James McCafferty

About James McCafferty

James McCafferty first picked up a guitar in his teens and discovered a lifelong passion for the traditional music and songs of the British Isles and Ireland. He taught himself to play the recorder and slowly built up a collection of reconstructed early instruments from the Medieval and Tudor periods, including recorders, cittern, dulcimer, crumhorn, cornamuse and psalteries. He founded the unaccompanied folk song group Solstice and the early music group Milady Clare's Musicke, with whom he recorded the albums Minstrels Gallerie and Pastymes and with whom he continues to perform the historical music of the British Isles on meticulously reconstructed early instruments. Under the banner of Early Music in Schools www.earlymusic.co.uk he takes his lively demonstrations of early musical instruments to schools, retirement villages and community groups.

As a solo vocalist, using acoustic guitar, cittern and melodeon to augment his rich baritone vocals, his relaxed and humorous style has won him a committed following.