Karen Mueller is one of the top autoharp and mountain dulcimer players performing and teaching today. Her exciting and innovative performing style, featuring Appalachian, Celtic and contemporary music, has been applauded by critics and audiences from LA to Boston. Bluegrass Unlimited magazine has said “Karen Mueller’s touch, timing and taste make her a true virtuoso. Her talent and clarity deserve a wide audience.” Karen won the 1986 International Autoharp Championship and was a National Dulcimer finalist in 1985, both at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas. In 2006 she was inducted into the Autoharp Hall of Fame, and was named Autoharp Quarterly’s “Person of the Year” in 2021. 

A native of Winfield, she first attended the festival while in high school and was inspired to teach herself to play the autoharp and dulcimer by performers she saw there. Karen has appeared at major autoharp, dulcimer, and folk music events across the US as well as in the UK, including Walnut Valley (Winfield), Augusta Heritage Center, Sore Fingers Week, Kentucky Music Week, Old Songs, Ozark Folk Center, John C. Campbell Folk School, Mountain Laurel Autoharp Gathering, California Autoharp Gathering, Seattle Autoharp Week, Northwest Autoharp Gathering, Old Town School (Chicago), Cranberry Gathering, Berkeley Dulcimer Gathering, QuaranTUNE, and many more. 

She also performs with Katie McMahon, the original lead singer of Riverdance. Karen currently teaches around 40 private students online, and offers Zoom workshops for all levels on both instruments as well as guitar, mandolin, and ukulele. One workshop student wrote that “Karen is a skilled, articulate teacher who is both focused and goal oriented. She has the ability to help students achieve a high level of competence in a short time frame.”