WPLN News Archive; News Archive 7/31/06-9/8/06; David Schnaufer Obit (Andy Sheinman) 9 5 06

david scheffer grew up in a small town outside of houston texas listening to country music greats like ernest tubb check ins and bob wills at twenty one he was writing songs and searching for a stringed instrument while passing through austin he saw collection of bill summers you picked one up stranded and thought that's it i remember brian jones warned that instrument on the ed sullivan show for a lady gently rolling stones just a few months later he won the national dulcimer championship in winfield kansas after a few years in colorado playing clubs and festivals he headed for west virginia in search of the deep appalachian roots and fiddle music there he connected with a banjo player fins fur set up on the bed and boulder west virginia that during the seventies and the eighties and the real timers in the mountains that really went back to the eighteen hundreds from people they learned from and the world west virginia state folk

festival six years a string band music as far him up so much and i think that anything that he played when you played a fiddle tune davis says reading go ah ah ah those days not only made shoppers skilled musician but a leading authority in appalachian music he took that knowledge to nashville in the mid eighties during a resurgence in country music and in no time was recording with the likes of johnny cash the judds mark o'connor and emmylou harris fire service says everybody wanted that role until summer sale through these sessions says think how many people who listen to judge a record snow whose record with cyndi lauper and just finished record with linda ronstadt so the caliber of folks who was recording lives were getting radio play all over the world in the early nineties snapper began experimenting with an electrified

bills were using distortion and delay pedals then he joined the cactus brothers a hard rock and psychedelic country band whose antics on and off stage not only were legendary but a complete one ad version out for in his days in west virginia drummer dave kennedy says staffer and a unique sound and sensibility to their rocking style david leggett or wanted to rock them anymore we were like a mini country orchestra and we give poor the volume down and actually be musicians for a moment before we welcome back up and romp now the power has been out david that was it traveling with the band took a toll on his health so schnell for settled down in nashville landing a teaching job or blair school of music he was devoted to sharing the limitless possibilities of the dulcimer inspiring four of his

students perform the national dulcimer quartet plus he founded the grand old all summer club still experimenting with sound scheffer also began to record his own records incorporating electric and traditional bow summer along with its rich tom waits style of singing it is collaborator and mandolin player but ansari says that shell for a lot of the sound of music recorded on old tape he was enamored with the primitive recording equipment ministerial david was a dozen fifty seven and one of those threads super scope cassette decks so is all the recordings are thought to celebrate but he just didn't really like primitive approach almost like a field recording i would say last year dole's recorded on the nineteen oh six set

the last couple of years so shelf or revert back to traditional appalachian he teamed up with sorry on his final projects appalachian mandolin and bills the word all summer means sweet sound no matter what type of music you play on that it gives a certain certain nice nice quality that sums up to david scheffer was to assemble thoughtful brilliant man like his dulcimer he was a sweet sound for national public radio i'm mandy shine and i

mean it