James Kerr

James Limerick Kerr is a classical and hybrid picking guitarist, Dobro guitarist, bassist, and educator based in the northeastern USA. Kerr is a fountain of influences and his solo performances can incorporate Renaissance fantasias, classical guitar, ragtime, bluegrass, jazz, along with original compositions for the resonator steel guitar (Dobro). “His playing is head and shoulders above most players.” (The New Haven Register). Kerr’s latest recording, Hybrid Picking Molinaro’s Fantasias (Acis) will be released in fall 2025.

Kerr completed a Doctor of Musical Arts in classical guitar performance in 2016 at Stony Brook University (SUNY). He studied jazz as an undergrad at the University of Michigan, and received a master's in music education from Columbia University.

Prior to joining the faculty at Smith College as Lecturer of Guitar, Kerr was Associate in Music Performance faculty at Columbia University, where he taught applied classical and bluegrass guitar for a decade and directed the Bluegrass Ensemble. He also has taught guitar at CT-State Naugatuck Valley, and John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY).

Kerr is the author of A Twenty-First Century Guidebook for Guitarists: Practice, Performance, and Teaching (Kendall Hunt), a textbook for college guitar students. An updated second edition was completed in 2025.

As a sideman or ensemble member, Kerr has performed at such New York area venues as Irving Plaza, The Knitting Factory, Gracie Mansion, Trinity Church, The Wetlands, Symphony Space, as well as the Juilliard School and Yale University. He has performed with the Mobile Symphony Orchestra and festival performances have included the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, The Craftsbury Chamber Festival, The Long Island Guitar Festival, The Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival, and the Battery Park Summer Concert Series in Manhattan. As a Dobro guitarist in NYC, he had the opportunity to perform with several legendary artists, including Mike Gordon (Phish), Jerry Douglas, Noam Pikelny, as well as chart-topping country singers Shenandoah in their NYC debut. After his first place finishes at the 2024 and 2022 Connecticut Blues Society Solo/Duo Competitions, he enjoyed the opportunity to represent CT at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, with several sets on historic Beale Street.