blog

Thom Dunn is a Boston-based writer, musician, and utterly terrible dancer. He is the singer/guitarist for the indie rock/power-pop the Roland High Life, as well as a staff writer for the New York Times’ Wirecutter and a regular contributor at BoingBoing.net. Thom enjoys Oxford commas, metaphysics, and romantic clichés (especially when they involve whiskey), and he firmly believes that Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" is the single greatest atrocity committed against mankind. He is a graduate of Clarion Writer's Workshop at UCSD ('13) & Emerson College ('08).

Enter: THE WOODROW

This weekend, my girlfriend and I took a trip to Vermont to visit her parents' house up there — but mostly to attend this big annual crafts fair. While there, I had the pleasure of meeting Dan, the creator of the Woodrow, a unique Appalachian stringed instrument. From their website:

The Woodrow instrument series is a cross between a banjo and an Appalachian dulcimer (or lap dulcimer). Played upright like the banjo, but having the dulcimer construction, gives these instruments the perfect style for Appalachian, bluegrass, celtic, and even blues music.Some styles have a real banjo like twang, while others have a more rounded and mellow sound. Each one is different, and the voice and personality vary from instrument to instrument.

So basically what that means is "it's awesome." And what's even more awesome is that my fantastic and lovely girlfriend got me one as an early birthday present, a decision she is going to regret very soon because I can't stop playing it. Like this: [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUQ5zyVrgqg&w=500&h=284]

And on that, I'm gonna go practice this wonderful instrument some more so I can become a master woodrow player. Kbye.