One of the many ways researching and writing Pluck has changed me is that it has given me a new appreciation for first-hand diving into...

Remember the old Reader's Digest recurring series, "My Most Unforgettable Character"? Well, Neal Hellman is in my Top Ten list of most...

Crawling back from the misery of a very bad cold, I have been catching up with emails. A few in particular came from Tom Harleman who...

Emmylou Harris and David Schnaufer perform Hank Williams's "May You Never Be Alone".

1960: Folk Revival begins. Jean Ritchie introduces Richard Fariña to the dulcimer./Nancy Johnson (later, Nancy Barker) gets her first...

I'm sorry to say this didn't occur to me to include in Pluck prior to publication, but a couple of people suggested I should have...

David Schnaufer is not the only main character in Pluck; so is America's first folk instrument, the Mountain Dulcimer. It was not planned...

Unless you lived through the folk music times starting in the forties, you may or may not have heard of Jean Ritchie. When I started the...