Michael J. Kennedy (1900–1978) was an Irish player of the melodeon (one-row

diatonic accordion A melodeon or diatonic button accordion is a member of the free-reed aerophone family of musical instruments. It is a type of button accordion on which the melody-side keyboard contains one or more rows of buttons, with each row producing th ...

). Kennedy was born in Flaskagh Beag in

County Galway "Righteousness and Justice" , anthem = () , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg , map_caption = Location in Ireland , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = ...

, and at age 11 took up playing the melodeon. In 1923 he emigrated to

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state lin ...

in the United States, and spent his career there working for the

Louisville and Nashville Railroad The Louisville and Nashville Railroad , commonly called the L&N, was a Class I railroad that operated freight and passenger services in the southeast United States. Chartered by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1850, the road grew into one of t ...

. Kennedy's instrument of choice was the

Hohner Hohner Musikinstrumente GmbH & Co. KG is a German manufacturer of musical instruments, founded in 1857 by Matthias Hohner (1833–1902). The roots of the Hohner firm are in Trossingen, Baden-Württemberg. Since its foundation, and though known ...

10-button melodeon in the key of G. Despite having emigrated, his lifelong selection of tunes was taken from those he learned in Galway. The

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the state ...

branch of the

Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann (; meaning "Society of the musicians of Ireland") is the primary Irish organisation dedicated to the promotion of the music, song, dance and the language of Ireland. The organisation was founded in 1951 and has pr ...

is named in his honor.''Michael Kennedy''
. Detroit Irish Music Association, 2006

Discography

* ''Sixty-Five Years of Irish Music'' ( June Appal, 1977) * ''The Green House'' (Sleepy Creek, 2001) - three bonus tracks

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, Michael J. Irish male accordionists Musicians from County Galway 1900 births 1978 deaths Irish emigrants to the United States People from Dunmore, County Galway 20th-century Irish accordionists 20th-century Irish male musicians Musicians from Cincinnati 20th-century American male musicians American accordionists