An Encounter with Michael Rugg and CapriTaurus Dulcimers
By Peter Tommerup with Julie Horner
It began with a bike ride through the Santa Cruz Mountains on the summer day in 1974 that fundamentally changed my life. I was about to become a senior in college, was studying traditional Appalachian culture and folklore, and was learning to play the Appalachian mountain dulcimer — a 3-string hourglass shaped folk instrument you play on your lap.
My friend Chris Finelli and I planned a fun bike ride coasting downhill along Highway 9 from Saratoga Gap to Santa Cruz. When we reached the southern end of Felton, something transfixed my eye and forced me to stop. That something was the “CapriTaurus Dulcimers” sign on a cute little clapboard store. Inside was proprietor, dulcimer maker, and dulcimer playing prodigy, Michael Rugg. He was soft-spoken, welcoming, and knocked my socks off with his amazing creativity, artistry, and musicianship.
Michael Rugg
Unlike every other dulcimer player I had ever seen, Michael played the instrument more like a mandolin or flat-picked guitar, totally transforming the traditional sound. When he demonstrated his beautiful dulcimers to me that day, he played spritely Irish and American fiddle tunes, especially favorite musical genres. I was hooked!
Over the next couple of years, I took lessons at CapriTaurus to learn their approach to dulcimer playing, and started performing and teaching dulcimer myself in the Los Gatos area. I also thoroughly enjoyed catching Michael Rugg and his friends performing, which they did a fair amount and in several guises. In Capitola, they performed at a popular deli called The Annex as “Hubert’s Hotshots,” a cutting-edge string band featuring Michael Rugg on dulcimer; Michael Hubbert on fiddle, mandolin, guitar, and hurdy gurdy; and Dan Warrick on banjo. So captivating you could hear a pin drop when they played. Michael and friends also performed seasonally at the Northern and Southern California Renaissance Pleasure Faires, and the Dickens Fair in San Francisco, where they also had a booth stocked with their beautiful handcrafted dulcimers, scheitholts, bowed psalteries, kalimbas, and a few hammered dulcimers.
Michael Rugg and his business partner and brother, Howard Rugg, stayed in the folk music business until the late 80s. From 1969 to 1989 the brothers and another crafter, Stephen Jackel, produced approximately 20,000 dulcimers from their workshop in Felton under the CapriTaurus and Folk Roots labels. In 2003 Michael and partner Paula Yarr launched the Bigfoot Discovery Project, and Michael opened the Bigfoot Discovery Museum at the family compound where the Roaring Camp train whistle (and other mournful howls) raise goosebumps. In 2011, Howard Rugg started making mountain dulcimers again, and you can order them online: dulcimuse.com/capritaurusdulcimers
The playful dulcimer counterculture lives on in another Santa Cruz Mountains tradition: Redwood Dulcimer Day. Local dulcimer player, Janet Herman, organized the first Redwood Dulcimer Day at the Boomeria (boomeria.com) in July 2000 under the auspices of the Community Music School of Santa Cruz. The Boomeria, a colorful Renaissance estate created by San Lorenzo Valley High School science professor Preston Q. Boomer on private land in Bonny Doon, was the perfect place to rekindle dulcimer magic! Beginning in 2010, Redwood Dulcimer Day moved to more easily accessible locations in Boulder Creek, Scotts Valley, and Santa Cruz.
This year, Redwood Dulcimer Day, to be held August 14 and 15, is going virtual. If you’re wishing you had a new hobby to sink your teeth into while riding out the pandemic, consider learning to play the Appalachian or the hammered dulcimer by beaming in to the virtual event: redwooddulcimerday.org
For wildlife aficionados, the legend of Bigfoot makes a last stand at the museum during difficult times. You can support Michael Rugg and his Bigfoot Discovery Museum: gofundme.com/f/Save-the-Bigfoot-Discovery-Museum
Peter Tommerup lives in Saratoga with his wife, fiddle player Lee Anne Welch. Both teach music to adults and kids: https://fotmd.com/peter-tommerup
Julie Horner is Co-Founder and Editor for the San Lorenzo Valley Post. Julie lives and works in Boulder Creek and is an active participant in the county's vibrant music scene. She loves the outdoors and is the go-to expert on Santa Cruz Mountains hiking trails.
