Hallberg called a workshop in Boone, NC where she spoke to luthier apprentice Clarence Eugene and discovered that the main luthier at the shop, Clarence McKinney, had passed away the day before from lung cancer.

Eugene later sent Hallberg her first dulcimer “Henrietta,” one of the last dulcimers made by McKinney before he passed. 

“I take this tale all over the world where I play and it feels really nice because it’s a sad way to get into the style but it’s meaningful, for sure,” Hallberg said. 

“One of the main objectives of my brand is to bring this instrument to a younger crowd,” Hallberg said. “I just finished recording an album that has the dulcimer on it and that’s why I’m doing Tiktok, as well. This is the discussion I have with every dulcimer maker I meet, how do we bring this to a younger generation.”