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Mick Kennedy

Always interested in music, I discovered that I could play it when a friend of mine got a guitar for Christmas and didn't know what to do with it! I tuned his guitar and found that music was quite magically jumping out at me no matter what I did with it. He lent it to me for a while and very soon I bought one of my own, from Gerry Hyland in Navan, and set about being a folk singer.
Mainly influenced by the greats such as Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie etc, I discovered that folk music was a whole new means of expression as well as being a wonderful chronicle of life as it is and was. Bob Dylan sang to me of now, Martin Carthy sang to me of then, but there was a very real feeling of human involvement and empathy in both the songs and the lyrics.
Naturally, being blinded by the brilliance of such international stars, I completely missed out on the Irish music revival that the more mature musicians in Ireland had latched on to, only finding Planxty as they were breaking up and moving on to legend. Everybody loves Christy Moore, but to me the real hero was Andy Irvine, a true troubadour. Even now he soldiers on. Andy, never tire of the road! In time the instruments changed slightly and I found myself playing Bouzouki, Mandolin, Mandola, Tenor Banjo, 5 string Banjo as well as 6 string and 12 string Guitars in an attempt to sound like everybody I had ever heard, both in song and in melody.
Eventually it occurred to me that I was singing about other peoples lives, expressing their joy, disappointment and even grief in the best way that I could interpret such feelings, but still it was the voice of another. I decided to express my own feelings in songwriting and though not all people share exactly the same sentiments, I truly believe that, just as I hear the truth in the lyrics of some other singer expressing him/her self, somebody else will be touched by my songs. Song after song came to me and I was quite happy to just sing them for friends or whoever wanted to listen.
In Ireland I enjoyed the company of many fine musicians, some of whom I have sadly lost contact with, so if you find this website and you know any of these guys, please tell them that I would love to get in touch again.
David "Monty Mando" Monaghan, King of the Mandolin. Last heard of in North Carolina.
Davy Monaghan, Vocalist extraordinaire with a voice that would cut through the noisiest crowd that any Irish pub could muster. Last heard of in New Jersey.
John Fennessey, the only man I have ever seen playing the Banjo in his sleep!
Larry McDonagh, the voice of Socialism in my home town. Where are you Larry?
Charlie McGuinness, I showed him a few chords on the guitar and he came back 3 weeks later playing Simon and Garfunkel stuff to me.
Dolores, Anne and Marie Murray who must have been the three most beautiful singers I have ever heard, falling in to the most enchanting harmonies and having almost telepathic powers as to what each other were doing during a song.
Joe Egan, the man who introduced me to the 12 string guitar and I think instantly regretted it as I took it off him with every excuse imaginable at every opportunity.
Rory Delaney, multi instrumentalist who never failed to put his heart and soul into every musical project. Last seen in France.
John O'Connell (Big John). Blessed with a wonderful voice and great guitar skills, John was a great companion to me as we worked our way through the pub scene in Ireland.
Peter Fitzgerald, who I think learned how to tune a Mandolin from me, now somewhere in Washington or Baltimore and by all accounts doing well, playing guitar, mandolin and blistering banjo. Peter and I were hard workers on the folk scene and had a great time playing as a duet.
Timmy Mulcahy, ace accordionist and the only man I know that could defy anyone to decide whether it was a button or piano accordion that was being played with their back turned to it. Timmy, Peter and I played as a trio for a while. This was the original "Pucun", a name that stuck with most of my musical collaborations for years. Magic, magic, magic......
Willie "the Engine" Gilsenan, percussionist extraordinaire and longtime sidekick of mine.
Nigel Davy, a man who uses his button accordion as his voice, such sweet sweet music and all so totally effortless.
Emmet Vaughan, if it has strings, Emmet is your man. Tenor banjo, bouzouki, mandolin, guitar, all played with effortless ease.
Robbie O'Brien, a true believer who gave me huge encouragement with my first efforts at songwriting and a brilliant guitarist and harmonica player.
Harry Gillick (RIP) who opened up the wonderful world of the "session" to me and so many others. Hope you're enjoying the big one Harry.
Rory Summers, master of the Uilian pipes.
Ah the memories are flowing back and I think I will leave it at that for the moment. No doubt I've missed out on a load of people but check back and see if I've expanded on the list.
After leaving Ireland, I worked in IT for quite a few years, and enjoyed it immensely, travelling all over Europe and the US, but music kept calling me back. I played occasionally at the old Mean Fiddler as a guest on Lucy Ray's music nights and enjoyed some sessions with the Northern Celts but soon fell out of the music scene for no reason other than laziness.
IT was good to pay the bills but it was not the way I wanted to be for the rest of my life. I did a lot of thinking and realised that music was the only thing that would span the work/fun divide.
I had always looked after my own instruments and had a huge interest in the theory of instrument design and manufacture. I studied at Merton College in London in Baroque instrument construction and repair and armed with a load of skills and love for both acoustic instruments and the music they produce I decided to open a workshop for both the manufacture and repair of them.
I now have a workshop in Norwich where I make guitars (or whatever the customer wants) for other people and repair those in need of TLC. I won't bore you with the technicalities of making guitars (go here for that) but I have truly found something that both satisfies me immensely and inspires me more and more as each day passes. Occasionally a song comes to me as I look out of my workshop window across the Norwich skyline, there's always a pencil and paper near and more guitars than any man should have to work out a tune for it. I think bliss best describes it, and even better to come as Marina Florance weaves her magic on the song. It's been a pleasure to meet up with Marina, who has taken my songs, many of which I cannot properly sing myself due to my limited vocal range, and "freed" them for listening to.
I am only writing about life as I experience it, no doubt you or others will feel differently about the sentiments expressed in the songs. It is, after all, only my observation of life as I know it. Don't take it too seriously, I'm sure that your point of view is just as valid and just as worthy of a song.

We also work with an artist and lyricist, Julie Allen, who's words can easily be described as astoundingly poignant.

Both Marina and myself made changes in our working lives and this enabled us to practice more and increase our live performances. We decided that Marina would take the lead role, performing songs written and arranged by the three of us and we began gigging in the Norwich area. We have dipped our toe in the water in London and have dates planned all over East Anglia for 2006 - 2007.

Currently we are working on an album of original Florance, Allen and Kennedy material and a tour will follow in 2007.

This is an exciting time for us all!

Latest news............Marina's album "Somewhere down the line" has just been released. Listen to some sample tracks on her website. The album may be purchased from High Barn or at any of our live appearances.