Lorraine Lee Hammond
Lorraine Lee-Hammond has been playing and teaching the Appalachian dulcimer for over 30 years. Her devotion to traditional music and her ability to expand the realm are unparalleled. In New England she is known as a virtuoso player as well as a fine songwriter whose music is infused with a rare combination of consummate skill and quiet joy, qualities that have become her trademark.
Lorraine was raised in rural Northwestern Connecticut when traditional music was still a vibrant and integrated part of community life. She was encouraged as a teen-ager to play the Appalachian dulcimer by Ed Canby, who first recorded Kentucky singer and dulcimer player Jean Ritchie, and by Vermont folksinger Margaret MacArthur. In three decades of playing, performing, teaching, writing and recording she has become a leading proponent of the instrument. Lorraine is also an accomplished player of the Celtic harp and five string banjo and a highly skilled songwriter and voice teacher.
Lorraine lives in Brookline, MA with her husband, guitarist Bennett Hammond, with whom she tours and records.
