CARTHAGE — Singer Lewis MacKinnon and fellow band member Brian England of Jug in Hand Band fame will give a concert all about audience participation and fun at Skye Theatre Performing Arts Center on Wednesday, Nov. 30.

The two will also perform at Unity College Center for the Performing Arts on Thursday, Dec. 1. Curtain is 7 p.m. at Skye; 7:30 p.m. at Unity. Jam sessions will be held one hour prior to show.

Singing in English, Scottish Gaelic and Irish, MacKinnon has since 1994 performed in coffee shops, pubs, convention centers, theaters and concert halls throughout Eastern Canada. He is director for Gaelic cultural affairs in Nova Scotia and has been named poet laureate for the Royal National Mod in Scotland, an eight-day celebration of Gaelic music, dance, drama, arts and literature held annually in Scotland. This marks the first time in its more than 120-year history that a non-Scot has been named poet laureate.

MacKinnon, who combines passion and perspective with powerful baritone vocals, has played in every Atlantic Canadian province, Ontario and in both Scotland and Ireland.

In 2007, he was a featured performer at the Feile Amhranaiochta (Irish song festival in Belfast) and also in the internationally acclaimed Celtic Colours Festival, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. His 2008 performances included the Blas Festival in Scotland and the Celtic Colours Festival.

His all Gaelic CD, “A’ Seo” (Here), earned him an East Coast Music Award nomination and the song “Ailein Duinn,” a traditional Gaelic song, was selected for the Celtic Colours Festival’s 2007 compilation CD.

MacKinnon released a Gaelic poetry book, “Famhair agus dain Ghaidhlig eile (Giant and other Gaelic Poems), in 2008.

Tickets to the concert presented by New England Celtic Arts are $15 at the door. For reservations, call Skye at 562-4445 or UCCPA at 948-7469. Skye is at 2 Highland Drive off Winter Hill Road and U.S. Route 2. UCCPA is at 42 Depot St., Unity.

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