Kitty Donohoe

Art Form: Michigan traditional songs and lore

Location(s): Ann Arbor (Washtenaw County)

Kitty Donohoe

Portrait of Kitty Donohoe with her bouzouki, courtesy of the artist

Kitty Donohoe is a folk singer, songwriter, and Michigan history enthusiast living in Washtenaw County. Drawing from her love of Michigan, Kitty writes songs inflected with the musical traditions of her home state, and often showcases her knowledge of its rich culture in her lyrics. She started playing music at an early age, picking up the guitar, banjo, mountain and hammered dulcimers, and fiddle to enhance her performances. As her knowledge of Michigan history and culture expanded, so did her incorporation of traditional songs into her concerts and educational presentations. She began performing in schools in 1987 as part of a Michigan sesquicentennial tour and enjoyed this type of presentation, making it a core feature of her career in the subsequent years. The same year, she released Bunyan and Banjos, an album of traditional and original Michigan-centric songs. The accompanying 48-page book contained lyrics, lore, recipes, and resources for further reading about Michigan music and history. In 1990, Kitty participated in the Michigan in Song project of the Michigan Traditional Arts Program, which featured 12 Michigan traditional and folk musicians, including Joel Mabus, Sally Rogers, and Claudia Schmidt, playing a variety of traditional songs as well as originals drawing from this folksong tradition.

Passionate about education, Kitty incorporates Michigan’s history in her performances. This involves discussions of the people of the Three Fires Confederacy of Odawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi who first stewarded this land (and continue to do so) as well as settler and immigrant populations. She often invites listeners to participate in the show, posing questions like “what is a pasty and where did it originate in Michigan?” She has designed programs to help audiences tell their own oral histories and incorporate them into songs. To this day, she hears from parents who saw her performances when they were children who now want to pass on her songs to their own children. In 2016, Kitty published a children’s book called Henny and Benny Bunyan and the Maple Syrup Adventure, which follows two young relatives of Paul Bunyan as they participate in various Michigan-centric activities. The book comes with a 5-song CD of original music that Kitty wrote to accompany the tale.

Michigan audiences will recognize Kitty’s original songs from campfire song circles as much as her live performances. In addition to standard listening room concerts and festivals, Kitty regularly performs at campgrounds (Michigan Cultures Tours), libraries, farmers markets, and museums for captivated audiences. Her unique approach to place-based storytelling sees her songs entering the traditional repertoire of Michigan folk musicians around the state. Some of her songs are still sung regularly in schools where she first performed over 30 years ago. Her most recent release, The Irishman’s Daughter, explores her heritage as a third generation Irish-American through traditional and original music of the Irish diaspora.

- Micah Ling, 2024