Owen Kennedy, Another Young Trad Musician from Maine
Nineteen year old fiddler
Here we go again! I’ve been doing these email interviews with some of the staff at Maine Fiddle Camp. The latest ones have been the “young’uns”. Owen Kennedy has been attending Fiddle Camp for nearly a decade, and has finally worked his way up to be on staff as a teaching apprentice.
Bill: So, hi Owen. You are on staff at Maine Fiddle Camp this year for the first time as a Fiddle Teaching Apprentice. I know you’ve been a Camper at Fiddle Camp for quite a few years. I also know you were/are a student of Ellen Gawler’s and a “Pineland Fiddler”. How did you originally find out about Fiddle Camp? (I assume through Ellen but I suppose it could have been the other way around). When was your first year at camp? How did that go for you?
Owen: My first year at camp was 2016, when I had just turned eleven. We went for the weekend and I know it was fun – the first of many best Maine Fiddle Camps ever – but I don’t remember specifics. I wanted to go back for a full week from then on! I’m 100% sure it was Ellen’s recommendation to my mom that brought me there.
Bill: Tell us how you originally got interested in traditional fiddle music. Do you come from a musical family? Were you playing music before fiddle, i.e. in school band or orchestra or something? Do you secretly play other instruments besides fiddle (I see pics playing banjo)?
Owen: I started playing classical violin when I was four starting with the Suzuki method through the Pineland Suzuki School. When my mom was four she started Suzuki violin down in Pennsylvania. Her brothers and sisters played instruments too and my grammy is a classical piano teacher. My mom knew that she wanted her kids to learn to play the violin, so my sister who is three years older started when she was four. I heard her begin to learn to play almost from when I was born. And of course, as a little brother, I wanted to do everything my sister did!
At the Pineland Suzuki School, they always did a benefit concert at the end of the year and I heard the Pineland Fiddlers play during that every year and told my mom that I wanted to learn fiddle tunes. I started with Ellen as soon as I could when I was seven and first performed with the Pineland Fiddlers at Skye Theatre in 2013. Once I started fiddle I knew that was what I loved playing the most. I moved away from classical pieces when I was around sixteen, though I continued to play in orchestras and chamber groups. Now I only play fiddle though I do find it fun to sometimes polish up a classical piece or two! I am always so appreciative of the technique that I learned through taking classical lessons as I was growing up, helping me with tone and bow control.
For the past two years, I have begun learning the tenor banjo and just recently have started to play the mandolin as well.
Other than Ellen, Fiddle Camp, and other Maine-based fiddlers, who are some of your musical influences? There have to be some Scottish and Cape Breton fiddlers, but who else?
Owen: Ellen is certainly a huge influence, she taught me many of the tunes I know and also taught me a lot about the New England and Irish styles. Another influence I have is Sèan Heely who is my current teacher I have been studying with on Zoom for the past four or five years. He has taught me so much about the styles within Scotland as well as some more about the Irish style specifically down in DC. I have listened to a lot of Troy MacGillavry and Andrea Beaton who are two amazing Cape Breton fiddlers and I love their styles so much. Kevin Henderson, over in Shetland, is another big influence on my playing, especially his tone quality. Recently I have been enjoying listening to a lot of Old-Time tunes and songs and have been starting to dig into that style as well. I always find it so interesting to explore different styles and find the similarities and differences between them which usually correlates to who has immigrated to that area.
Bill: tell us about your involvement with “Young Tradition Vermont”, “Sap Line” and more about “Sugar in the Pan” playing at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. That’s pretty cool!
Owen: My mom heard about the Young Tradition Vermont Touring Group through Pete’s Posse, who played at the Downeast Country Dance Festival. We took a family vacation (the day after I got my appendix out!) over to Vermont for the New World Festival, so my mom would know how the drive was and to see if we could make it work. The next spring we went to the Young Tradition Festival and Pete Sutherland sat down right next to me and pointed up at the Touring Group playing on stage and said “Would you like to be up on stage with them? You should audition next year!” And, I mean, you can’t say no to Pete and there was so much joy and excitement up on stage with the group, so I joined the next year (2019). I made so many amazing new friends and memories throughout the five years I was a part of the Touring Group. It was really great to be a Youth Artist Leader my senior year when we went up to Cape Breton on tour (you might recognize some of the tunes I brought to the group!)
