I didn’t get a photo of the occasion the time I met Bill Monroe, but I got the next best thing when I played “Salt Creek” for him on my mountain dulcimer, he said:
“That’s GOOD!! You play that thing the way it SHOULD be played!”
So I asked him: “Do you know any other dulcimer players who play it this way?”
And he replied: “No, just you.”
That made me feel about ten feet tall, as you might imagine. So I asked him to autograph the top of the dulcimer, which he did, essentially carving his signature into the lacquer with the ballpoint pen I handed him.
So I cherish that memory, as you might imagine. I still own and play that dulcimer, too, and see his signature every time I do.
It’s very cool that you and your father got to meet him.
What surprised me the most when I met Mr. Monroe was how high pitched his speaking voice was. He was a big guy - NFL linebacker size - but you wouldn’t know it from his voice!
Wade Hampton Miller
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