Biography 

Maine musician Owen Kennedy is an award-winning fiddler rooted in the Maine Maritime musical tradition and immersed in his growing passion for Scottish music, splitting time between Maine and Cape Breton where he's studying Gaelic language, culture, and music at Beinn Mhàbu.  Owen's love of traditional music and enthusiasm for performing has taken him all over New England, into Maritime Canada, and over to Scotland and Shetland, where he has played with the Pineland Fiddlers, the Young Tradition Vermont’s Touring Group and Youth Commission (now Sap Line), and in duos with Seán Heely, Ethan Tischler, and Benjamin Foss.  Owen is the 2022 New England Regional Open Scottish Fiddle Champion, the 2021 Junior US National Scottish Fiddle Champion, and won the 2021 Young Stars of Maine "Glenn Jenks Future in Music" prize.  More recently, Owen has begun adding the tenor banjo and traditional songs into his performances.  Owen’s powerful playing can capture the melancholy of a Scottish air, mimic the sound of pipes in a march, or drive a good ol’ New England contradance tune.   

Owen’s debut album "Oh When: Now" was recorded with Owen Marshall and released in 2023.  Available now on Bandcamp, “Oh When: Now” is a musical snapshot of the places Owen's visited and the musicians he's played with and learned from, featuring tunes he's loved for years as well as newer favorites from Scotland, Cape Breton, and Shetland and includes tracks with Noah Fishman and Seán Heely.  Owen is also wrapping up a solo project, 50 Fiddlers from 50 States, which is available on YouTube.

Recent performances include the Young Stars of Maine Prizewinners Concert, the New World Festival, Waldo Fiddle Fest, Maine Celtic Celebration, and the Flurry Festival; opening sets for Còig in Maine and Alasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas in Vermont; house concerts in Cherryfield, for the Brownington Ceilidh Club in Vermont and a notloB Parlour Concert in Massachusetts; as well as several Maine tours with Seán Heely, most recently playing at the Maine Irish Heritage Center as well as joining the Seán Heely Band at The Dance Hall in Kittery and for the Maine Highland Games.  The YTV Touring Group spent 10 days in Cape Breton in April 2023, performing at the Highland Village, Strathspey Place, the Old Triangle Pub, and at the Gaelic College.  A May 2023 tour with the Youth Commission took them from a Feast & Field performance in Barnard, up to Quebec for the Fête de Mai celebration, and ended with a performance at Club Passim in Cambridge, MA.  Over the years, Owen has shared the stage with Natalie MacMaster & Donnell Leahy, Genticorum, Claude Méthé, Pete Sutherland & Oliver Scanlon, the Outside Track, Andrea Beaton & Troy MacGillivray, and Owen Marshall and performed solo at local markets & festivals, kicking off the Boys & Girls Club National Conference in San Diego with an audience of several thousand, and at The Big Gig, the final Shetland Folk Frenzy concert at The Mareel.  

In addition to performing, Owen Kennedy has been giving private fiddle lessons in-person and online since 2019.  Currently he’s also offering group lessons at Beinn Mhàbu and will be teaching at the 2024 Trad Camp in Burlington, VT.  Owen’s passion for teaching is fueled by his excitement to carry and pass on the fiddle tradition and what he has learned from the many mentors who have generously taught him over the years.

Now spending part of each year in Cape Breton, Owen is studying at Beinn Mhàbu and thriving in the rich musical landscape.  Owen has had the opportunity to learn from Gaelic speakers, culture-bearers, and musicians in the classroom and in the community, whether making “white pudding,” learning waulking songs while hiking along a stream, or playing tunes in the stairwell with one of the artists-in-residence.  Owen has joined in several performing opportunities, including a Ships of 1801 show and at the Highland Village’s Oidhche Shamhna (Gaelic Halloween) in Iona, and has been featured in two Wednesday Night Céilidhs at the The Gaelic College.  Evenings might find him at an informal céilidh in a local living room, playing or dancing at a square dance, or joining in at a session at The Red Shoe or An Drochaid.  Not one to miss the chance to go fishing or exploring, he’s also thoroughly enjoying time out on the water, cooking up fish by bonfire on shore, and hiking in the mountains and along quiet gravel roads.

Quote from Alasdair Fraser

After my opening set for the 10/2/21 show in Colchester, VT Alasdair Fraser shared: "What a lovely way to begin – it made me feel so homesick and very comfortable…  I’m in familiar surroundings.  Owen, it’s just a beautiful recital you gave there.  I loved everything about it!"