Kerry Fearon is one of Northern Irelands most popular emerging country singers.
Hailing from South Armagh, Kerry grew up in a household surrounded by country music. She began singing in 2015 after losing her father to Motor Neurone Disease through which he lost his voice.
In 2016, Kerry reached the final of the Irish TV country music talent show Glór Tíre. She also won the prestigious Horizon Award for most successful British and Irish newcomer.
Her eponymous EP was released in 2016 and was followed by her debut album Honky Tonk Girl in July 2018. The album includes the singles Storms Never Last and Red River Valley.
Kerry performs throughout Northern Ireland and beyond. She has shared the stage with a range of stars including Joni Harms, Will Banister, Leona Williams, Marty Haggard and, in July 2018, supported Kelly Willis on her UK tour.
Kerry has hosted her own TV show, Kerry’s Gold Country, for which she has interviewed special guests including Marty Stuart, Charlie Worsham, Margo Price, Albert Lee, Jarrod Dickerson, Ashley Campbell, Ags Connolly and many more. She has presented radio programmes on Downtown Country in Northern Ireland.
2019 was an incredibly successful year for Kerry who appeared on numerous festivals including Howth Roots & Blues, Leek Blues & Americana and the inaugural Galloway & Country festival. She headlined the Maverick acoustic stage at the 25th Millport Country Music Festival and had the opportunity to tour with artists including Ags Connolly and Leo Rondeau, Dave Murphy and Paul Sachs. She also undertook a mini UK tour in June.
In July 2019 Kerry left Downtown Country after four years and, in August 2019 she joined the team at Dundalk FM where she presents and produces The Boots ‘n’ Roots Show.
Kerry attended Americanafest in Nashville in September, was MC at the main event on Westport Folk & Bluegrass Festival and graduated from the highly acclaimed M.I.X. course with Hot Press Magazine.
2020 got off to a good start pre-pandemic. Kerry enjoyed some tour dates with Aaron McDonnell and was being part of Susan McCann’s sold out String of Diamonds Festival weekend. She was looking forward to opening for Amber Cross (California) on the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival in Belfast as well as being part of the Westport Folk & Bluegrass Festival again and much more before the pandemic lockdowns were introduced.
Kerry was nominated in two categories at the 2020 Academy of Western Artists awards (AWA’s) which she was due to attend in August in Fort Worth, Texas but could not due to the pandemic. To her surprise she picked up the award for Pure Country Album with her debut album Honky Tonk Girl. This was a big deal to the South Armagh songbird, being the first and only Irish artist having achieved this, and she made the nominations for the 2021 awards also.
Fast forward to 2025 and Kerry has been working in her permanent teaching post which she loves, and the Boots’n’Roots Show is now on over 30 stations worldwide. It was time to proceed with the album project she started pre-pandemic. She released the single Tables Are Turning, a cover of a song released in 2012 by Californian artist Victoria George. It is Kerry’s first official single for five years.
Tables Are Turning gained traction, picking up Song of The Week on Kildare FM and Country Belles. It was added to the BBC Sounds Where Music Matters playlist, where it was in good company with Kingfishr and more. The video also featured on Hot Country TV.
Kerry’s next release from her pre-pandemic recordings, Take It All Out On You, was originally recorded by Kelly Willis and was written for her by her husband at the time, Mas Palermo, along with her future husband, Bruce Robison (Travelling Soldier, The Next Waltz etc.).
A whole album’s worth of tracks had been recorded pre-covid, but this song was not actually planned for Fearon’s sophomore album at all. It had been forgotten about until she had tried to salvage what had been worked on five to six years later.
Kerry had recorded this song more as a souvenir than anything else. In 2018, she had the opportunity to tour with Texas country artist Kelly Willis. Being one of her favourite country artists of all time, Kerry jumped at the chance to be the support act on Kelly’s Back Being Blue UK tour. Take It All Out On You was one of the regular songs performed by Kelly on the tour. Kerry enjoyed it that much and thought it might work with the Irish music market as well as being a reminder of the 2018 tour dates.
The track was recorded and produced by Wayne Golden who provided all the instrumentation, with the exception and added bonus of Eamon McLoughlin (Opry staff) on the fiddle.
