Bing Futch (b. Hollywood, California, December 16, 1966) is a musician whose primary instrument is the mountain dulcimer. He is the grandson of the late boxing hall-of-famer Eddie Futch. Relocating to Orlando, Florida in 1993, Futch formed Americana band Mohave in 1999 with Mike Burney playing acoustic bass, and Rob Buck on drums. Over a span of 16 years, the band performed numerous shows throughout Florida, including multiple nights in the House of Blues at Walt Disney World, and Hard Rock Live at Universal Orlando, opening for The Crests, and Molly Hatchet along the way.
Futch began performing as a solo act in 2006, stating that his instrument of choice helped get his foot in the door of many venues. "While cutting my teeth as a performer in bars, clubs, and resorts, the mountain dulcimer often bought me a second look when people walked into the place." He soon began appearing at festivals nationwide, bringing an expansive repertoire of styles together with modern touches, like bass pedals and loopers. This caught the attention of Folkcraft Instruments owner, Richard Ash, who invited Futch to become the company's first endorsing artist in 2008.
One of only two mountain dulcimer players to compete in the history of the International Blues Challenge, Futch advanced to the semi-finals in the 2015 competition. During the 2016 International Blues Challenge, Futch advanced to the finals and was awarded "Best Guitarist" in the solo-duo category, despite performing solely on the Appalachian mountain dulcimer.
Futch has composed and produced soundtracks for film, theater, television, and themed attractions, including The Castle of Miracles at Give Kids The World Village in Kissimmee, Florida.
Northwest Airlines incident On June 14, 2009, Futch was en route to a show in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, on Northwest Airlines flight 2363 from Detroit, Michigan. During that time, baggage handlers damaged his double-necked mountain dulcimer.A Musician's Nightmare – Nowhere Blog, June 15, 2009. Accessed July 14, 2009. Encouraged by fans to write a song about the incident, and after seeing Dave Carroll's "United Breaks Guitars" on YouTube, Futch penned "Only a Northwest Song""Only a Northwest Song" video – YouTube on July 10, 2009, and posted it to the service, hoping it would help to avoid a "lengthy reimbursement battle."United guitar video shows online gripes can get results – Chicago Tribune, July 14, 2009. Accessed July 14, 2009. Within a day of the video's posting, Northwest Airlines contacted Futch to offer their apologies along with compensation.YouTube heroes Dave Carroll and Bing Futch win airline compensation – Times Online, July 14, 2009. Accessed July 14, 2009.
Question on Jeopardy!
On February 16, 2010, during the finale of a three-day Jeopardy! pitting returning champs Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter against IBM's Supercomputer Watson, Futch's name appeared as one of three possible questions for the answer "Nearly 10 million YouTubers saw Dave Carroll's clip called "this friendly skies" airline "breaks guitars." Watson offered up "United Airlines" with an 81% probability of being correct, "United Breaks Guitars" was the second choice with a probability of 13% and "Futch" was the third choice with a probability of 7%. Watson Knows Futch - Folkcraft Instruments, February 22, 2011. Accessed February 22, 2011.
Discography Castaway: Original Soundtrack, 1986 Kansas, 1987 Buy Dis Album Ore God Will Disconnect My Fone, 1987 The Girl and the Book, 1987 21, 1987 Fantasy Amidst The Storm, 1989 70 mm, 1994 Dulcimerica: Volume 1, 2006 Dulcimer Rock, 2007 Kokopelli Rising, 2008 Christmas Each Day, 2008 Dulcimerica: Volume 2, 2010 Storm's Sigh, 2011 Live At Old Songs!, 2012 Dive!, 2013 All Songs Lead To The Gift Shop, 2014 Unresolved Blues, 2015 Dulcimerica: Volume 3, 2015 Sweet River, 2015 Return Of Live At Old Songs, 2016 Live From Ditty TV, 2016 Synth For A Season, 2016 What's Old Becomes New Again, 2017 The Improv Files: Year One, 2018 The Beauty and the Terror, 2021 Remain Seated Please, 2023 Acting My Age, 2026
With Nutty Faith: It's Our Job, 1985
With Crazed Bunnyz: Achtung: Musik Klirrfaktor, 1986 Live!, 1987 Transition, 1987 Blutgasse, 1988
With Mohave: Homegrown, 1999 Spider Rock, 2000 Live At Leu Gardens, 2003 Clear Blue Trickling, 2005
With Naked Head: Beautiful Disruption, 2002
With Manitou: In The Garden Of The Gods, 2009
As Producer: Wendy Songe Test Drive, 2015 Wendy Songe Driven, 2016
References
External links
Reverbnation Page "Versatile dulcimer player is among the talent at folk festival", AARIK DANIELSEN (Columbia Daily Tribune) Hearts of the Dulcimer-Podcast Episode 009: Bing Futch: Dulcimer Road Warrior Hearts of the Dulcimer-Podcast Episode 016: Blues On Dulcimer