FAIRMONT – For generations, the Appalachian Mountain dulcimer, the region’s iconic musical instrument, has been producing high, lonesome sounds and rollicking rhythms just this side of rock ‘n’ roll.
And on Aug. 24, it gets its own festival at Fairmont State University.
The university’s Frank and Jane Gabor Folklife Center is hosting the “Wartz ‘n All Dulcimer Jam,” which happens twice a year on campus.
Players of all levels are encouraged to come and sit in for the event, which runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Don’t look for a formal “concert,” the center’s director Lydia Warren said.
In fact, she said, the whole day will be pretty much open to whatever sonic routes the dulcimers decide to take.
“Providing space for old-time musicians to gather, swap songs and try out new tunes is what we are here for,” the director said.
Warren said the dulcimer jam will make for a fun way to foster the living, ever-evolving art that is Appalachian music – “Facilitating traditions and creating new ones,” as she said.
The mountain dulcimer is believed to have originated in what is now West Virginia in the early 1800s, she said.
Some of the earliest accounts of people hearing dulcimer music in the Appalachian climes go back to 1826 in Pendleton County.
The dulcimer jam at Fairmont State goes back to the late Robert Lackey, a renowned folk musician who first mastered guitar before turning his talent to the dulcimer.
Lackey, who died the day after Christmas in 2023, was a co-founder of the musical event in Fairmont. He also performed and did workshops in the Morgantown area, including the Gardner Festival.
Now, his friends and fellow musicians such as Bob Snyder, are happy to keep playing the dulcimer in his memory – with the Fairmont State jam as the logical launching point to an enduring tradition.
“Many friends and new fans,” Snyder said.
