Who has influenced you most on nyckelharpa and hardingfele?
My early training on nyckelharpa was with Leif Alpsjö, who has been over to the U.S. many times. When I lived in Sweden I took a number of lessons from Puma Hedlund. Perhaps the biggest influence, though, has been Olov Johansson because of his incredible playing. I have listened over and over to the Väsen CDs and then the group was at our camp last year. When I lived in Sweden, I went to the week at Ekebyholm and had Olov as my primary teacher. I also had him at a course that Björn Ståbi runs up at his farm. For hardingfele, the two primary influences have been Bjarne Pålerud and Håkon Asheim. Bjarne came to our very first camp in 1986. He really introduced me to the hardingfele. I had fiddled around on it and tried to do the standard Vossarul that everybody plays, but had no clear conception of how to play the instrument or what Telemark music was. He was a wonderful guy and a wonderful teacher, very understanding and patient. I remember that it was very hard for me, being so into Swe
