Pluck: The Extraordinary Life and Times of David Schnaufer

America’s music past holds a key for people who long for joy in their lives. Young people in the sixties and seventies used it to fuel their passion and discover kindred spirits. David Schnaufer was one of them; he learned the secret when he discovered a little-known music instrument: the mountain dulcimer.

Schnaufer exploded onto the nineteen-eighties Nashville scene in one of the most astonishing success stories ever to happen in Music City. His passion for the dulcimer led him to become a world-class musician. He recorded with everyone from Chet Atkins and Mark Knopfler to Johnny Cash and Emmylou Harris; from John McEuen and Sandy Bull to Allison Krauss and Linda Ronstadt. Yet, his famous friends aren’t even the most interesting aspect of his life. This high school dropout and free spirit found his purpose in life through his instrument. He became a world-class session musician, an award-winning performer, a songwriter, instrument designer and builder; a teacher, rock star, actor, producer, historian and the world’s first dulcimer professor. Pluck dives deep to tell the story of how David did it and why he was beloved by countless people around the world.

None of it came easy. David’s struggle to define his life on his own terms reveals itself through themes of family heritage, aspirations and identity, suffering and perseverance, connections across time and space; love, reconciliation and gratitude. In these current challenging times, David’s story brings hope through his conviction that the dulcimer and its music have an infinite capacity to unite people and ensure a lifetime of enchantment for anyone who has ever wished he or she could play an instrument.