September 2023 - "I Will Too"
Around 1983, while splitting time between West Virginia and his native Texas, David Schnaufer made the decision to move to Nashville, TN, as the next step in his career as a professional dulcimer artist. He was convinced that the dulcimer would fit in well with the recordings that were coming out of Music City at the time and aspired to become Nashville’s first dulcimer session musician. He also knew that Nashville would be the best place to hone his own songwriting skills and perhaps bring his songs to the attention of music producers, publishers, and artists. Most folks in the music industry had little or no knowledge of the dulcimer and what it was capable of in the right hands. So shortly after arriving, David decided to make a demo recording to take around to the various recording studios. Since most of his intended audience may never have seen a mountain dulcimer before, he decided to make a video recording. In December 1985, he booked a recording session at the studios of WDCN, which at the time was Nashville’s public television station. He picked three songs to put on the video to highlight the wide range of musical styles the instrument was capable of: the fiddle tune “Cherokee Shuffle”, Bach’s “Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring,” and for the last tune he played and sang his original song titled “I Will Too.”
The demo seemed to work as far as David getting hired for session gigs. His first session was on a recording with the Judds titled “Rockin’ With the Rhythm.” He did two more projects with the Judds in fairly quick succession. In the following years he played and recorded with such Nashville luminaries as Emmy Lou Harris, Chet Atkins, Johnny Cash, Mark Knopfler, Mark O’Connor, Townes Van Zandt, the Everly Brothers, and more. He made numerous appearances as a solo musician on the popular Nashville Now television program hosted by Ralph Emery. He also became a member of the country rock band The Cactus Brothers.
Nearly 10 years after recording his demo video, David was traveling to Covington, LA, for the annual Mardi Gras Dulcimer Festival and stopped to visit his friend Debbie Porter. During one of their jam sessions, David introduced her to his song “I Will Too.” Debbie immediately fell in love with the song, and they quickly worked up a duet version of it which they subsequently performed at a number of dulcimer festivals. In 2000, Deb released a recording project titled A Dulcimer For You Darlin’ … which included a track with David playing and singing with her in their duet arrangement of I Will Too. This was the first time the song had been released on a recording. About a year later, David recorded it again on his solo album titled ”Uncle Dulcimer.“
I am deeply indebted to Sandy Conatser of Nashville, TN, for preserving, digitizing, and making available a copy of David’s original demo video. Here’s a link to a YouTube video of that portion of David’s 1985 recording session at WDCN:
David performed this tune in the key of G using D-G-d tuning. I’ve provided 3 different arrangements of the tune here. The first is as David played it in D-G-d. The second is an arrangement out of D-A-d that requires a 1+ fret. The third is also in D-A-d, but in the upper octave of the dulcimer, and does not require the 1+ fret.
Enjoy the tune, and as David would say, keep on pickin’!
As a reminder, shortly after David’s untimely passing in 2006, Deb Porter started the “Dulcimers for David” project. Its goal is to honor David’s memory and continue his vision by providing dulcimers to young people who have expressed an interest in playing but may not have a means of getting an instrument of their own. To support that effort, a number of CDs and DVDs have been produced, and 100% of the sales of those items go to support the project. (NOTE: Several of the “Dulcimers for David” products that were previously sold out are now back in stock!)
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