Singer-songwriter and square dance caller Sarah Kate Morgan grew up in Tennessee playing traditional music. She recalls how her grandfather built a dulcimer in his retirement before Sarah Kate was even born.
“And many, many years later, after he had passed away, my folks found this dulcimer in my grandparents’ house. And they knew that I was kind of musical. I was singing in church like every good Southern girl does. I was musical and musically inclined. They found this and said, Let’s give this a try. Now, I’m just more grateful with every passing day that my folks invested the time in driving to lessons and waiting in the car when I was in lessons and driving me home from lessons,” said Morgan.
Although the 32-year-old plays guitar and upright bass, her passion is the dulcimer, which she started playing at age seven. She credits her parents and her mentor June Goforth, who was part of the Knoxville Area Dulcimer Club, for getting her started with the instrument.
“Dulcimer was the key that opened the door to a love of traditional Appalachian music. From there I started being involved in old-time jams and old-time music festivals. And when I say old-time, that is the precursor to Bluegrass. So, Bluegrass, when we think of like Ricky Skaggs, Bill Monroe, right? Old-time is the thing that came before. The music folks were playing in the hollers and the hills. Not necessarily on the radio, right?” questioned Morgan.
The award-winning musician came to Kentucky for school and studied traditional music at Morehead State University. She ended up making Kentucky home. Now she’s the Traditional Arts Education Director at Hindman Settlement School. She also performs and has worked with several artists, including a Grammy award-winner from eastern Kentucky.
“I really had a great time playing with an inspiration to me. Tyler Childers invited me to play on Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven album and went on tour with him. So, there’s so many people that I love that have invited me into their world. And it’s special. Nothing sounds quite like the dulcimer. It’s a totally unique tone. It exists in this space somewhere between a mandolin and a guitar. And there’s this resonance to it that’s really remarkable. So, when you need a dulcimer, there’s really nothing else that can fill that gap. So, it’s nice being the dulcimer player that people can call on. And I only hope to hear more dulcimer within the broader musical world,” explained Morgan.
Wearing a flowing denim blouse, Sarah Kate talked with me from a house on the West Coast where she’s on a three- gig tour.
“I’m in Port Townsend, Washington now at the Festival of American Fiddle Music. I’m teaching guitar and dulcimer to a small group of kids in the traditional band. I’m just having a great time. And next week me and my duo partner Leo Shannon, we’re playing a gig in Portland and another one in Seattle, and then we’re going to head back home to Kentucky,” said Morgan.
The singer-songwriter talked about her song Heaven in My Mind, which is featured on the album Old Tunes and Sad Songs.
“Yeah, Heaven in My Mind when I introduce it, I usually say something like it’s hymn-adjacent. It’s not a hymn really, and it’s not quite secular. It’s somewhere in the middle. I’ve written a handful of songs that exist in that middle space. I grew up in the Quaker church and then from there went to non-denominational Christian churches. My faith was a big part of growing up and still is part of my life today. So, my faith can’t help but show through in a lot of my songs,” said Morgan.
“I wrote that thinking about, you know, none of us can tell with any amount of certainty what waits after death. None of us can. And I think the closest thing we can get to on this earth are a few things I mentioned in that song,” explained Morgan.
“Songwriting is a way to really express your creativity, but also for me to process hurt and pain into something beautiful and into something that helps you heal personally. There are several songs that I’ve written I don’t even know if I will ever play them for anybody else, but it’s for me. I just wrote them for me. Because I needed to write them,” said Morgan.
“Something I like to do is take traditional music and add to it. So, there’s a recording of me singing a tune from Donna Ray Norton, who is a Madison County, North Carolina ballad singer, and she sings a beautiful rendition of Single Girl. It’s a song called Single Girl. And I wrote the last verse to it and added to the story,” explained Morgan.
Next month in Hindman, with a host of other artists, like Carla Gover, Nicholas Jamerson and Jeri Katherine Howell, Sarah Kate Morgan is scheduled to lead workshops at the 2026 Appalachian Songwriters’ Retreat.
