Neal Hellman (born April 13, 1948 in New York, NY) is an American folk musician, music teacher, and performer of the mountain dulcimer. He has been active in performing, writing, teaching and recording

acoustic music Acoustic music is music that solely or primarily uses instruments that produce sound through acoustic means, as opposed to electric or electronic means. While all music was once acoustic, the retronym "acoustic music" appeared after the ad ...

for the past thirty years throughout the

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and

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. In collaboration with Joe Weed, Neal wrote the score for Princess Furball, a children's video by Weston Woods which won a 1993

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members ...

Commendation. An original composition, written by Neal and performed by Jay Ungar and

Molly Mason Molly Mason is an American musician and composer and performs as a duo Jay & Molly with her husband Jay Ungar. Jay's composition, Ashokan Farewell, became the title theme of Ken Burns' The Civil War on PBS. The soundtrack won a Grammy and Ashoka ...

, is featured on the Ken Burns production "The Story of

Susan B Anthony Susan B. Anthony (born Susan Anthony; February 15, 1820 – March 13, 1906) was an American social reformer and women's rights activist who played a pivotal role in the women's suffrage movement. Born into a Quaker family committed to s ...

and Elizabeth Cady Stanton" which was broadcast on PBS across the United States in the fall of 1999. He is the author of a number of books on the Appalachian dulcimer, including ''It's A Dulcimer Life'', ''The Dulcimer Chord Book'', ''The Hal Leonard Dulcimer Method'', ''Beatles Dulcimer Book'' and ''The Music of the Shakers For Mountain Dulcimer'' on Mel Bay Publications. As founder, director and one of the primary artists of the Gourd Music

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the prod ...

, Neal has produced over thirty albums, including ''Simple Gifts'', ''Tree of Life'', ''The Fairie Round'', ''Tender Shepherd'', ''The World Turned Upside Down'' and ''A Victorian Christmas''.

Discography

Oktober County (1988) - Gourd Music Dream of the Manatee (with Joe Weed) (1989) - Gourd Music Autumn in the Valley (1993) - Gourd Music Emma's Waltz (2007) - Gourd Music

References

Bibliography

* Neal Walters & Brian Mansfield (ed.) (1998)
MusicHound Folk: The Essential Album Guide, p. 358-359
', (the source of his birth date and place).

External links

Oktober County - Artist's Biography.FolkLib Index - Gourd Music discography
Living people American male musicians Appalachian dulcimer players American folk musicians 1948 births {{US-musician-stub