Lifetime Contribution Award - Country Dance & Song Society

Current LCA Recipients:

2025: John Roberts
John Roberts receives the Lifetime Contribution Award in recognition of his contributions as a singer, song collector, historian, accompanist, teacher, and mentor. His award celebration will be held spring 2025 in Schenectady, NY.

For the past six decades, John fostered a wonderful set of communities through his music and song, including the English folk music scene, the morris dance world, the Irish music world, CDSS camps at Pinewoods, and at folk festivals from coast to coast.

Supported by concertina, banjo, guitar, or melodeon, John’s solo performances offer a great balance of wit, historical knowledge, and musicianship—and always a warm invitation to join in. When John sings, he has the remarkable ability to transport listeners to the place and time of the song, a notable talent that engages the audience with ease and confidence.

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2025: Tony Parkes
Tony Parkes (1949–2024) receives the Lifetime Contribution Award in recognition of his contributions as a caller of contras and squares for more than 50 years, choreographer, musician, band leader, author, workshop leader, dance historian, and dance organizer. His award will be presented posthumously on November 22, 2025, in Concord, MA.

Tony Parkes touched the lives of innumerable dancers, musicians, and callers throughout his career. He was the author of Contra Dance Calling: A Basic Text, the comprehensive book on calling, and more recently Square Dance Calling: An Old Art for a New Century, and his legacy will live on in those foundational volumes for decades to come. But Tony also embodied the consummate caller and musician, appearing weekly at the Concord (MA) Scout House for more than 20 years with the band Yankee Ingenuity, which he co-founded.

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2025: David Surette
David Surette (1963–2021) receives the Lifetime Contribution Award in recognition of his contributions as an inspiring music performer, teacher, scholar, and mentor. His award will be presented posthumously in fall 2025 in Concord, NH.

David will be remembered as a talented, kind, and generous person who fostered the love of participatory folk music in all those around him. He taught and mentored many young musicians and was an extraordinary talent on mandolin, guitar, and bouzouki. David toured with numerous contra dance bands, including Fresh Fish and Airdance. Each of these bands was arguably the finest in the country at their time and left a lasting impact on the evolution of contra dance music.

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Margot Gunzenhauser, Dudley Laufman, and Patrick Napier, 2007 Lifetime Contribution Award Recipients

Nominations for Future Lifetime Contribution Awards

Do you know someone who has made a long-term and exceptional contribution to the mission of CDSS?

Have they led the way in preserving, promoting, and/or creating within the living traditions that CDSS stewards?
Has their contribution benefited people in more that one geographical area?
Has their contribution impacted more than one generation?
Have they worked in conjunction with CDSS, CDSS affiliates, or complementary organizations?

If the answer is “yes” to all of these, then you may know a future recipient of the CDSS Lifetime Contribution Award.

Examples of a long-term and exceptional contribution include:

Increasing the quality of what we do by inspiration, instruction, or excellent example
Bringing what we do to new communities
Expanding the repertoire of dance, music, and/or song through scholarship or original composition
Working behind the scenes or enabling others to make these contributions

Nominations for the Lifetime Contribution Award are currently closed. Nominations for the 2026 award will open in early 2025.

If you would like to nominate someone who has recently passed away, please use this form for the Posthumous Lifetime Contribution Award. Nominations for the Posthumous LCA are accepted anytime.