Winter Cowan 2025 Faculty Highlight: Shohei Tsutsumi on Carter Style Scratch Guitar

Shohei Tsutsumi is from Osaka, Japan. From 2016 to 2019, he resided in North Carolina and became the first non-American to earn a Master’s Degree in Appalachian Studies at Appalachian State University in 2018. He won awards in various local contests for different instruments, including winning the Mountain Dulcimer competition at the Galax Old Fiddler’s Convention for two consecutive years, in 2018 and 2019. Shohei has a deep appreciation for traditional and old-time styles from Western North Carolina and Southwest Virginia, and he constantly seeks to explore and play these old styles on each instrument.