Rick Epping is a California-born musician who has immersed himself in American old-time and Irish traditional music since the 1960s. He is a player of the

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica in ...

concertina A concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. It consists of expanding and contracting bellows, with buttons (or keys) usually on both ends, unlike accordion buttons, which are on the front. Th ...

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

and jaw harp. During the 1970s he lived in Ireland where he studied traditional Irish music. He was the 1975 All-Ireland Harmonica champion and a member of the folk group Pumpkinhead. He has recorded with other Irish and American musicians and groups over the years, including Andy Irvine,

Christy Moore Christopher Andrew "Christy" Moore (born 7 May 1945) is an Ireland, Irish folk singer, songwriter and guitarist. In addition to his significant success as an individual, he is one of the founding members of Planxty and Moving Hearts. His first ...

, Mick Hanly, Bob Zentz,

George Winston George Winston (born December 26, 1949) is an American pianist, guitarist, harmonicist, and record producer. He was born in Michigan and raised mainly in Montana ( Miles City and Billings), as well as Mississippi and Florida. He is best known f ...

, Mary Staunton, Priscilla Herdman and

Robbin Thompson Robert Wickens "Robbin" Thompson (June 16, 1949 – October 10, 2015) was an American singer-songwriter based in Richmond, Virginia. Since 1976 he recorded several albums which included guest appearances by Melissa Manchester, Steve Cropper, ...

. Epping worked for the

Hohner Hohner Musikinstrumente GmbH & Co. KG is a German manufacturer of musical instruments, founded in 1857 by Matthias Hohner (1833–1902). The roots of the Hohner firm are in Trossingen, Baden-Württemberg. Since its foundation, and though known ...

company for many years and during that time patented the "Extreme Bending" harmonica, which includes additional reeds that allow players to "bend" notes that cannot be so altered on traditional diatonic instruments. He conducts workshops internationally for

harmonicas. Epping has involved himself with a number of musicians and projects, including the trio "The Unwanted", which features himself,

Dervish Dervish, Darvesh, or Darwīsh (from fa, درویش, ''Darvīsh'') in Islam can refer broadly to members of a Sufi fraternity (''tariqah''), or more narrowly to a religious mendicant, who chose or accepted material poverty. The latter usage ...

singer Cathy Jordan and fiddler Seamus O'Dowd.Irish Echo: Festival of World Cultures 2010
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Discography

*Pumpkinhead – ''Pumpkinhead'' (Mulligan LUN 001; 1978) *''Jiggin’ the Blues'' (G2CD7011) with Frankie Gavin and Tim Edey *''Music Of The Atlantic Fringe'' with the Unwanted (2009)

References

American harmonica players Living people Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-musician-stub