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About Dov Weitman
DOV WEITMAN — How Did I Get the Crazy Idea to Play “Klezmer on the Dobro®”?
My musical background is a mix of rock, folk, old time, bluegrass, Israeli music, Jewish music (e.g., synagogue music and klezmer) and other related music, and I have played these various musical styles using the types of instruments you will hear on this recording. I became a fan of the resonator guitar ever since the early 1970’s, when I had the opportunity to listen to great country and bluegrass players like Poco’s dobro/pedal steel player Rusty Young; Stacey Phillips (who not only was a top player of resonator guitar, but also wrote an outstanding Klezmer music instruction book, though the instrument he used for playing klezmer was fiddle); Mike Auldridge; and Jerry Douglas. I bought my first resonator guitar in 1978. One evening about ten years ago, the thought occurred to me that it might be fun to try to play a klezmer tune on the resonator guitar. (The song I chose was one of those on this album, Firn di Makhatonim Aheim.) To my pleasant surprise, it was technically feasible, and the resonator guitar’s sound seemed to be a good fit for the klezmer melody. Several years later, I decided to buckle down and learn to play the klezmer repertoire on the resonator guitar. Since then, I’ve enjoyed spending a lot of time figuring out how to play klezmer music on the resonator guitar. That has ultimately led to this recording.