A diatonic folk zither played in isolated Appalachian communities to accompany hymns and story ballads. Jean Ritchie, heir to the ballad-rich Ritchie family, recorded its plain dulcimer strumming alongside her Kentucky mountain songs on her 1952 debut, bridging the instrument into the urban folk revival.
Contemporary Folk / Confessional Singer-Songwriter
Joni Mitchell encountered the Appalachian dulcimer at a festival and placed it at the emotional core of her 1971 masterpiece 'Blue'. Applying unorthodox open tunings and agile, percussive picking, she redefined the instrument's rustic drone into a searing, intimate vehicle for confessional singer-songwriter expression.
A communal mountain folk instrument irreversibly redefined as the apex of 1970s West Coast confessional singer-songwriting.