This week’s featured artist: James Kerry Trio – latest album ‘Tributaries’

From Kent, and an established member of the modern English folk scene, James Kerry is well known for his passionate, rhythmic playing rooted in folk dance tradition. Having begun his musical journey at a young age he quickly progressed and has since played extensively in the Morris and ceilidh circuits and performed with many bands and groups including Foot Down, and the Hilltop Ceilidh Band, both of which he is a founding member of. As was the case for so many of us, the Covid pandemic of 2020-21 saw Kerry with a fair degree of extra time on his hands. That opportunity gave rise to a creative burst where he was able to explore his own playing, writing and arranging and, ultimately, led to the release of his debut album – Source (reviewed here in 2023). Inspired by a love of rivers and nature and the countryside, and given added impetus by a recent move to living on a boat, the name relates to the beginning of a river, of course, but also to the beginning of Kerry’s career as a solo…