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Draft:Dan Evans (mountain dulcimer player)

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"Dan Evans (mountain dulcimer player)" redirects here. For other people, see Daniel Evans.
Dan Evans
Born (1956-05-26) May 26, 1956 (age 68)
OriginMiddlesbrough, UK
GenresFolk
InstrumentMountain Dulcimer
Website[1]

Dan Evans (born David Rhys Evans, May 26, 1956) is an English Appalachian dulcimer player, guitarist [1], composer, teacher and photographer. Evans is internationally known and is a concert performer.[2] He usually performs solo but frequently also in a duo or trio.[3]

Education

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Evans was educated at Linthorpe Primary School, Middlesbrough (1961-1964), École de Garçons, Verdun, France (1964-1968), Whinny Banks Secondary Modern School, Middlesbrough (1968-1969) and Acklam Hall High School (1969-1974). He studied at Van Mildert College, University Of Durham (1974-1977) where he was awarded a BSc (Hons) degree in Botany.

Evans missed out on music teaching at school, due to being part-schooled in France and has received no formal musical training. He was labelled tone deaf at school and made to mime in choirs, both in England and France. Ironically, in later life, he developed an international reputation as a voice/singing coach. At school he built two Appalachian dulcimers and is completely self-taught on his instruments, except for a brief session of informal coaching on guitar from UK virtuoso Martin Simpson.

Concerts and Touring

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In 1985 he performed the first of three concerts at London’s Barbican Centre, turning professional in 1992 and toured the UK folk scene.

Evans’ first US tour with Roger Nicholson in 1997 took them to Boston and Blue Mountain Lake in New York State and to teach at the Northeast Dulcimer Symposium.[4]

In 2000 came Evans’ first Kentucky tour to teach and perform at Kentucky Music Week and Kentucky Music Weekend festivals as well as performing in Bowling Green and on Fox FM TV live, and during which time he met and worked with David Schnaufer [5], one of America’s premier dulcimer players. Also at this time he performed with the “Mother of Folk”, folk singer and dulcimer player Jean Ritchie. [6]

Further tours were undertaken in Kentucky and Tennessee (2014) [7], New York State & Brandon, Vermont[8] and the Mountain Dulcimer Music Festival (2017) [9], Kentucky tour to teach and perform in Louisville and at Kentucky Music Week festival, then to present a concert at Judy Turner Hall, Vanderbilt University, Nashville solo [10] and with Stephen Seifert [11] (2018).

In 2024, Evans appeared in concert at The Arc in Winchester [12]

Friends of the Mountain Dulcimer have featured videos of Evans' live dulcimer playing [13].

Evans represented England at the Dulcimer World Congress in Malvern, Worcestershire [14], UK, and overall has made 18 international trips/tours to date, including 15 to the USA, two to Ireland and one to France.

Collaborations

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Evans has collaborated with international classical guitarist Martin Vishnick who has played on Evans' recordings and performed with Evans at the 2019 3 Guitars concert at The Play House, Stratford On Avon [15] along with Stefanos Tsourelis, who won Guitarist Of The Year (London Guitar institute). Evans also provided the photography for Vishnick's website.[16]

In 2014, Evans recorded two duets with virtuoso Stephen Seifert at the studio of Grammy-nominated producer Thomm Jutz in Nashville, Tennessee. [17]

Instruments

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Unusually, Evans’ dulcimers only have 3 strings and a true diatonic fretting pattern with no additional / half frets. Accordingly, Evans has addressed the question of modes.[18] All his instruments have pickups and are treated to subtle digital delay effects. His main performance instruments are:

  • A custom acoustic Appalachian dulcimer by Martin Cole, Cornwall, UK [19]
  • A custom acoustic Appalachian dulcimer by Doug Berch, Michigan,USA [20]
  • A custom electric Appalachian dulcimer by Andy Viccars, Bletchley, UK [21]
  • Chester acoustic steel-string guitars by Auden, UK [22]

Playing Style

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Evans plays dulcimer & guitar almost exclusively fingerstyle and was inspired by John Martyn, Gryphon and Pentangle. He is renowned for playing dulcimer mostly in DAA tuning, rather than the more usual DAD. He plays guitar melodically in Open C tuning (CGCGCE) mostly and to a natural temperament, not even-tempered. Evans' arrangement of "Let It Be Me" in DAA tuning was referenced in an article in Dulcimer Players News and a video performance featured [23].

