Like
Stanley Hicks, Edd Presnell was born into a musical family.
Legend says that once night a stranger stopped by the home
of Eli and America Presnell in 1885, asking for lodging. That
evening, the stranger pulled a dulcimer out of his baggage
and began to play it. Eli was so impressed that he asked permission
to trace the instrument.
The
couple would inspire another branch of the Presnell family
to raise a dulcimer maker and player, Edd. Edd made his first
dulcimer in 1936, after he married Nettie Hicks, daughter
of dulcimer-maker Ben Hicks. In fact, Edd learned much about
making dulcimers from his father-in-law. Edd and Nettie received
the prestigious Brown Hudson Folklore Award in 1974 for dulcimer-making
and woodcarving.
