Ken Kolodner is widely recognized as one of "one of today's most accomplished, musical hammered dulcimer artists..." (Elderly) and a fine old-time fiddler. As a soloist and in ensembles with Helicon (with Chris Norman and Robin Bullock), Greenfire (with Laura Risk), with fiddlers Elke Baker, Jim Eagan, his son Bradley, and many others, Ken has performed for more than 30 years.

Focusing largely on traditional music, Kolodner has often been called one of the most influential players in the U.S. His music has been featured on national broadcasts on NPR, The Thistle and the Shamrock, All Things Considered, the CBC, the Voice of America, German National Radio, Performance Today and countless radio shows. 

His many credits are a featured solo in an Emmy-nominated CBS-TV Christmas special, over a dozen recordings with sales well over 125,000, an “Indie” winner and a #1 World Music title of traditional Celtic music (Walking Stones) and bestseller for BMG (with over 55,000 copies sold), and numerous books and instructional recordings (including a book/CD on old time fiddling for Mel Bay).

In 2011, Kolodner released three recordings: Out of the Wood with Scottish National Fiddle Champion Elke Baker; SunRise, a recording of hammered dulcimer duets and solos with Mark Grobner; and Otter Creek with his son, Brad (clawhammer banjo and banjola), of traditional old-time and original music. Otter Creek recently became the second most played instrumental recording as reported by folk DJs across the U.S.

Ken’s playing has been described as “world-class” (Sing Out!), "nothing short of astonishing" (The Connection), “outstanding” (The New York Times), “marvelous” (The Washington Post), “virtuosic” (Audio), “stunning in its musicality” (Dulcimer Player News) and “not to be missed” (USA TODAY). Ken has shared the stage and performed with Doc Watson, Kevin Burke, Alison Krauss, Jay Ungar, John McCutcheon, Jean Ritchie, Bryan Bowers, The Honey Dew Drops, Caleb Stine, Liz Carroll, Lea Gilmore, Liz Caroll, Billy McComiskey and countless others. Ken is also one of a handful of players of the exotic hammered mbira.