"Amazing Grace"

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The hymn Amazing Grace was written in Olney, Buckinghamshire, where Dan has lived for the past 30 years. In 2007, Olney celebrated the hymn for the 200th anniversary of the UK parliamentary bill to abolish slavery. Evans, who was in Indiana at the time of Dulcimer Chautauqua On The Wabash [24], closed the festival with the hymn, and then again at the same event in 2017. In 2023, Olney held a celebration of the 250th anniversary of the hymn being written, in which Evans performed on the dulcimer [25]. Evans has several dulcimer arrangements of Amazing Grace [26]

Discography

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Evans has recorded six CD albums distributed by The Divine Art Recordings Group[27]:

  • Guardian Spirit (1993)
  • Spirit Dancing (1997)
  • Autumn Dance (2002)
  • Let It Be Me (2010)
  • Au Vieux Moulin (2014)
  • A Waltz Through The Woods (2024)

Memberships

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Evans is a member of PRS and PPL, a fellow of ISM and a founder member of the Nonsuch Dulcimer Club [28]

References

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  1. ^ "Ealing Guitar Society". Guitar Society. 2023. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
  2. ^ "Dan Evans biography". Joanna Craig. 2000. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
  3. ^ "Dan, Andy & Rebecca". YouTube. 2017. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
  4. ^ "Roger Nicholson". David Schnaufer. 2021. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
  5. ^ "Kentucky Music Week". YouTube. 2000. Retrieved January 7, 2025.
  6. ^ "Green Note". Green Note. 2014. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
  7. ^ "KY & TN Tour 2014". YouTube. 2014. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
  8. ^ "Brandon Music 2017". Mountain Times. 2017. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
  9. ^ "NY & VT Tour 2017". YouTube. 2014. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
  10. ^ "Nashville 2018". YouTube. 2018. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
  11. ^ "Stephem Seifert 2018". YouTube. 2018. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
  12. ^ "The Arc 2014". Hampshire Cultural Trust. 2024. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
  13. ^ "FOTMD 2014". Friends of the Mountain Dulcimer. 2024. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
  14. ^ "Dulcimer World Congress". Dan Evans. 2015. Retrieved January 7, 2025.
  15. ^ "3 Guitars Concert". YouTube. 2019. Retrieved January 7, 2025.
  16. ^ "Martin Vishnick". Indirect Design. 2025. Retrieved January 7, 2025.
  17. ^ "Au Vieux Moulin". Amazon. 2014. Retrieved January 7, 2025.
  18. ^ "Mixolydian Mode". Dulcimer Crossing. 2014. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
  19. ^ "Martin Cole Dulcimer". Retrieved January 8, 2025.
  20. ^ "Doug Berch Dulcimer". Retrieved January 8, 2025.
  21. ^ "Andy Viccars Dulcimer". Retrieved January 8, 2025.
  22. ^ "Auden Guitars". Retrieved January 8, 2025.
  23. ^ "Dulcimer Players News". Dulcimer Players News. 2014. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
  24. ^ "Dulcimer Chautauqua On The Wabash". DCOTW. 2025. Retrieved January 7, 2025.
  25. ^ "Amazing Grace 250th". Cowper Memorial Museum. 2023. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
  26. ^ "Dan Evans arrangements". Dan Evans. 2025. Retrieved January 7, 2025.
  27. ^ "Divine Art Group". Divine Art. 2025. Retrieved January 7, 2025.
  28. ^ "Nonsuch Dulcimer Club". Nonsuch Dulcimer Club. 2023. Retrieved January 8, 2025.


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