James S. Kerr

Who is James S. Kerr?

James S Kerr was a Scottish music publisher.

Kerr's "Merry Melodies" are the most popular collections of Scottish tunes ever published. Almost nothing is known of the publisher. "Kerr's First Collection of Merry Melodies for the Violin" does not even carry a date, but is thought to be from 1870 to 1875. The second collection, the third collection and the fourth collection all bear the address "65 Berkely Street, Glasgow". There is a street called Berkeley Street in Glasgow. Either the spelling has changed, or Kerr didn't bother to check the spelling. The fourth collection is often taken to be from 1879 or the early 1880s.

By the time he published "Kerr's Caledonian Collection" the address is changed to "79 Berkeley Street", and his audience has now changed from the violin player to the "piano or piano-accordion" player. This reflects the new popularity of the piano accordion in Scotland in the early twentieth century. Nothing more is known of the company until they published "Cornkisters" in 1950. By this time the original Kerr must have died. In 1952 the company published the most famous song about Aberdeen, "The Northern Lights of Old Aberdeen".