Musical Lairs House Concerts

The Kennedys

May 31, 2025

The Kennedys began their writing and touring life three decades ago with Nanci Griffith's Blue Moon Orchestra, developing their own sound as a frequent support act on Nanci's tours across America, Ireland, Scotland and England. Collaborations with Nanci continued, culminating in Pete and Maura producing her final album, "Intersections." Along the way, they hosted a nationwide radio program, The Dharma Cafe on Sirius/XM, wrote and released sixteen CDs of original music, and have been core artists on folk radio, expanding their audience further with the inception of the AAA and Americana formats.

During the pandemic, Pete and Maura stayed busy with their very popular streamed concerts every Sunday afternoon. These continued without interruption for three years. As Maura puts it: "During our five-year hiatus from writing and recording, America changed in massive ways, divisive ways that have shaken our whole foundation. That has to be addressed by creative artists, those of us who have a voice to speak for others. Our love of the great things about this country, things that are under threat, is the reason we decided to make "Headwinds" the title track of their newest CD. Political and social headwinds are making it hard to get back "home" to our greatness as a nation. We want to push back in a positive way against those winds."

In addition to singing and writing, Pete and Maura are multi-instrumentalists. The thirteen songs are cast in a soundscape that draws from the classic canon of American roots, in keeping with the theme of getting back "home" as a nation. Acoustic and electric guitars, a vintage steel guitar, a gospel-inflected piano/organ mix, and even a slide ukulele all add colors to a songbag of sounds that have drawn us together during hard times. Pete and Maura believe that those sounds still have the power to pull us through again.