Norman Kennedy is a folk singer who gained popularity in the '60s for singing traditional Scottish folk songs and telling folk tales. He began singing while working on his family's farm, and many of the same songs he learned as a youngster, he performed for audiences around the world. Kennedy moved to Aberdeen and started playing small venues in Scotland.
In 1964, Norman Kennedy was invited by Mike Seeger—a folk musician with a very impressive CV of his own, who heard him sing in Aberdeen—to come to Rhode Island to perform at the Newport Folk Festival. Kennedy obliged and actually ended up moving to the States in 1966, where he continues to live. Kennedy did not do a lot of recording during his career, but he was captured on some compilations, including two tracks ("The Forester" and "Drumdelgie") on Topic Records' English & Scottish Folk Balads. He also released a solo album called Scots Songs and Ballads.
Besides music, Kennedy is known for his weaving, done entirely on traditional handlooms. In 2003, he was the recipient of the National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in the USA for his work both in music and in weaving.