Sugar in the Pan is a pull-out group from the Touring Group that started last year doing smaller gigs throughout Vermont and also a tour in Maine last spring. This group is less so a specific group of people and more whoever can make it to a specific gig though there is usually a core group that tries to play in many of the performances. Smithsonian Folklife reached out to my mom at Vermont Folklife (she’s the Touring Group Manager) asking if they could book a group to play down at the festival in DC in 2025. A group of six of us were asked, four current members and two alumni. We’re really excited!
Sap Line is a four-piece band, Fiona and Emmett Stowell, Grace Martin, and myself (all of whom will be at the 1st August week of MFC!) who met each other through the Touring Group. We had so much fun playing together that we decided to make a band and play some shows. We have since been on three tours together in Vermont and Québec and a stop at Club Passim in Cambridge, MA. This summer, a tour is in the works after playing at the Folklife Festival down in DC as well as after the 1st August week of MFC here in Maine! If you want to check us out you can look us up on my website or @SapLineBand on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
Bill: Tell us about your “50 Fiddlers from 50 States” project. Have you done all 50?
Owen: I started “50 Fiddlers from 50 States” when I was a sophomore in high school thinking this ethnomusicology project would take me about a year to finish. It took a bit longer than expected, from October 2020 until August 2023, right before I headed up for university in Cape Breton! It was so interesting to research and learn about all of these fiddlers, how their styles differed throughout the country and where there were similarities. It took over a year to do the research and to write what turned into an over seventy-page document! And then it was time to record – I made a video introducing the fiddler and playing the tune I learned from their repertoire. Almost all of the videos are on YouTube and Facebook, but I think there may be a few still only on the computer… Some of the criteria I was looking for when choosing the fiddlers to learn about were that they lived in or before the early/mid 1900s (when styles were more local and learned from families and in community) and that I could listen to a recording of their playing, which wasn’t always easy to find! It was also important to me to include fiddlers from a wide range of ethnicities and backgrounds. I started with Maine’s own Mellie Dunham, Rippling Waves Waltz.
I had a particularly hard time finding a fiddler for Delaware (meeting the project criteria) only finding only a ghost story about a fiddler: “There’s a chilling legend whispered through the hollows of Delaware about a ghostly figure lurking beneath the bridge over Scott Run stream. They say the spirit of a Black fiddler haunts the shadows, forever waiting for the faint clink of coins falling into the depths below. In life, he was enslaved in the 1800s, his haunting melodies filling grand halls and raucous dances. But one fateful night, as he played his fiddle atop the bridge, he slipped and plunged into the icy waters below, his music silenced forever—or so it seemed. Though the bridge has long been rebuilt over a roaring road, locals insist his ghost remains. If you dare venture there and toss a dime into the dark, you may hear the faint strains of a sorrowful tune drifting up from the stream, as if his restless soul is playing just for you.” Here’s what I went with for Deleware – Ava Belcher, who was known as one of the best fiddlers in Delaware County, New York and who played a huge part in keeping the contradance and fiddle traditions alive. (And there’s a MFC connection in my resources for this tune!)
Here’s the YouTube playlist to listen to more tunes and learn about the fiddlers!
Bill. Tell us about your travels outside the US. I know you went to Scotland (and the Shetlands?) with the Pineland Fiddlers. Are there other international tours on the horizon?
Owen: The first time I traveled outside of the US was with Ellen Gawler and the Pineland Fiddlers in 2015 when I was ten years old. We went to the Red Shoe Pub (here’s me and Ellen along with Kenneth MacKenzie – who is now the director of my university program!), the West Mabou Square Dance and the Gaelic College where we saw Rodney MacDonald playing and dancing at the same time! Since then I have been back many times, including to Celtic Colours and Kitchen Fest and am now up at university at Beinn Mhàbu where I’m studying Gaelic language, culture, and music. Here’s an example of Maine Fiddle Camp friends and connections – just last week I was playing (tenor banjo!) at the Celtic Music Interpretive Centre with Neil Pearlman, which you can see over on Facebook. Back when I first played there with the Pineland Fiddlers and Ellen in 2015, I would have never imagined getting to play there with Neil someday!
