The rustic lap-dulcimer drone of poor southern mountain communities. Traditional singer Jean Ritchie carried the Appalachian dulcimer into the urban folk revival, spreading the instrument and her Kentucky ballads across America.
At the vanguard of the British Invasion, The Rolling Stones adopted the Appalachian dulcimer — plucked by multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones — alongside Jack Nitzsche's harpsichord, recasting 1966's 'Lady Jane' as an English courtly baroque miniature. An American vernacular instrument traveled back across the Atlantic to be re-dressed in Tudor-flavored aristocratic elegance.
An earthy Appalachian folk zither re-imported and redefined as British Invasion-era courtly baroque pop.