It's amazing to me - I thought Jean had already been honored! It's great that she's receiving the award this year!

I've had the pleasure of working with or knowing several of the other winners announced - the wonderful Bob McQuiilan, contradance musician extraordinaire; Mingo Saldivar, who's a great and gracious conjunto accordion player; Flory Jagoda, who for many years performed for our local festival for free, singing her Sephardic songs and other songs of her hometown, Sarajevo; and Ralph Blizard, a fine old-time fiddler.

These folks, along with Kevin Burke, Jean and all the others who I'm not as familiar with, are the great Tradition Bearers of our country, and they, and all the previous Heritage Award winners truly exemplify the richness and diversity of traditions here in the US. to see a list of everyone whose won this award, go here:http://www.arts.gov/guide/allheritage.html - the list reads like a Who's Who in American Traditional Folk.