Moving On: Stamford Musician Johnny Kerry

Local jazz and pop singer/songwriter Jonny Kerry presents his latest album, Moving On… nostalgic, timeless and utterly heartfelt, it’s rich in talent and made in Stamford

Jonny Kerry has never been short of musical direction, but with his latest album, Moving On, the Stamford-based musician has given himself permission to change course. 

Known nationally for his jazz accordion work and internationally for performances that have taken him from BBC productions to royal and celebrity events, Jonny’s new release is both a personal statement and a quiet recalibration of how he wants to be heard.

Although Jonny plays the piano on the new album, many will still associate him primarily with the accordion, Jonny insists it will always be part of who he is. “I’m still playing the accordion. I don’t think I’ll ever stop playing that,” he says, describing the instrument as something that has shaped not only his sound but his entire career. 

Its relative rarity has opened doors that might otherwise have remained closed, leading to major professional highlights including his appearance in Peaky Blinders and performances for high profile clients.

But with Moving On, Jonny has taken a bold step towards redefining how audiences see him. “With this new album, I’ve gone more back to the piano,” he explains. “It’s my first project where it’s been all songs that I’ve written.”

Recorded in his home studio, the album is a complete collection of original material, with nine tracks blending jazz, soul, blues and pop influences.

For Jonny, the move was not about leaving the accordion behind, but about escaping a genre box that had become restrictive. “You can get so sucked into a certain genre,” he says. 

“I’ve been in this gypsy jazz, jazz swing world that’s very drawn to the accordion and that Parisian Italian sound. I wanted to just move on and do something that was completely free of genre.”

He admits that audience expectations can sometimes be limiting, especially when an instrument carries such a strong cultural identity.

“As soon as you play an accordion, it’s French or Italian,” he says. “The piano is a lot more versatile.” In the past, he found himself facing disappointment from listeners who arrived expecting one thing. 

“People that came to see me and I played piano were sort of disappointed, saying, ‘Oh, I thought you were going to be on the accordion.’”

That frustration became part of the motivation behind Moving On, a title that reflects not just musical transition but personal resilience. 

Jonny describes the title track as a response to the self doubt many artists battle with. “It’s moving on through your own doubts,” he says. “‘I’m not good enough to do this,’ or ‘Why would anyone want to listen to this?’”

While the title song carries an obvious theme, he intentionally avoids spelling out the meaning of every track. 

“I wanted people to take their own kind of meaning and relate to it,” he explains, describing the album as honest, raw and intentionally without boundaries. “I didn’t want to overthink anything on it.”

Music has been part of Jonny’s life from the very beginning. Born in Grantham, he grew up in a family where music was not a hobby but a way of life. His grandmother was a concert pianist, while his parents toured in a country and western band, even sharing stages with Chet Atkins. 

“My family home had a recording studio in it,” he recalls, and he remembers falling asleep to the sound of rehearsals drifting upstairs. 

“My memory has always been of music and hearing the family band practising while I was getting to sleep.”

As a child, he was exposed to a wide range of influences, and still vividly remembers the thrill of one particular song. 

“The Devil Went Down to Georgia was one,” he laughs. “That’s always been one of them that I always remember.” At school, the piano became his escape. “I used to spend a lot of my lunch breaks playing on the piano in the music room,” he says. “It was always my escape. Music was always my place that I could just go to and play for hours.” 

Although he had classical training early on, he quickly gravitated towards playing by ear. “I soon realised that reading music wasn’t for me,” he admits. “I found that I could play quicker using my ear.”

By the age of 17 he was already performing semi-professionally, joining the family group to play weddings and events, before moving on to a gypsy jazz band in Nottingham and building the foundations of a career that would later take off. Even now, he still maintains a link to the family business, helping out at Goldholme Stone at Ancaster Quarry around one day a week.

Alongside his career, Jonny’s life has changed dramatically at home. He is now father to six-year-old Willow and a new baby son, Jasper, just three months old. 

While public performances are currently limited, his calendar is still packed with private bookings, especially during the warmer months. “I’ve got a busy year coming up with gigs anyway,” he says, adding that he often plays around 60 events a year, with the season building from April onwards.

Jonny is also embracing new ways of teaching, offering downloadable accordion courses online. “When I started, I just had nowhere to learn from,” he says. Now his courses are reaching musicians worldwide, with buyers in Japan, America, Canada and across Europe.

Yet despite modern technology offering global reach, he remains cautious about the future of music in an era increasingly shaped by streaming and artificial intelligence. “The music industry is going very strange at the moment with AI,” he warns. “Spotify is absolutely getting bombarded with AI music.”

While he acknowledges Spotify’s value as a platform for awareness, he is clear that it is not financially rewarding for working musicians. “I don’t think most musicians are making much money from that,” he says. “It’s brilliant for exposure, but it is harder for musicians now.”

That is partly why Jonny has chosen to release Moving On in physical formats too, including a limited run of 100 gold vinyl records. “They’re gold vinyl, so they look really nice,” he says, admitting he still takes genuine pleasure in holding the finished product. “I’m smiling as I look at it now.”

For Jonny, physical releases represent something streaming cannot. “What I like about vinyl is there’s not going to be any,” he says, pausing before adding that vinyl tends to reflect quality and care. 

“People put a lot of care and attention and effort into producing it.” 

In a fast moving digital world, he still believes in the album as an art form. With Moving On, Jonny Kerry is not abandoning the accordion that made his name, but proving he is far more than a single sound. 

It is a confident, heartfelt album from an artist who is determined to be known not just as a specialist, but as a songwriter, pianist and performer in full. 

And as he navigates family life, busy seasons of live work and the shifting landscape of the modern music industry, he remains focused on what matters most: staying true to himself.To find out more about Jonny Kerry search for the artist on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube, or see www.jonnykerry.com.