Sam Edelston

Repertoire and instrumentation vary depending on...

> Age of audience (I've played to everything from pre-schoolers to nursing homes)

> Type of performance (concert for entertainment ... concert geared for audience singalong/participation ... education ... background music with vocals ... unobtrusive instrumental background ... permissibility of copyrighted music ... etc.)

Sam Edelston believes that dulcimers are among the world's coolest musical instruments, and is on a mission to make them as well-known to the general public as harps and ukuleles.

He draws his musical inspiration from rock bands, symphony orchestras, modern a cappella, and anything else that crosses his path. His mountain dulcimer repertoire covers much of the pop and rock spectrum, but also ranges from Gilbert & Sullivan to Sousa, African to Andrews Sisters, bossa nova to bluegrass.

His music videos on YouTube have garnered more than 1,000,000 views and been watched in more than 190 countries. Sam's cover of "Sweet Caroline" is shown in the dulcimer exhibit at the renowned Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix. He has performed or taught at a variety of festivals and other venues around the northeast United States. and as far away as Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, and Colorado. During the pandemic, he has also performed and taught at numerous online music festivals. In early 2026, he performed on dulcimer at Carnegie Hall in New York, where he had the audience singing along and clapping ... to "Pink Pony Club."

Sam started out in his early teens, playing guitar, singing, and making up songs. with a 10 song/month writing habit, he wrote his 400th song before finishing high school. (His major songwriting influences were Tom Lehrer, Shel Silverstein, and Dick Feller -- which probably explains a few things.) Over the years, he performed a lot on guitar and banjo, and occasionally hammered dulcimer, before getting hooked on the mountain dulcimer.

He says, "A guitar has 6 strings, you have 5 fingers. You're outnumbered. A dulcimer has 3 strings, you have 5 fingers. Nice student/faculty ratio. Paradoxically, having only 3 strings can be an advantage." In fact, he adds, the dulcimer is a natural rock & roll instrument, even though most other players stick close to its folkie roots.

WHAT HAVE OTHER PEOPLE SAID ABOUT HIM?

"Displaying a frightening amount of rock mojo for a guy who seems fairly quiet and unassuming, Edelston used his amplified three-string mountain dulcimer to roar his way through ‘Whole Lotta Love’ without so much as breaking a sweat. After watching this, we’re ready to jump in a van and follow Edelston around on tour."
-- UltimateClassicRock_com

"'You can't do that on a dulcimer!' Well, maybe you can't but Sam Edelston can. Sam has taken the mountain dulcimer from its backwoods Appalachian origins to places most players never dreamed of. From Sousa to Sinatra to Led Zeppelin. His instruments range from the traditional diatonic 3-string to a fully chromatic electric with wah-wah pedal. Sam is a brilliant and innovative player, and no slouch on the guitar either."
-- The Folk Project

"Wow. Beautiful version."
-- Chris Frantz. Talking Heads drummer, commenting on Sam's cover of Psycho Killer

"Connecticut resident Sam Edelston is a dulcimer wizard who has used the old-time instrument to cover classic rock songs in the past. We're in awe of one of his most recent covers as he does a bang-up job of tackling Led Zeppelin's 'Whole Lotta Love.'"
-- jambase_com

"This is one of the 5 coolest things I've ever seen/heard on dulcimer ... and the other 4 were all with Sam as well!"
-- Dulcimer master Tull Glazener, after seeing a video of Sam performing "I Can See Clearly Now" with Nicki Parrott's jazz trio.

"With his complex layered arrangements of so many genres of music for the dulcimer, Sam has added a huge chapter to the development of the mountain dulcimer as a versatile and ever growing musical American folk instrument."
-- Dulcimer legend Joellen Lapidus, writing at Folkworks_org

"I've never heard a dulcimer sound so much like a guitar before."
-- Jose Feliciano.

"Rosie's daddy came in and sang to us today. He was so much fun. Can he be my daddy, too?"
-- Rebecca, age 4

I can bring a sound system, if needed.