcimer festival, Bill and Nina played “Hector the Hero,” the first song on this album. After they finished, there was a moment of hush before the applause as the audience just let the beauty of their music sink in. I recognized the audience’s awe because it is similar to the way my husband and I often react when we listen to this gorgeous album. Many times we have exclaimed simultaneously, “Beautiful!” after one of the selections has ended. But as beautiful as the individual songs are, with this lovely CD, the whole is definitely greater than the sum of the parts. It is like a fancy 7-course meal. Each “part” is beautiful, but the experience of the whole is most satisfying and complete. It is truly a feast for the ears and the heart. Nina’s playing is not only technically excellent and intricate, but also soothing and uplifting. Her harmonies and inner voices are captivating. There is a lovely sense of motion/movement in each of her arrangements. There is something very “organic” about the way she plays and intimate about listening to her. It feels like she and the dulcimer are one. Bill is a very skilled technician and there is a wonderful variety and aesthetic completeness about his music. In many cases, I feel as though I am listening to a harpsichord—so simple, elegant, and clean is his playing. Bill’s playing has a masculine feel about it—very crisp and strong, and sometimes almost flamenco (“Rage in the Rain” comes to mind). . And yet, there is a softer side and depth to his music, and Nina and Bill blend beautifully. It is easy to tell that they both love this music. They make their listeners love it too!