Jenny Vincent
Musician Jenny Vincent has long been recognized as one of the greatest folk musicians in New Mexico
Jenny Vincent
Taos
2013 Recipient, Individual Artist
Musician Jenny Vincent, who just celebrated her 100th birthday on April 22, 2013, was nominated by three past recipients of the New Mexico Governor's Arts Awards. Vincent has long been recognized as one of the greatest folk musicians in New Mexico. She has devoted her life to using the beauty of her music to nurture traditional Hispano culture, restore the Spanish language of its children, and inspire people of her milieu to appreciate the enormous depth of cultural perspective that is embedded in folk music, folk lore, and attendant folk traditions. Vincent continues to perform music weekly for her neighbors in Taos. Vincent has performed with nationally recognized musicians Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie. She performed both as an individual and as a member of her own folk music group in New Mexico and the surrounding region. She has taught hundreds of youngsters folk songs sung in both Spanish and English and deeply involved them in music to ensure that the Spanish language and traditional Hispano culture remain vital in New Mexico, Colorado and Arizona. Vincent has used music to remove barriers between people of different cultures, been instrumental in preserving the folk music of Hispano culture, and has donated her extensive archive of original recordings to the Zimmerman Library at the University of New Mexico.