Bing Futch (b. Hollywood, California, December 16, 1966) is a musician whose primary instrument is the mountain dulcimer. In 1986 he co-founded Christian techno-punk trio Crazed Bunnyz along with Marc "Gadget" Plainguet and Sean "Shaka" Harrison. He relocated to

Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...

in 1993 and also plays the

Native American flute The Native American flute is a musical instrument and flute that is held in front of the player, has open finger holes, and has two chambers: one for collecting the breath of the player and a second chamber which creates sound. The player breat ...

ukulele The ukulele ( ; ); also called a uke (informally), is a member of the lute (ancient guitar) family of instruments. The ukulele is of Portuguese origin and was popularized in Hawaii. The tone and volume of the instrument vary with size and con ...

, and drums. Futch has composed and produced soundtracks for film, theater, television and themed attractions. In 1994, he wrote and recorded music for The Castle of Miracles at Give Kids The World Village in

Kissimmee, Florida Kissimmee ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Osceola County, Florida, Osceola County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 79,226. It is a principal city of the Greater Orlando, O ...

. In 1999, Futch formed Americana band Mohave, featuring the mountain dulcimer as the main instrument. The group has performed at the

House of Blues House of Blues is an American chain of live music concert halls and restaurants. It was founded by Isaac Tigrett, the co-founder of Hard Rock Cafe, and Dan Aykroyd, co-star of the 1980 film ''The Blues Brothers (film), The Blues Brothers''. The ...

Walt Disney World The Walt Disney World Resort is an destination resort, entertainment resort complex located about southwest of Orlando, Florida, United States. Opened on October 1, 1971, the resort is operated by Disney Experiences, a division of the Wa ...

, Hard Rock Live at

Universal Studios Florida Universal Studios Florida is a theme park located in Orlando, Florida, that opened on June 7, 1990. Owned and operated by NBCUniversal, it features numerous rides, attractions, and live shows that are primarily themed to movies, television, and ...

and has opened for Molly Hatchet, among other acts. Futch performs using regular and baritone mountain dulcimers as well as custom-made dual-fretboard and resonator instruments, and is one of only two mountain dulcimer players to compete in the history of the

International Blues Challenge The International Blues Challenge (IBC) is a music competition run by the Blues Foundation. Notable blues artists that have competed in the IBC over the years also includes Fiona Boyes, Eden Brent, Michael Burks, Tommy Castro, Sean Costello, ...

, advancing to the semi-finals in the 2015 edition of the competition. During the 2016 edition of the

, Futch made it to the finals and was awarded "Best Guitarist" in the solo-duo category, despite performing solely on the Appalachian mountain dulcimer. He is the grandson of the late

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

hall-of-famer Eddie Futch.

Northwest Airlines incident

On June 14, 2009, Futch was en route to a show in Ft. Wayne, Indiana on

Northwest Airlines Northwest Airlines (often abbreviated as NWA) was a major airline in the United States that operated from 1926 until it Delta Air Lines–Northwest Airlines merger, merged with Delta Air Lines in 2010. The merger made Delta the largest airline ...

flight 2363 from Detroit, Michigan. During that time, baggage handlers damaged his double-necked mountain dulcimer.A Musician's Nightmare
– ''Nowhere Blog'', June 15, 2009. Accessed July 14, 2009. Encouraged by fans to write a song about the incident, and after seeing Dave Carroll's " United Breaks Guitars" on YouTube, Futch penned "Only a Northwest Song""Only a Northwest Song" video
– YouTube on July 10, 2009, and posted it to the service, hoping it would help to avoid a "lengthy reimbursement battle."United guitar video shows online gripes can get results
– ''Chicago Tribune'', July 14, 2009. Accessed July 14, 2009. Within a day of the video's posting,

contacted Futch to offer their apologies along with compensation.YouTube heroes Dave Carroll and Bing Futch win airline compensation
– ''Times Online'', July 14, 2009. Accessed July 14, 2009.

Discography

*''Castaway: Original Soundtrack'', 1986 *''Kansas'', 1987 *''Buy Dis Album Ore God Will Disconnect My Fone'', 1987 *''The Girl and the Book'', 1987 *''21'', 1987 *''Fantasy Amidst The Storm'', 1989 *''70 mm'', 1994 *''Dulcimerica: Volume 1'', 2006 *''Dulcimer Rock'', 2007 *''Kokopelli Rising'', 2008 *''Christmas Each Day'', 2008 *''Dulcimerica: Volume 2'', 2010 *''Storm's Sigh'', 2011 *''Live At Old Songs!'', 2012 *''Dive!'', 2013 *''All Songs Lead To The Gift Shop'', 2014 *''Unresolved Blues'', 2015 *''Dulcimerica: Volume 3'', 2015 *''Sweet River'', 2015 *''Return Of Live At Old Songs'', 2016 *''Live From Ditty TV'', 2016 *''Synth For A Season'', 2016 *''What's Old Becomes New Again'', 2017 *''The Improv Files: Year One'', 2018 *''The Beauty and the Terror'', 2021 *''Remain Seated Please'', 2023 With Nutty Faith: *''It's Our Job'', 1985 With Crazed Bunnyz: *''Achtung: Musik Klirrfaktor'', 1986 *''Live!'', 1987 *''Transition'', 1987 *''Blutgasse'', 1988 With Mohave: *''Homegrown'', 1999 *''Spider Rock'', 2000 *''Live At Leu Gardens'', 2003 *''Clear Blue Trickling'', 2005 With Naked Head: *''Beautiful Disruption'', 2002 With Manitou: *''In The Garden Of The Gods'', 2009 As Producer: * Wendy Songe ''Test Drive'', 2015 * Wendy Songe ''Driven'', 2016

References

External links

*
Reverbnation PageBing Futch: Listen Again – AXS
* ttp://dulcimuse.com/podcast/resource/009.html Hearts of the Dulcimer-PodcastEpisode 009: Bing Futch: Dulcimer Road Warrior
Hearts of the Dulcimer-Podcast
Episode 016: Blues On Dulcimer {{DEFAULTSORT:Futch, Bing Appalachian dulcimer players Musicians from Hollywood, Los Angeles 1966 births Living people Musicians from Orlando, Florida