Walt Michael

Born and raised in Maryland, bluegrass musician Walt Michael first encountered the genre during a student volunteer stint in West Virginia, where he quickly developed a deep affinity for Appalachian musical traditions. Though proficient on harmonica, guitar, and mandolin, he has earned his greatest recognition for his hammered dulcimer playing, an instrument he took up in 1971. While studying as a seminarian, he began appearing at coffeehouses and, alongside guitarist Jim Albertson and banjoist Lew London, established the Bottle Hill Band. Active from 1972 to 1977, the group toured widely, issued two albums, and cultivated a signature "newgrass" approach. Following the band's 1977 dissolution, Michael teamed with Tom McCreesh and Harley Campbell to create Michael, McCreesh & Campbell; the trio cut two albums and performed across Europe before disbanding. Michael subsequently formed his own ensemble, Walt Michael & Co., whose recordings reveal a dulcimer style marked by greater assurance and depth, widely regarded as his strongest output so far.