Eric & Polly Rapp: Links

Cool Venues

The Ark: Michigan's premier folk venue, in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Firefly Coffee House: This little coffee house in Fort Wayne, Ind., has repeatedly been voted best in town. It hosts an open-mic on Wednesdays and often has shows on weekends as well.
4th Fridays: multi-media entertainment venue in Dearborn, Mich., that showcases gifted Christian artists in music, art, poetry, and comedy in a coffeehouse setting on a monthly basis
Live! from the Living Room: weekly acoustic showcase in Pontiac, Mich., hosted by Maggie Ferguson
MAMAs Coffeehouse: The Michigan Acoustic Musicians Alliance presents quality monthly shows in Bloomfield Hills, Mich.
Trinity House Theatre: intimate theatre offering great acoustic music as well as dramatic works in Livonia, Mich.

Craggy Mountain Music: home page for instruments made by T. K. O'Brien, who made the first mountain dulcimer Eric & Polly bought (pictured in the upper left corner of this page)
Elderly Instruments: the best store for acoustic instruments, CDs, books, and accessories in Michigan, as far as we know
Folk Notes: Small shop in Fort Wayne, Indiana, featuring mountain and hammered dulcimers as well as harps and autoharps, flutes and whistles, mandolins, harmonicas, psalteries, percussion, and assorted accessories. The owner makes and sells his own dulcimers as well as several other brands, and he gives mountain dulcimer lessons as well (find out more at his personal site, Denny's Dulcimer Den.).
McSpadden Dulcimers: maker of Eric and Polly's second mountain dulcimer, the Schnaufer model
Martin Guitar Company: maker of Eric's favorite guitars
Wildwood Music: a terrific little music shop jam-packed with great folk instruments, CDs, books, and accessories in Coshocton, Ohio. Eric and Polly's McSpadden "Schnaufer" mountain dulcimer came from here.
Wood-N-Strings Dulcimer Shop: great little store in Townsend, TN, where Eric and Polly tried out about twenty mountain dulcimers and finally bought their first one

John Dobat: Here's the MySpace page for a fellow Detroit-area singer-songwriter we first met at Live! from the Living Room with his then-trio, Twenty-Row. Smooth country-flavored acoustic music.
Eric Easterbrook: This is the MySpace page for a mellow-voiced Detroit-area Christian acoustic musician whom we first encountered as part of a duo called Thick and Thin. Eric helped us record about half of our second CD.
John Finan: A performer since 1978, John Finan is a versatile songwriter, lead and harmony singer, and fine guitarist whom we first met when he was hosting open mics at Xhedos Cafe in Ferndale, MI. He has released four CDs.
Dan Hazlett: Singer-songwriter-guitarist and sometime songwriter-workshop host who helped us record our first CD.
Andy Mather: Andy is a fine guitarist, harmonica-player, singer, and songwriter whose songs range from the rib-tickling to the sublime. We were delighted to have him and his harmonica on our song "Ten Ways to Stay in Love," on More Than Enough.
Charlie Monterey: Charlie is one of Polly's local favorites, and he has two CDs of his own music out.
Joel Palmer: Joel is both a solo performer and frontman for the band Dr. Swing. He writes some awesome songs in a variety of styles, and his guitar skills are quite enviable.
Alan Sturt: Multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Alan Sturt hails from England originally, but now makes his home in southeast Michigan, where he works magic on strings. This is his MySpace page.

Folk Alliance Region Midwest: regional chapter of the North American Alliance for Folk Music and Dance (Folk Alliance). The Paint Creek Folklore Society is a member.
Paint Creek Folklore Society: organization for folk-music and folklore fans in metro Detroit, of which Eric and Polly were members from 2001 to 2009 (meets in Rochester Hills, Mich.)

Folks Like Us: Site for now-defunct weekly public-radio show devoted to all kinds of folk music, old and new, hosted by folk musician Matt Watroba. In 2011 Watroba moved to Kent State University, where he will be involved in various facets of a full-time folk-music radio station.
Issues, Etc.: Talk show discussing theological and cultural issues from the Lutheran perspective, hosted by Pastor Todd Wilken. Eric and Polly did a half-hour phone interview on this program on May 24, 2007, and since then the program has featured various clips of their music in between discussion segments.
The Folk Sampler: syndicated radio program of folk, traditional, bluegrass and blues, broadcast from the foothills of the Ozarks