Sweet Melody Strings

Katelyn Baas

Rob Angus

The Fiddle Section

The Lady Victoria

Nate Pultorak

Dave Haas

The Squirrel's Nest

Butch Ross

Katelyn Baas

Katelyn Baas believes strongly that the purpose of music is to bring glory to God as well as to comfort, uplift, and bless his children. This passion inspires her to strive for excellence and encourage others to pursue music despite the challenges.

She released her debut hammered dulcimer album, The Way of the Cross Leads Home, in 2020 and has performed and instructed at the Evart Funfest and the Midland Folk Music Festival.

Rob Angus

Rob has been playing Appalachian dulcimer since 1995. He has been teaching and performing on the Appalachian dulcimer, both locally and nationally, for more than 15 years.

He has taught and performed at numerous festivals including Tannehill, Bayou City Old Time and Dulcimer Festival, and the Alabama Folk School.

The Fiddle Section

The Fiddle Section, from Kalamazoo, Michigan, features the Mom family. They started playing on the Evart stage in the Youth Concerts. Their name is a nod to their classical roots and is also their nickname in the Squirrels' Nest Ensemble, with whom they have performed each year since 2013.

Sherese Bultman Mom is an accomplished violinist and pianist and teacher of both. She learned her first fiddle tunes as a young girl. When she followed the moonlit path from Thompson Park to the Rabbit Barn porch in 2005, she wondered where this place had been all her life!

Liesl Mom has served as concertmaster of the Grand Valley State University Symphony Orchestra for the past 3 years. Jeffrey Mom is also a violinist in the GVSU Symphony. He is an accomplished hammered dulcimer and guitar performer as well. They founded the GVSU Folk Music Club in 2021, Liesl serving as president and Jeffrey, as vice president for the past 2 years. The Fiddle Section is rounded out by multi-instrumentalist David Mom on fiddle, mandolin, and banjo, and about anything else with strings.

The Lady Victoria

Victoria Van Arnam is an internationally touring hammered dulcimer performer. She has seven albums and has performed at concert halls, coffee shops, restaurants and festivals. Victoria's love of the instrument is evident in her high energy style of playing.

Victoria performs under the name The Lady Victoria and has been performing on the hammered dulcimer for nine years, six years professionally. She specializes in Celtic and Early music, performing mostly on stage and street at Renaissance festivals across the United States and Italy.

Nate Ploautrk

What do you get when you place one man in front of over 100 strings and put two shaped wooden sticks in his hands? You get a ticket to a place where possibilities are endless and music can make your dreams come to life. Nate Pultorak is a Hammered Dulcimer player in the northern reaches of New York State. His music ranges from quiet, haunting melodies that have drawn people to listen ever closer, to driving, high-energy pieces that stir up excitement and anticipation for where the musical journey will take one next.

Dave Haas

Dave Haas loves to perform and teach others how to play the mountain dulcimer! He has been playing the dulcimer since 1990, and loves to share the mountain dulcimer and its history with schools, churches, and civic organizations. He has even brought dulcimer music to those in prison!

Dave is a popular dulcimer instructor, and has performed in several states and abroad. Dave also plays the guitar, sings, and leads music on Christian retreat experiences such as Kairos Prison Ministry, The Walk To Emmaus, Cursillo, and Teens Encounter Christ. Dave has released several albums, instruction/CD workbooks, and a popular dulcimer chord chart. Dave lives in Charleston, WV with his wife, Jeanne.

Sweet Melody Strings

Sweet Melody Strings is a new club formed in 2019 in Mt Pleasant WI. Mary Jensen, the leader and founder started teaching the hammered dulcimer and has grown her group to 9 hammered dulcimers and 3 guitars/uke players. The group is active and loves to play out in the community. Mary keeps teaching, and Sweet Melody Strings keeps on growing. Way to go Mary!

Nate was introduced to this unique instrument at an early age, where he was enthralled by the tones produced with the same techniques he used while learning how to play the drums. He quickly took up the Dulcimer and delved into its world. Now, he seeks to push the boundaries of what the Dulcimer can do by incorporating looping, tapping, plucking, and capturing multiple notes with one hammer. His abilities and innovation on this instrument have been recognized by many, as evidenced by his win at the National Hammered Dulcimer Championship in Winfield, Kansas.

The Squirrels Nest

An ODPC tradition since 2013, it would not be Thursday Night at Evart without The Squirrels' Nest Live Ensemble. "The Squirrels" are the performing group of the Squirrels' Nest, a high energy jam here at the ODPC Funfest.

The Squirrels' Nest Live Ensemble features powerful, heart pounding fiddle tunes. WARNING- Grab your seat belt and strap in, or you may find yourself up and dancing! This year's stage show features "Squirrelly Favorites". Let's get this party started!

Butch Ross

Chattanooga multi-instrumentalist and mountain dulcimer maestro Butch Ross has tackled everything from Radiohead to Bach and come away with a renewed appreciation for what the humble dulcimer is capable of. No genre is off-limits, nor is there a limit to what Ross has envisioned for this specific instrument.

When Butch Ross opened for Bill Staines last fall, he received a rare accolade: a standing ovation for an opening act. He transforms the lowly mountain dulcimer into a virtuoso's instrument, drawing from it unexpected power and expressiveness. He mixes old country and Appalachian songs with his own wordy, literate, poetic ballads about people, places, and situations you might read about in a good book of short stories. He has a strong clear voice and a stage presence of boyish charm. --Minstrel Coffeehouse

Butch Ross is a rockstar. He plays the mountain dulcimer and in case you're thinking "Rockstar? Mountain Dulcimer? Doesn't compute," let me fill you in on a little something. Butch Ross does something that no one else can touch. What he does is amazing. His genius is in the fact that he found something unique to him and he just worked it to a point where no one can come close to matching it. He's seriously brilliant. --Hayley Graham

Ross' most recent release is called "They Should All Be This Easy." It's a collection of original instrumental tunes, unexpected arrangements of traditional material and quirky cover of Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill". It's an eclectic mix that led Times-Free Press reporter Joshua Pickard to call it "a sound both experienced and timeless, a result of its celebrated past and boundless future."