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 One
of the most in demand upright bass, and five-string banjo players
on the US contradance circuit, Stuart Kenney's regional musical
interests sweep from Southwest Louisiana to Acadia. Stuart began
playing 5-string banjo at age 12, and upright bass at age 18.
He has a long career in many traditional music genres. Stuart cut
his Cajun teeth with the legendary, late Dewey Balfa, and played
with him for many of his northeast appearances. His interest in
Quebecois music formed through the fiddling of Lisa Ornstein, and
performances by La Bottine Souriante. The inclusion of
French Canadian music into the living tradition of New England contradance
music caught his attention early on. In 1999, Stuart's path crossed
with Sabin Jacques and Rachel Aucoin at Augusta Heritage Traditional
Dance and Music week. At that point, Stuart invited them to play
for contradances in Greenfield, MA and they've been playing together
ever since. A tight musical bond was formed. Later, these three
formed this group, Tidal Wave.
Stuart is a founding member of many great bands including AIRDANCE,
Greenfield Dance Band, The Sevens, Tidal Wave,
and Undertoe. He spent 14 years touring with the legendary
contradance band Wild Asparagus. He has played on National
Public Radio' All Things Considered (The Sevens), and NPR's
A Prairie Home Companion (Airdance). Stuart has
appeared at American Folk Festival, ME (National Council for Tradiational
Arts), Ashokan (NY) Fiddle and Dance workshops with Jay Unger and
Molly Mason, Augusta (WV), Alaska Traditional Folk Dance Society,
City Stages (AL), Falcon Ridge Folk Festival (NY), Fiddle Tunes
(WA), Hawaii and St. Croix Dance Vacations, Philadelphia Folk Festival
(PA), Sidmouth Folk Festival (UK), and countless others. Stuart
is a much-in-demand studio musician as well with over fifty recordings
to his credit.
Stuart's most recent project, Undertoe, is a musical collaboration
with accordionist Karen Tweed (Yorkshire, England), John Dipper
(London), and Marko Packard (US). He has composed many original
pieces of music featured in their first recording Walking Down
Angell Road.
Although Stuart's music has brought him coast to coast and beyond,
his musical home is at the Guiding Star Grange in Greenfield, MA,
where he plays for and hosts the TopHill Music and Dance Series.
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