My first time traveling overseas was also with Ellen and the Pineland Fiddlers in 2019 over to Scotland and Shetland for the Shetland Folk Frenzy directed by Kevin Henderson. It was such an amazing experience that I wanted to go again and ended up going last year right before MFC for the same festival with a few of the friends who went in 2019 as well. The second time I went was even more fun because I was allowed into the bars at night for the sessions that went until the wee hours of the morning, then going back to the flat at maybe three in the morning with classes starting at eight! I learned so many great tunes and so much more about the Shetland and Scandinavian styles while I was up there and also got to play in a few sessions in Edinburgh where I stayed a couple of days in 2019 and 2023.
Bill: (you can answer this or leave it out). Has Maine Fiddle Camp made a difference in your life, musically? If so tell us how.
Owen: I have only recently started to realize how much Maine Fiddle Camp has greatly affected my life and music! So many Maine Fiddle Camp staff have been my teachers and mentors, from Ellen and Steve and Greg to Bennett and Ethan and Ben and so many others. I started playing with staff and friends for camper concerts and variety shows and now I play in duos with Ben Foss and Ethan Tischler… Another example – I recorded my album “Oh When: Now” with Owen Marshall. It was recorded and mixed by Noah Fishman, who is also on a track, and Elsie Gawler did all the design work! The generosity and support from the Maine Fiddle Camp staff has been so apparent throughout all these years. I’m so excited to be able to keep learning from them (because I certainly still will be!) and to also have more of an opportunity to share what I’ve learned with campers too!
Top fiddle camp memories:
Playing “Pressed for Time” with Bennett during the thunderstorm with Owen Marshall holding the mic right above my fiddle so it could be heard over the pouring rain and thunder.
Triple fiddle with Ben and Leland on some tunes from the Ryan’s Mammoth Collection which are now some of my favorite tunes that I play all the time. (If you come to a Sap Line show, you’ll hear them for sure!)
Playing Capture the Flag in the woods at night!
Learning songs and having so many laughs at the campfire sings and sessions until the wee hours.
Bill: Tell us about other events and projects you are working on now. Camps, festivals, video projects, Recordings, etc.
Owen: Mostly I’m going to school, learning as many tunes and songs as I can, and exploring different styles. I’m still taking lessons, with Seán Heely for fiddle and Ethan Tischler for singing. I’m hoping to get a few mando lessons from Baron Collins-Hill when he’s settled in Thailand! When I’m home in Maine, I’m playing shows and dances as much as possible, mostly with Ben Foss and Sap Line, and also with Ethan Tischler (and occasionally Elsie too!). At some point, I would like to explore what else I might do with the “50 Fiddlers” project whether it’s a series of shows or an EP, time will tell!
This summer, besides being at Maine Fiddle Camp in June and August, I’m an Artistic Work Study student at Acadia Trad and will be at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival with Sugar in the Pan; Sap Line has two tours in the works for July and August, and I’m still working out details for a bunch more events, that I’ll be excited to announce over time!
I also really enjoy teaching – I teach a series of group classes up here in Cape Breton and work with students online as well. If anyone is looking for (online) private lessons this winter and spring, please email me at fiddlerokennedy@gmail.com
Bill: Tell us about your interests beyond the musical ones.
Owen: I love being out on the water, fishing or boating or rowing, like at Atlantic Challenge with so many of the Maine Fiddle Camp crew. I like exploring in the woods, whether it’s taking drives down random back roads or going for walks. I love dogs – I always seem to find fluffy animals to pet wherever my travels take me!
Bill: Finally, here’s your opportunity to say anything you want to 2000+ Fiddle Campers who read our newsletter. This is the place to plug your FaceBook page, webpage, YouTube. Include links, etc. but also say anything you want to our audience. Don’t hold back!
Owen: I can’t wait to see you all at Maine Fiddle Camp in just a few months! Thank you, Bill, for the interview and thank you Doug and everyone who is part of making Maine Fiddle Camp so much fun!
If you want to visit Maine Fiddle Camp virtually while you wait for summer, here’s a playlist, including the epic Pressed for Time in the Thunderstorm video.
If you want to find me before summer, I’m online at:
Website: www.fiddlerokennedy.com
@fiddlerokennedy on Instagram and Facebook.
YouTube: www.youtube.com/@FiddlerOwenKennedy
Link to my album “Oh When: Now” album on Bandcamp
Events page
Email me at fiddlerokennedy@gmail.com
Bill: Thanks Owen! See you in June!
Owen Kennedy, Another Young Trad Musician from Maine
Nineteen year old fiddler