Matilda Murdoch was born in Loggieville, New Brunswick January 30, 1920 and still resides there beside the Miramichi River.
She started playing the violin at age nine and was self-taught until the age of sixteen. Matilda then took music lessons from a teacher in nearby Chatham to learn how to read music.
Matilda has composed numerous tunes which include clogs, jigs, reels, two-steps, waltzes and waltz clogs. She recorded two albums of these tunes for the Ottawa Valley School of Dance: Volume 1, Matilda Murdoch Play Some of Her Own and Volume 2, Matilda Murdoch.
Long recognized as the Queen of Down East fiddling, Matilda won many firsts in competition as far away as Guelph, Ontario and has guested on such shows as the Don Messer Jublilee and Up Home Tonight.
Joan Kennedy,the youngest of eight children, grew up in Douglas Harbour, New Brunswick. Music was always a part of her life as they all sang in the church choir, and in the kitchen at home.
Joan can be described as the province’s latest superstar and now has had a full decade in the public spotlight. In 1983 she won the Canadian National Talent Competition at the Academy of Country Music Entertainment in Regina. Afterwards she formed a band Country Clover and went on the club circuit throughout the Maritimes.
She recorded three albums during this period – I’m a Big Girl Now, A Christmas to Remember and Family Pride. Family Pride won a nomination for the 1997 Canadian Single of the Year and Joan a nomination as the year’s Top Female Vocalist.
In the last three years Joan has made appearances with such Nashville stars as Emmylou Harris, Randy Travis and Glen Campbell, a tour of Holland, appearances at the Grand Ole Opry and last summer a major guest appearance at Country Music Week in Edmonton, Alberta.
And, of course, during her first few months under the Diamond wing, there was the launch of her own ATV Thursday night half hour, The Joan Kennedy Show, which has been renewed for a third year. A new album Candle in the Window was also released on the Atlantica label.
Joan now has two Toronto produced albums in the mix and a full calendar of appearances across Canada and into the Unites States ahead of her. She also wants to work harder on writing her own material.
as born in Woodstock , NB.
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