Kenny Klein

Kenny Klein (born 1955, New York City) is an American folk and country musician and a published author. He is an elder and a High Priest in the Blue Star tradition of Wicca.^[1] Klein is a fiddler, and plays styles ranging from British folk to jazz and swing.

Musical career

Klein and his then-wife performed as a duo called Kenny and Tzipora in the mid-1980s, and they recorded several projects on Kicking Mule Records, including the album Wineskins, Tinkers, & Tears in 1985. Together with their children they traveled around the US, performing at Pagan festivals, Renaissance fairs, and folk music venues.^[2] In 1992, Kenny and Tzipora divorced, and Kenny began his solo music career, subsequently releasing several projects on Blackthorn Records. In 1998 he released the CD Muses, an album of all original music produced by Brewers' Witch Productions.

Neopagan activities

Through his interest in British folk music, Klein discovered the Wiccan and Neopagan communities. While living in New York City, he joined Tzipora Katz's Blue Star coven and tradition of Wicca; he married Katz, who initiated him as a High Priest in that tradition in 1983.^[3] Between 1983 and 1992 Katz and Klein were largely responsible for transforming Blue Star from a local coven to a Wiccan tradition of its own.^[3] Touring the country during that period performing music, Kenny and Tzipora continued to teach Blue Star Wicca, initiating people and founding covens, and teaching largely via recording and distributing lessons on cassette tapes.^[3][4]

In 1992, after separating from Tzipora, he established the Rose and Antler coven of Blue Star.^[3] He is the author of The Flowering Rod: Men, Sex and Spirituality, a book on Wicca and Men's Mysteries.

Written works

• Fairy Tale Rituals (May 2011), Llewellyn Worldwide ISBN 978-0-7387-2305-1^[5][6]
• Through The Faerie Glass (February 2010), Llewellyn Worldwide ISBN 978-0-7387-1883-5
• The Flowering Rod: Men, Sex and Spirituality (March 1993), Delphi Press ISBN 1-878980-07-6, ISBN 978-1-878980-07-6
• Lilith, Queen Of The Desert (July 2010) includes the poem "Lilith" by Kenny Klein, Knickerbocker Circus Publishing, ISBN 978-1-4507-2236-0
• Girls I Knew When I Was Twenty (August 2004), Poetic Diversity.^[7]
• Legba in the French Market ^[8]

Discography

Solo

• 1994: Gold of the Autumn – Blackthorn Records
• 1995: High Grows the Barley – Blackthorn Records
• 1998: Muses – Brewers' Witch Productions
• 2004: The Fairy Queen (Kenny Klein & Lori Watley) – Blackthorn Records
• 2005: Little Birds Of Desire – Blackthorn Records
• 2005: Barley Moon – Blackthorn Records
• 2007: Meet Me in the Shade of the Maple Tree – Blackthorn Records
• 2008: Oak & Ash – Blackthorn Records
• 2011: Ghosts of the Delta – Independent
• 2012: Black Cat Blues – Independent

With Tzipora Katz

• 1983: Worn Out Threads and Tire Treads (live album) – Kicking Mule Records
• 1983: Moon Hooves in the Sand – Blue Star Records (cassette)
• 1984: Songs of the Otherworld – Kenny & Tzipora (cassette)
• 1985: Wineskins, Tinkers, & Tears – Kicking Mule Records (LP)
• 1986: Dreamer's Web – Kenny & Tzipora (cassette)
• 1988: Fairy Queen – Kenny & Tzipora (cassette)
• 1989: Both Sides of the Water – Kenny & Tzipora (cassette)
• 1990: Branches – Kenny & Tzipora — Magical Audio Graphics Incomplete (cassette)
• 1990: Kenny & Tzipora: Live & Kickin' at A.C.E. – A.C.E. (cassette)
• 1990: Enchantress – Gypsy (Kenny & Tzipora guest artists) – White Light Pentacles (cassette; CD release 2001)
• 2004: Best of Pagan Song (compilation CD) – Serpentine Music Productions

References