LOGAN — Bing Futch knows it’s not every day folks see a mountain dulcimer — or hear one.

This stringed instrument of his has a very distinctive sound, almost a bit hypnotic, Futch says. It certainly lured him in the first time he stumbled across it, on his lunch break while working at Knott’s Berry Farm in Southern California nearly 30 years ago.

“I had never heard this sound before,” Futch recalls, and then he looked around a corner and discovered a display of the unusual hourglass-shaped instruments.

The woman in a blue gingham dress working at the sales kiosk told a skeptical Futch, “I can have you playing this in five minutes.”

She was right, he says, and five minutes later, he told her he’d be back that coming Friday, when he got his paycheck, to buy his first dulcimer.

“I just fell in love with the instrument,” Futch says, adding, “It has an appealing and gentle, sweet sound.”

Folks can hear — and even learn — for themselves Monday, Sept. 28, when Futch performs in concert and teaches dulcimer and ukulele workshops at the Whittier Community Center in Logan.

The dulcimer’s unique sound is due to the fact that one of its strings is a melody string and the other two are drones, like the drones of bagpipes, Futch says.

“The drone of it is so unusual; it’s not something you hear a lot with guitars or banjos,” says the recording artist and co-founder of the Americana band Mohave.

Futch  — known for his wide smile and “wild dreadlocks” — says the dulcimer can produce complex music, but its seven-note scale makes it easy to master a few hum-able tunes quite quickly.

“It’s very good for people who’ve always wanted to play music,” he says.

’Switching channels'

The Logan concert will feature an array of dulcimer music, starting with traditional Appalachian and Ozark mountain tunes, Celtic tunes and American folk.

But Futch says he’ll also show off a range of what the instrument can do by spotlighting everything from classical music to Hawaiian, rock, pop, Broadway show tunes and Disney songs.

“I have ADD so I completely and totally switch channels all the time … You never know what to expect from my shows,” the musician says during a phone interview on the road from Fort Wayne, Indiana.

This isn’t Futch’s first visit to Utah; he came years ago to visit a friend.

“I’ve been to Magna, Utah, and then we took a little trip down to Lagoon and had a fun time at Lagoon,” he said. He also stopped by Saltair and the old 49th Street Galleria in Murray.

Through his workshops, Futch says he enjoys introducing the dulcimer and ukulele to new students of all ages.

“I believe that everybody’s got the gift of music,” the Orlando, Florida, resident says, “and either it’s encouraged or discouraged early on.”

Those who are encouraged go on to enjoy lives filled with music, he says. Those who aren’t encouraged — and hear comments like, “Stop making that racket!” — end up living lives without the joy of music.

For Futch, the great thing about teaching is the chance to give back. And the Hollywood native is a firm believer that it’s never too late for folks to try to make music themselves.

“I’ve got students who are 83 years old and never picked up an instrument,” the host of “Rhythm Roots” on Ditty TV says.

All-American sound

Futch will conduct a ukulele workshop at 4 p.m. Sept. 28 and a mountain dulcimer workshop at 5:30 p.m.. The fee is $25 per workshop, or $40 for both, and pre-registration is required at www.bridgerfolk.org.

The sessions are designed for beginners of all ages, although prior experience with the instruments, or with a guitar, is helpful.

“It’ll be a fun time and we’re going to keep it simple,” Futch says.

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The ukulele always seems to be popular but is enjoying a resurgence of interest nowadays thanks to artist Jake Shimabukuro, Futch says.

“The mountain dulcimer is more obscure,” he says. “Not a lot of people in modern or popular music play it, although Cyndi Lauper does play mountain dulcimer … She’s probably the highest profile player of the instrument that we have now.”

The dulcimer was developed about 275 years ago by immigrants to the United States who couldn’t bring along similar stringed instruments from their homelands, Futch says.

“It is truly an American instrument and it is the only American stringed instrument known in the folklore,” he says.

The Bridger Folk Music Society is bringing Futch to Logan and concert producer Susan Jelus says the artist is “a great entertainer and singer and a joyful kind of guy, who spreads cheer wherever he goes.”

Futch is known as a real innovator on the dulcimer, producing a series of nearly 300 video podcasts about the instrument called Dulcimerica, Jelus says in a email interview.

“I have never met Bing Futch, but he has been a musical hero of mine for many years because of the way he has experimented with the dulcimer and pushed it in all new directions, like blues and electric rock,” Jelus says.

Earlier this year, Futch was became the first dulcimer player to make it to the semifinals of the annual International Blues Challenge in Memphis, an event he’s hoping to return to in 2016. 

Courtesy photo

Carpenters to soul

Growing up, Futch says he listened to all kinds of music at home, from classical and the Carpenters to soul and rhythm and blues. He played clarinet in school bands and taught himself how to play the piano and Native American flute.

Today, Futch estimates he owns about 15 dulcimers but says he still has that first teardrop instrument he bought at Knott’s Berry Farms.

“It hangs on my wall at home,” he says, along with another “keepsake” dulcimer, one that he’s had signed by Cyndi Lauper, Willie Nelson and Charlie Daniels.

Contact reporter Becky Cairns at 801-625-4276 or bcairns@standard.net. Follow her on Twitter at @bccairns or like her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SEbeckycairns.

PREVIEW:

• What: Bing Futch dulcimer concert

• When: 7:30 p.m. Sept. 28

• Where: Whittier Community Center, 290 N. 400 East, Logan

• Tickets: Free will offering. 435-535-1408, www.bridgerfolk.org