Rick Epping is a California-born musician who has immersed himself in American old-time and Irish traditional music since the 1960s. He is a player of the

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...

concertina A concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. It consists of expanding and contracting bellows, with buttons (or keys) usually on both ends, unlike accordion buttons, which are on the front. The ...

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

and jaw harp. During the 1970s he lived in Ireland where he studied traditional Irish music. He was the 1975 All-Ireland Harmonica champion and a member of the folk group Pumpkinhead. He has recorded with other Irish and American musicians and groups over the years, including Andy Irvine,

Christy Moore Christopher Andrew "Christy" Moore (born 7 May 1945) is an Irish folk singer, songwriter and guitarist. In addition to his significant success as an individual, he is one of the founding members of Planxty and Moving Hearts. His first album, ...

, Mick Hanly,

Bob Zentz Bob Zentz is an American musician and educator from Norfolk, Virginia who has been performing for more than thirty years. He is a guitarist and also plays the autoharp, lute, melodeon, mouth harp, banjo, concertina and mandolin. He speciali ...

George Winston George Winston (born December 26, 1949) is an American pianist, guitarist, harmonicist, and record producer. He was born in Michigan and raised mainly in Montana ( Miles City and Billings), as well as Mississippi and Florida. He is best known fo ...

Mary Staunton Mary Staunton is an Irish singer and accordion player. A native of County Mayo, Staunton released her first album in 1998. Her second, ''Circle of Friends'', was launched in County Galway in July 2010. ''Circle of Friends'' was launched at Conn ...

Priscilla Herdman Priscilla Herdman (born February 11, 1948) is an American folk singer, whom ''The New York Times'' called "one of the clearest and most compelling voices of contemporary folk music." Although she has written songs, she is notable chiefly for her ...

and

Robbin Thompson Robert Wickens "Robbin" Thompson (June 16, 1949 – October 10, 2015) was an American singer-songwriter based in Richmond, Virginia. Since 1976 he recorded several albums which included guest appearances by Melissa Manchester, Steve Cropper, ...

. Epping worked for the

Hohner Hohner Musikinstrumente GmbH & Co. KG is a German manufacturer of musical instruments, founded in 1857 by Matthias Hohner (1833–1902). The roots of the Hohner firm are in Trossingen, Baden-Württemberg. Since its foundation, and though known ...

company for many years and during that time patented the "Extreme Bending" harmonica, which includes additional reeds that allow players to "bend" notes that cannot be so altered on traditional diatonic instruments. He conducts workshops internationally for

harmonicas. Epping has involved himself with a number of musicians and projects, including the trio "The Unwanted", which features himself,

Dervish Dervish, Darvesh, or Darwīsh (from fa, درویش, ''Darvīsh'') in Islam can refer broadly to members of a Sufi fraternity A fraternity (from Latin language, Latin ''wiktionary:frater, frater'': "brother (Christian), brother"; whence, ...

singer Cathy Jordan and fiddler

Seamus O'Dowd Seamie O’Dowd is an Irish musician. Biography Seamie O Dowd is a guitarist, singer, and songwriter who also plays fiddle, harmonica, mandolin, and a number of other instruments. He has travelled worldwide playing music and has shared stages ...

.Irish Echo: Festival of World Cultures 2010
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Discography

*Pumpkinhead – ''Pumpkinhead'' (Mulligan LUN 001; 1978) *''Jiggin’ the Blues'' (G2CD7011) with Frankie Gavin and

Tim Edey Tim Edey is an English multi-instrumentalist and composer who grew up in Broadstairs, Kent and is now based in Perthshire, Scotland. In 2012 he was Musician of the Year at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards and, with Brendan Power, Best Duo. He was aw ...

*''Music Of The Atlantic Fringe'' with the Unwanted (2009)

References

American harmonica players Living people Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-musician-stub