Jim Miller

 Musician - Performer - Workshop Leader

jimiller5@msn.com

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Jim Dulcimer

Jim Miller has been playing and performing traditional music for the past 47 years. An accomplished instrument builder and teacher, he has taught workshops at numerous festivals as well as won many awards for his musicianship, including first place dulcimer at both Galax, VA and Fiddler's Grove, NC. For twenty years, Jim was the owner of the Hampton Music Shop, in Hampton, Tennessee, where he handcrafted over 750 hammered dulcimers. He has played with Celtic, Bluegrass, Swing, Blues and Old Time bands, and has done session work on many recordings. He currently performs in a duo accompanied by his wife, Cheri, on guitar. In addition to being an accomplished performer and workshop leader, Jim also is an enthusiastic jam facilitator who likes to get everyone involved. His "chord signing for the harmonically impaired" is legendary. A prolific author, Jim has written sixteen self-published books covering instruction on a variety of instruments. 

 
He plays guitar, mandolin, banjo, mandocello, bass, steeldrum, percussion, hammered and mountain dulcimers as well as his own off-the-wall musical inventions, which are always entertaining. Jim holds a Masters degree in Elementary Education with an endorsement in instrumental music. He is retired from teaching 4th grade at Cloudland ElementarySchool in Roan Mountain, Tennessee, where he led an after school traditional string band program. He also is a retired adjunct professor from the Bluegrass, Old Time and RootsMusic Department 
at East Tennessee State University, where he taught hammered and mountain dulcimer, mandolin and ukulele and played mandocello in the ETSU Mandolin Orchestra .