Butch Ross profile picture

Butch Ross

Chattanooga Dulcimer Festival - June 20-22

About Me

Butch Ross can't do anything right.

    He plays the mountain dulcimer.He plays it standing up like a guitar.He holds it upside and strung backwards. And Butch Ross plays rock n roll on it.

Despite all this wrongness, somehow it all sounds just right.

Okay, sure, he plays his own funny, poignant songs and some traditional mountain tunes, but somehow, in Butch's hands, they rock, too.

Besides, it's pretty clear that Led Zeppelin always intended for "Stairway to Heaven" to be played on the dulcimer. It just took Butch to figure it out.

Butch Ross was given a mountain dulcimer for his birthday a few years ago, at the time the regionally touring singer/songwriter had no idea of the impact the instrument would have on his career. "I thought it's be cool to have one around the house, but I found myself playing it more and more. It had made music fun for me in a way that I hadn't felt since I first picked up the guitar."

More than "making music fun," this primitive mountain instrument began to open doors for him too. Not long after adopting the dulcimer he met Robert Force a musician, producer, independent label owner and all-around hippy who had once written a best-selling book on the mountain dulcimer. He saw in Butch "a spirit, talent and vision" that he last saw in his own idol; 60's folk-icon Richard Fariña. Almost immediately, he offered to sign him to his Blaine St. Records and produce, for free, his debut CD "the Moonshiner's Atlas."

The dulcimer has opened other doors for Butch Ross as well: a full-ride scholarship for a graduate degree in folk studies, a quickly-earned reputation amongst the dulcimer community as one of the most innovative and exciting players on the scene, endorsement offers, including one builder who working with him on a "Butch Ross Signature Model,," opening slots for wide variety of performers from Hayseed Dixie and Little Country Giants to the Jazz Mandolin Project, Great Big Sea and the legendary Jean Ritchie. Additionally the dulcimer has found him invited to play festivals and clubs in England, Scotland, Ireland, Sweden, Belgium, Germany and most recently Budapest, Hungary.

Sean Phipps of the Chattanooga Times Free Press says, "His set consisted of folk songs and various instrumentals, including blistering version of Richard Thompson’s 1952 Vincent Black Lightning and The Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby.” We’re lucky to have such a talented, interesting musician living in Chattanooga."

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My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 1/24/2006
Band Website: butchross.com
Band Members: Me.
Influences: I steal liberally from Jeff Lang and with good reason.

Other folks in no particular order.... Tom Waits, Christabel and the Jons , Mark Eitzel and the American Music Club, Richard Thompson, Bill Mallonee and the Vigilantes of Love, Jimi Hendrix, Yo Yo Ma, Eric Johnson, Chris Whitley, Kelly Joe Phelps, Adrian Legg, Michael Hedges, Leo Kottke, David Schnaufer, Robert Force and Al d'Osscche, Stephen Siefert, Uncle Tupelo, Jerry Rockwell, Ani DiFranco, Shaun Colvin, Bill Morrissey, U2, The Smiths, The Sex Pistols, The Crooked Jades, the Foghorn Stringband, The Wilders, Adam Brodsky, Antje Duvekot, Austin City Limits, Mountain Stage, Woodsongs, The Saturday Jams at Bread and Bagel, the "contemporary" singer/songwriters I hate because they're really just failed actors trying to get their pedestrian love songs placed on Grey's Anatomy, all the people I've forgotten and you.
Sounds Like: A thousand bees stinging you on the inside.

Record Label: Like You Need One!
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

THIS is why I do this.

So yesterday, I'm performing at the Louie Bluey festival in La Follate, TN. After the set, a guy asks to buy a CD from me. He introduces himself and says, "I play guitar, mandolin, banjo, fiddle and d...
Posted by Butch Ross on Sun, 15 Jun 2008 02:06:00 PST

Hey, what are you doing tonight?

Local StringsSongwriter's in the round with Tiffany Taylor, Noah Collins and me.Rhythm and Brews221 Market St.Chattanooga, TN9pm$5.00This is a great show, one that I've been rehearsing with Tiff and ...
Posted by Butch Ross on Tue, 10 Jun 2008 12:01:00 PST

On the way home from Texas

'm a little shocked to find that it's been since Christmas that I've posted here. As usual, the busier we get the harder it is to find the time to write. Well, here's what's been going on.We went to t...
Posted by Butch Ross on Tue, 12 Feb 2008 07:13:00 PST

Merry Christmas, with new videos.

I just wanted to say Merry Christmas to everybody, and a Happy New Year. In the spirit of the season, I've posted a couple of videos.O, Little Town of Bethlehem This is Merv Rowley's arrangement of th...
Posted by Butch Ross on Tue, 25 Dec 2007 05:43:00 PST

the desert island disk Ill never listen to

Songs are place. Next to smellsand they are far rarerit is a song that has inimitable ability to put you RIGHT THERE where it happened. Like the random dream of a long-lost lover, you don't get to p...
Posted by Butch Ross on Sat, 22 Dec 2007 09:52:00 PST

Christmas Extravaganza Tomorrow!

12/15/2007BUTCH ROSS X-MAS X-TRAVIGANZATremont Tavern1203 Hixson PikeChattanooga, TnFreeFeaturing El Toro De Blanco, Driver's Quarters, Mike McDade, Tiffany Taylor, Steve Brehm, Christie Burns, Dan La...
Posted by Butch Ross on Fri, 14 Dec 2007 07:49:00 PST

Three chances to Butch in Chattanooga, plus one more.

Sat. December 1, 2007 at 9:45 PM SHARP!Opening for OLD MAN: A TRIBUTE TO NEIL YOUNG Rhythm and BrewsFeaturing Mike McDade, Jeff and Jennifer Daniels, Laticia Wolf and More...It's the Y in CSN&Y's birt...
Posted by Butch Ross on Fri, 30 Nov 2007 05:38:00 PST

First Chattanooga gig this weekend and news!

11/03/2007 10:00 PMJ.J.'s Bohemia231 MLK BLVD. Chattanooga, 37402 Cost: $5.00 Playing with Christabel and the Jons (a cool swing band from Knoxville) and The New Binkley Brothers.11/9-11/2007 Southeas...
Posted by Butch Ross on Wed, 31 Oct 2007 07:58:00 PST

A word from Vienna about Oberammergau

Christie wrote this, I think she says it better than I...I arrived in Vienna with Christoph last night around midnight, had a very short sleep and a fast breakfast, and then before I even knew where I...
Posted by Butch Ross on Tue, 16 Oct 2007 10:51:00 PST

A few notes on 'The Road'

To me the road is not measured in miles, or money, in gas, tolls, good gigs or bad ones, CD sales or opening acts. It's measured in moments, brief and sharp as a razor or slow and soft as a prayer. In...
Posted by Butch Ross on Tue, 16 Oct 2007 09:59:00 PST