Album Notes

Jan Hammond is an Ohio-based mountain dulcimer player and song writer. Her musical style has been influenced by everything from country to rock and bluegrass to classical. Her initial introduction to the dulcimer was from attending a workshop by Jean Ritchie at the Appalachian Folk Festival in Cincinnati in the early '80's. Jan had the honor of playing on stage with Jean Ritchie during a workshop at the Kentucky Music Weekend in 2006.

Jan has a distinctive style of contemporary folk that focuses on simple melodies and thoughtful lyrics. "Just Me & My Dulcimer" is her debut CD. Chris Wintrip of Camellia Compositions & Productions recorded, mixed and mastered the project, but most importantly he added some wonderful guitar work to over half the pieces. The seventeen tracks are a mix of instrumentals and originals that pull from observations, memories of loved ones and a charming sense of humor. There are also a few pieces by some notable musicians like Pete Seeger, Jerry Holland and Pete Sutherland that Jan arranged for the dulcimer. Within several songs, you will see Jan's love of nature and birds, in particular.

In 2006, Jan had the honor & pleasure of cutting a duet CD entitled "Deep Sky" with her dear friend and performance partner, the amazing fingerstyle guitar master, Tom Conner. The two met at a coffee house open mike and have created a wonderfully unique blend of acoustic music.

Jan has a number of first place awards from dulcimer competitions, at the local, state and regional level of the United States. In 2005, she placed first at the Kentucky State Mountain Dulcimer Championship and was a top five finalist at the national competition in Winfield, KS. She repeated her first place finish at the 2006 Mid-Eastern Regional Competition for the third time and the Kentucky State Dulcimer Championship for the second year in a row. Most recently, she placed first at the Mid-Eastern Regional Competition for an unprecedented forth time and released a second solo CD called "The Man in the Moon."


"The fire of the mountain dulcimer meets the voice as soft as an angel. Jan's CD certainly belongs in everyone's recording collection."
Tom Ball - Just Plain Folk & Anything Goes Shows,
WAPS Radio - 91.3 The Summit, Akron, Ohio
http://www.913thesummit.com

"I got your CD Jan and it's really, really nice! I like everything about it - the dulcimers sound really good, with nice full sound. I like the fact that you've put together a really good mix of 'found' music and your own compositions. I had no idea that you had written so many songs. They're great."
Cindy Funk - Sweetwater Folk
http://www.live365.com/stations/318690