Press release from White Horse Black Mountain:
Joshua Messick arrived in Western North Carolina a few years ago knowing no one except Black Mountain’s master hammered dulcimer builder Jerry Reed Smith, ready to explore the possibility of becoming a professional musician. The success and popularity of his musical efforts is evident in the two Christmas music concerts scheduled at the White Horse Black Mountain on consecutive evenings, Friday, November 27 and Saturday, November 28 at 8 p.m. Messick’s Hammered Dulcimer Christmas shows have quickly become a Black Mountain holiday tradition and are expected to draw large and appreciative audiences. He’ll be joined by percussionist James Kylen and Celtic fiddler Nora Garver.
The word dulcimer translates loosely as “sweet song”, from Greek and Latin roots. But it’s not a simple thing to produce that sound predictably. There are dozens of strings to keep in tune, and great accuracy is required to strike the right note in that profusion of wire. The hammered dulcimer also generates accumulating sustain, and it takes a sensitive player to control and exploit that feature with clarity. Joshua Messick is such a player, and his virtuosic command of the complex instrument is such that he can coax textures ranging from ethereal to symphonic from its strings.
Dazzling as his playing is, Messick sees himself foremost a composer using the hammered dulcimer as his sound palette. His composer’s ear guides him in finding fresh possibilities in his arrangements of well-loved holiday standards, from the delicate chiming of “Carol of the Bells” to the cinematic sweep of “Christmastime Fantasia (Deck the Hall)”. “My listener base has been asking me to make a Christmas recording since I started playing 20 years ago”, says Messick. “Until now, I didn’t understand enough of life to make Christmas album with meaning. Hammered Dulcimer Christmas is close to my heart, and I hope it will transport to to places of joy, wonder, and love.”
Show begins at 8 p.m. Tickets are $18 advance/ $20 door. Info at whitehorseblackmountain.com.
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