"DK" is an NYC born, urban mountain dulcimer performer and singer-songwriter who plays both traditional “lap” and “Nova Scotian” style on four and five string dulcimers, holding the electric dulcimer like a guitar. It’s easy to get a sweet, seductive sound out of the dulcimer but DK takes it to another level---playing power chords, original fiddle tunes, edgy and mournful trad tunes and some lesser known covers, and original material that has a reputation for “rocking out” on this trad instrument. Even when playing acoustically, much of her work is beat driven with a roots undertone. She accompanies “The Joy Machine” (as she calls the dulcimer) with singing that is melodic, heart-felt, and powerful---with the gutsy, full-hearted voice you’d expect a “roll up your sleeves, there’s work to be done” woman to have---the kind of woman who would have worked the railroads or tilled a field. 

DK performs a range of material, varying her set and sound depending on the gig and who's joining her on stage. Her repertoire includes old-timey, "trad," and fiddle tunes, original songs and instrumentals (ranging from an alt-folk sound to acoustic punk) and some covers. All of it's got energy and passion---and, of course, thanks to the dulcimer, a kind of dark, melodic joy.

Castle Black is a Brooklyn-based rock band, bringing a powerful and thunderous sound, full of hard-hitting jams, never sacrificing the hook.  Described as drawing from punk, post-punk, grunge, alternative and new wave, Castle Black defies the average rock genre.  Each song careens through an almost stream of consciousness depiction of life stories, social anthems and raw emotions.   With an intense live show, “impossible to tell what was coming next, except that it was bound to be loud and hard and intense – and catchy" (NY Music Daily), Castle Black is a “reminder of what dominating guitar riffs, melodic basslines, booming drums and a powerful singer with rock prowess can do.”  (Subversive Zine)

DK &amp; the Joy Machine is following

DK & the Joy Machine is following