Evan Carawan is an American

hammered dulcimer The hammered dulcimer (also called the hammer dulcimer) is a percussion-stringed instrument which consists of strings typically stretched over a trapezoidal resonant sound board. The hammered dulcimer is set before the musician, who in more trad ...

player from

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Tennessee, Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Di ...

. He is the son of folk musicians Candie and

Guy Carawan Guy Hughes Carawan Jr. (July 28, 1927 – May 2, 2015) was an American folk music, folk musician and musicology, musicologist. He served as music director and song leader for the Highlander Research and Education Center in New Market, Tenn ...

. Evan Carawan learned to play hammered dulcimer from his father, who was a pioneer in reviving American interest in the instrument. Carawan typically plays in

old-time music Old-time music is a genre of North American folk music. It developed along with various North American folk dances, such as square dancing, clogging, and buck dancing. It is played on acoustic instruments, generally centering on a combination ...

, Irish, and

new-age New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars conside ...

styles. Carawan has been a member of several musical groups, including The Carawan Family (with his parents and other associates, often Will Byers and Don Cassell), and the Atomic City Rhythm Rascals (with David Lovett, Chris McMahon, and Tim Worman). As a youth in 1972, Carawan taught hammered dulcimer player Malcolm Dalglish his first hammered dulcimer tune, the traditional Drunken Sailor. Although best known for his hammered dulcimer playing, Carawan also plays the

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

. Carawan is also employed at McKay Books in Knoxville, TN.

Discography

*''Appalachian and Irish Tunes on Hammer Dulcimer'' (with

, 1984, Flying Fish Records) *''Homeward Bound'' (1993, Turquoise Records) *''A Month of Sundays'' (2000, Ponder Productions) *''Atomic City Rhythm Rascals'' (2001, Grinning Deer Music) *''The View From Home'' (2002, Ponder Productions) *''Five Miles From Town'' (David Lovett & friends, 2005, Grinning Deer Music)

References

External links

Webpage at Grinning Deer Music''Lifelong Students, Eternal Activists'' by Jack Neely
– Profile of Carawan's parents from '' Metro Pulse'', including information on Evan Living people People from Knoxville, Tennessee Hammered dulcimer players American folk musicians Date of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-musician-stub