Dave Kerr is a UK singer/songwriter, multi instrumentalist and producer.
Born in Sheffield and raised by a single father of five, who without even realising it, kickstarted DK’s love for all things country, blues and rock n roll!. Dave said: “My dad wasn’t musical at all, aside from playing a mean set of kitchen spoons on his knee but, the house was always full of music, whether it be VHS tapes full of recordings of Top of the Pops and Raw Power, or, his old vinyl collection being played on repeat”. It wasn’t long until Dave found his way to old records of Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Elvis, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Eddie Cochran… The list goes on.
It was here where the sound of that percussive acoustic guitar following the roll of the snare drum, that twang from the electric guitar and the soothing harmony of the lap steel took hold of Dave’s heart and ran with it. Eventually getting his hands on his first guitar, DK would stay up until all hours of the night learning and playing along to his favourites of Cash and Parton. On weekends where he’d stay with his mother, he has vivid and fond memories of her singing Patsy Cline, and Tammy Wynette songs to him which only deepened his love for country music. As time went on and DK grew into his late teen years, he’d develop a similar fascination for rock bands such as The Black Crowes, Bon Jovi, Poison and The Quireboys which, lead him to his first band “Sweet Cyanide” as lead guitarist at age 17.
As a songwriter, Dave’s journey began at a young age, using his beaten up acoustic guitar, an old casio keyboard for drum beats and bass lines and a two tape deck karaoke machine with one microphone, he would record countless demos of his first penned songs. The desire to be able to record and produce his own music continued from there and this has remained ever since. He has however, moved up a little from the days of his casio and the two tape deck karaoke machine.
Over the last 20 years or so, DK has earned his stripes and made his mark on the underground music scene with hard rock monsters Silverjet, power pop kings Teenage Casket Company and as a solo country artist . He has honed his live performance skills playing all over the UK as well as appearances in Europe and the US and delivers energy, charisma, passion and honesty with each and every show!
As a solo artist, DK’s intention was always to get back to his heart’s roots – country music. This wasn’t as easy of a shift as first thought and his first solo offering “Slave to Rock n Roll” was a hesitant one. It has some of his proudest songwriting moments but, it wasn’t strictly a country album. It certainly has its country elements in songs like “Saved” and DK’s first obvious country song “Can’t Make You Love Me”.
It wasn’t until the second album in 2018, “Being Drunk Looks Good On You” that he started getting closer to his desired results and dives even further into the realms of the country-influenced storytelling-style songwriting. The album still has its rock feel in places but the country is shining through on this record for dang sure.
Now in 2024, after a fairly quiet spell, he is back with a brand new single ‘Look At You Now’. This is arguably his best work to date, fusing his love of those classic country legends like Cash, with the modern edge of his heroes of today such as Keith Urban and Luke Combs.
Dave says: “I think I’ve finally found MY country sound, and I can only hope that the country music fans and communities in the UK, US and all around the world dig it as much as I do!”.
Dave Kerr is ready and raring to become an integral part of the country music scene in the UK and beyond. His forthcoming work and album to be is full of good-time, heartfelt country songs that he knows will “strike roughly around three chords or so with all y’all”. Keep a close eye on this one!
