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Lee Rowe is not only a talented musician but also a brilliant graphic artist and the editor and producer of the Gazette. Lee has also designed the logo for the Grand Old Dulcimer Club.
Lee’s fascination for dulcimers and other musical instruments began when he witnessed a remarkable performance by a shop keeper in Gatlinburg as a youth. Later he was given a dulcimer for his 16th birthday, thus began his long journey into the world of dulcimers, guitars and mandolins.
Growing up in Portsmouth, Lee had access to hardly any dulcimer artists so he experimented with the guitar and mandolin eventually developing a style of plucking that is uniquely his own. Rowe recorded and performed for the first time ever with an acoustic rock duet called “Bonaparte’s Revenge” making him immensely popular in Richmond, Virginia.
In 1995, Lee moved to Nashville TN and popularized his unique style among his many fans in the region. He also went ahead and won the U.S. National Dulcimer Championship of 1999 in Winfield, one of the many achievements for his extraordinary contribution to the world of traditional music. Lee performs both as a solo artist on the dulcimer as well as part of a group known as the Nashville Dulcimer Quartet with Natasha Deane, Linda Sack and Sandy Conatser.
To Lee nothing sounds as beautiful as the sound of a mountain dulcimer and this is exactly what he wants others to appreciate through all of his Appalachian music. He is equally adept at playing a fast fiddle tune or bringing out the right emotions in a ballad or other musical composition. However the mountain dulcimer still remains his first love.
Retaining most aspects of tradition while playing the dulcimer, Lee has innovated and added a few new styles of his own to make the whole experience modern and almost magical. He has to his credit two of the most sought after books in this genre namely; Secrets Revealed – The Music of Wire and Wood and The Beginning Dulcimist Vol. I – Playing the Mountain Dulcimer from Scratch. Additionally most of Lee’s musical compositions are available on CD format the most popular among these being Memories, Ghost Stories and Second Chances.
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