Roxanne McDaniel – MD

Roxanne McDaniel is a singer/songwriter, dulcimer player, and teacher based in Johnson City, Tennessee. She is a graduate of the bluegrass program at East Tennessee State University, and has spent much of the last several years teaching and promoting the dulcimer in the northeastern Tennessee area. Her music draws on influences from old time, country, blues, pop, and rock. She and her band, The Big Bad Buzz are currently working on their debut album. Much of her writing focuses on struggles, both internal and external. Coming of age as a transgender person in rural Appalachia gave her a great deal of experience in being an outsider. She says that music saved her life and that she wants to help others find joy in making music as well. She teaches dulcimer lessons at her local senior center, and is the music director for a nonprofit called Art Transforms. She has also done charitable work, providing free cardboard dulcimers to children in the Johnson City area.