Bing Futch (b. Hollywood, California, December 16, 1966) is a musician whose primary instrument is the mountain dulcimer. In 1986 he co-founded Christian techno-punk trio Crazed Bunnyz along with Marc "Gadget" Plainguet and Sean "Shaka" Harrison. He relocated to Orlando, Florida in 1993 and also plays the Native American flute, ukulele, and drums.
Bing Futch | |
|---|---|
 Bing Futch at Hard Rock Live Orlando | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Edward Michael Futch |
| Born | December 16, 1966 |
| Origin | Born Hollywood, California Raised Los Angeles, California US |
| Genres | Americana, blues, rock and roll, world music |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter, producer |
| Years active | 1986—present |
| Labels | Plan 7 Distribution/J.O.B. Entertainment Inc. (1986–present) |
| Website | bingfutch |
Futch has composed and produced soundtracks for film, theater, television and themed attractions. In 1994, he wrote and recorded music for The Castle of Miracles at Give Kids The World Village in Kissimmee, Florida. In 1999, Futch formed Americana band Mohave, featuring the mountain dulcimer as the main instrument. The group has performed at the House of Blues in Walt Disney World, Hard Rock Live at Universal Studios Florida and has opened for Molly Hatchet, among other acts. Futch performs using regular and baritone mountain dulcimers as well as custom-made dual-fretboard and resonator instruments, and is one of only two mountain dulcimer players to compete in the history of the International Blues Challenge, advancing to the semi-finals in the 2015 edition of the competition.[1] During the 2016 edition of the International Blues Challenge, Futch made it to the finals and was awarded "Best Guitarist" in the solo-duo category, despite performing solely on the Appalachian mountain dulcimer.[2] He is the grandson of the late boxing hall-of-famer Eddie Futch.
Northwest Airlines incident edit
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.[3] 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"[4] on July 10, 2009, and posted it to the service, hoping it would help to avoid a "lengthy reimbursement battle."[5] Within a day of the video's posting, Northwest Airlines contacted Futch to offer their apologies along with compensation.[6]
Question on Jeopardy! edit
On February 16, 2011, 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%.[7]
Discography edit
- 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
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 edit
- ^ [1], Full Time Blues Radio. FullTimeBlues.com
- ^ [2], American Blues Scene. AmericanBluesScene.com
- ^ A Musician's Nightmare – Nowhere Blog, June 15, 2009. Accessed July 14, 2009.
- ^ "Only a Northwest Song" video – YouTube
- ^ United guitar video shows online gripes can get results – Chicago Tribune, July 14, 2009. Accessed July 14, 2009.
- ^ YouTube heroes Dave Carroll and Bing Futch win airline compensation – Times Online, July 14, 2009. Accessed July 14, 2009.
- ^ Does Watson Think a Poor Workman Blames Yogi Berra Archived February 21, 2011, at the Wayback Machine – HyperVocal, February 17, 2010. Accessed February 18, 2010.
External links edit
- Official website
- Reverbnation Page
- Bing Futch: Listen Again – AXS
- "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