James Limerick Kerr

James Limerick Kerr is a fingerstyle and classical guitarist, Dobro guitarist, and educator who brings a fountain of influences to his performance career. With playing “head and shoulders above most players” (The New Haven Register), his solo work incorporates Renaissance fantasias, classical guitar, bluegrass, ragtime, Delta blues, along with original compositions for the resonator steel guitar (Dobro). Kerr’s latest recording, Lute Fantasias of Molinaro (Acis) will be released in winter 2026.

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 Teachers College, Columbia University. 

Kerr is currently Lecturer of Music-Guitar at Smith College, and is based in Northampton, MA and New Haven, CT.  Prior to joining the faculty at Smith, 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. Other college level guitar teaching positions have included 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. Kerr 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.  After his first place finishes at the 2024 and 2022 Connecticut Blues Society Solo/Duo Competitions, Kerr enjoyed the opportunity to represent CT at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, with several sets on historic Beale Street.