Barry Kerr

Barry Kerr brings the quiet power of ‘Curlew’s Cry’– selected from 146 entries as the inaugural Folk Album of the Year – to Kings Place as part of the Irish Folk Nights series. Accompanying his voice on guitar and bouzouki, Barry presents an intimate evening of original songs, traditional music and storytelling, with whistle or flute perhaps finding its way into the set.

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A curlew’s call sounds across a landscape in retreat. From there, Curlew’s Cry moves through folklore, family memory and the natural world, setting Barry Kerr’s own writing alongside traditional songs including The Snow It Melts the Soonest and You Rambling Boys of Pleasure.

For this Kings Place performance, Barry accompanies his vocals on guitar and bouzouki, bringing the album’s songs into a spare, immediate setting. A whistle or flute tune may also enter the set, offering a glimpse of the instrumental fluency that runs throughout his music.

These are songs that feel lived-in rather than preserved: attentive to the past, yet alert to the present. Mark Radcliffe described Curlew’s Cry as ‘a thing of great poise and beauty, an elegant elegy to nature, landscape and its associated folklore’.

This event will last approximately 1 hour and 50 minutes, including the interval.