KEN BARTKOWIAK
Ken Bartdowiak, a native of South Bend, Indiana, began his music career early with accordion lessons in 1967 and played it professionally from 1971 through 2017. That’s 46 years! Ken also began playing guitar in 1990, at which time he incorporated that instrument in the band he played in. Ken played with three local bands including The Polka Tops, EZ Tones and Soundsations. He recorded 2 albums with the EZ Tones, 3 with the Soundsations. Ken was always drawn to the country influence from traditional country artists such as George Jones, Buck Owens, Johnny Cash, Alan Jackson and Sammy Kershaw. Ken sang with local country and variety bands on occasion, but mainly appeared with his band and other local polka bands such as The Jerry Kurdys Band, Don Sugar and Paul Futa’s Family Affair band. His vocal stylings are both unique and heroic, yet honest and lifting! A long-time friend of Matt Lewandowski, they share a love of music, in almost every genre, but mainly classic country music.