If you follow me on Twitter, you have seen this tweet several times over the past week:
And for those of you who have not taken the time to figure out who Kirk Fletcher is, sit back and let me tell you more about him.
As a two time W.C. Handy Award nominee, who has toured with Lynwood Slim, Janiva Magness, Charlie Musselwhite and The Fabulous Thunderbirds, as well as performing with James Cotton, Pine Top Perkins, Hubert Sumlin, Mojo Buford, Ted Harvey, Larry Carlton, Robben Ford, Michael Landau, Elvin Bishop, Ronnie Earl, Doyle Bramhall, Michelle Branch and many more…
Kirk Fletcher is one clearly of the best young guitar players on the blues scene today.
Born 1975 in Bellflower California, Kirk began playing guitar at age eight after watching his brother Walter perform at their father’s church.
At age twelve he attended the Long Beach Blues Festival where he saw the likes of Albert Collins, Bobby Blue Bland, (accompanied by Wayne Bennett) and the Staple Singers. This was a life changing experience for him as he realized that this was the music he wanted to play.
In recent years Kirk has been performing all over Europe as a headliner and occasionally touring in the U.S. with Doyle Bramhall and Michelle Branch.
When home, he gives open counseling at Hollywood’s Guitar Institute of Technology.
Currently he’s ready to release his third solo album, “My Turn”.
Which leads me to the song, the album, and the tweet I keep sending.
Every once in a while I hear a song that grabs me by the b@!!$ and says: “What else do you want? This is new, fresh and totally kick-ass.” And this song said that to me. Listen for yourself to “El Medio Stomp” from Kirk Fletchers album: “My Turn”.
I love “Blues for Boo Boo” too – a great version on youtube of Kirk’s band – all great players! I think I listened to every thing he has on youtube yesterday…not a bad song to be found.
Hey there Rick – great to hear from you! I totally agree…there are no bad tracks from “Brother Kirk”! – GuitarDaddy