Sam Rizzetta

Sam Rizzetta (May 23, 1942 – October 26, 2021) was a hammered dulcimer player, builder, and designer originally from Chicago, had lived in Inwood, West Virginia. Rizzetta discovered the hammered dulcimer while working in the repair of guitars and illustrated books in the 1960s to put himself through graduate school. His first exposure to the instrument was hearing the traditional player Chet Parker. Sam and his wife Carrie moved east around 1968, and he took a job with the Smithsonian Institution.