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Home > Austin Music Source > Archives > 2009 > November > 12 > Entry
Texas legends celebrate the 80th birthday of Rod Kennedy
The Paramount will be hosting an all-star birthday tribute to singer, Kerrville Folk Festival founder, radio and television pioneer and all-around trailblazer Rod Kennedy Feb. 2. The tribute will feature Robert Earl Keen, Ray Benson, Marcia Ball, The Flatlanders, Ruthie Foster, Eliza Gilkyson, Terri Hendrix, Lloyd Maines, Jimmy LaFave and others. Proceeds will benefit the Center for Texas Music History at Texas State University.
Kennedy is a colorful figure who’s had one of those storied, larger-than-life careers. His life as an entertainer began in 1946 when he lent his pipes to the Bill Creighton Orchestra in Buffalo, New York. Since then, he’s founded the career-launching Kerrville Folk Festival, led multiple TV and radio stations and served as director for the Austin Symphony Orchestra, among other arts organizations. He’s even been a sports car racer. A more complete biography appears on Kennedy’s Web site and is worth glancing over, if only to shatter your ideas about how much one human being can accomplish in a lifetime.
Further details and tickets are available at the Paramount’s Web site.
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