CONCERT TO HONOR NORMAN KENNEDY'S 90th BIRTHDAY PLAINFIELD OPERA HOUSE, AUGUST 23

Norman Kennedy, born in Aberdeen, Scotland, founder of the Marshfield (VT.) School of Weaving, National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellow and master of Scottish song and ballad, will turn 90 years old this summer.

A grand gala CELEBRATION OF CELTIC AND AMERICAN BALLADS in honor of Norman's birthday will take place at the Plainfield Opera House on Wednesday, August 23, organized and hosted by American roots musician Skip Gorman. Scottish folklorist and balladeer Margaret Bennett, who has just received an honorary Doctorate from St. Andrews University in Scotland and ballad singer and weaver Melissa Weaver Dunning, originally from Vermont , will round out the tribute.

The star of the show, of course, will be NORMAN KENNEDY "himself" , still in fine voice and full of tales and reminiscences. With a repertoire gathered from some of the most important Scottish tradition-bearers – Jeannie Robertson, Annie Johnston, Jimmy McBeath and Davie Stewart – Norman remains a living treasury of music and lore. He made his American debut at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 and was a regular at the Champlain Valley Folk Festival but has performed only occasionally in recent years. His appearance at the Plainfield Opera House will be a rare opportunity to encounter one of Scotland's finest folk revivalists and treasures.

MARGARET BENNETT was raised on the Isle of Skye and wrote her doctoral dissertation on "The Hebredean Traditions of the Eastern Townships of Quebec" (just upstairs from Vermont). She has recorded four albums of Scottish songs in both English and Gaelic and written extensively about Scotland, Quebec and Newfoundland, prompting the late poet and legendary folklorist Hamish Henderson to say, "Margaret Bennett embodies the spirit of Scotland.

SKIP GORMAN met Norman in 1969 at Howard Glasser's "Eisteddfod " (Welsh for music and poetry gathering ) at the University of Rhode Island. Skip's career is practically congruent with the American folk revival. An accomplished mandolinist, guitarist and a fiddler adept in the American, Celtic and Canadian styles, he became fascinated with the music and song of the American west and learned the hardships of the working cowboy's life on a ranch in Wyoming. Among his sixteen recordings are several of cowboy songs and ballads and, most recently, a 4 CD set titled "Celtic Fiddle Rambles".

MELISSA WEAVER DUNNING, ballad-singer and banjo-player, was once a student of Norman Kennedy's and is today a respected hand-weaver and spinner who has taught at the John C. Campbell Folk School in North Carolina and at the Red Stone Glen Fiber Arts Center in York, PA. She lives in West Virginia.

A CELEBRATION OF CELTIC AND AMERICAN BALLADS in honor of Norman Kennedy's 90th birthday takes place on Wednesday, August 23 at 7:00 PM at the Plainfield Opera House, 18 High Street in Plainfield, VT. Admission is by donation at the door, with all proceeds after expenses to the artists. For information contact R.D. Eno, rdeno@fairpoint.net.

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