Original, sophisticated urban folk often infused with Celtic flavorings. At the intersection of folk, blues, Celtic, jazz and rock, Benita Kenn's music is influenced by a vast array of passions and experience.

14 MP3 Songs
FOLK: like Joni, FOLK: Folk Blues



Details:
Benita's is the quintessential overnight success story that only took two decades to launch. She performs original and traditional Celtic and urban folk music, both solo and with her band Peregryn, for enthusiastic audiences at music festivals and local venues. Benita has been singing and playing guitar and piano since childhood. A native of Fort Lee, NJ, she began writing music in high school.

Benita first ventured out professionally in New York and Boston, performing at venues like the legendary Bitter End and The Other End.


Blessed with a full, articulate voice and a love of musicals and jazz standards, Benita performed regularly throughout the Northeast for many years, including stints in piano bars, coffee houses, and even as a singing waitress on Martha's Vineyard.

After moving to California in 1990, Benita was swept into the burgeoning Celtic music revival, which had a major influence on her guitar and writing style. She is now a highly regarded part of the San Francisco Bay Area music scene.

Benita's first CD, Roads, co-produced by the incomparable Joe Weed, was released in early 2004. Roads features Nashville guitar greats David Grier and Marty Atkinson, multi-instrumentalist Joe Craven, bassist Derek Jones (Nickel Creek), harmonica virtuoso Norton Buffalo, Celtic finger-style guitar wizard William Coulter, US Mandolin Champion Radim Zenkl, and Celtic fiddler and songbird, Valerie Rose.