Kirk Fletcher is a contemporary electric blues guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. His sound straddles the line between classic Chicago and Texas electric blues styles, vintage soul, and R&B. Since releasing I'm Here & I'm Gone, his 1999 debut album, the California-born guitar slinger has developed his craft as both a solo artist and a sideman. In addition to leading his own bands, he played with a host of blues luminaries including Charlie Musselwhite, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Mannish Boys, Joe Bonamassa, and others. Fletcher has been nominated for five Blues Music Awards and a British Blues Award. 2003's Shades of Blue was widely celebrated for Fletcher's stable of alternating vocalists: Kim Wilson, Janiva Magness, and Finis Tasby. After a four-year stint as lead guitarist with the Fabulous Thunderbirds that netted studio and live albums, he returned to the solo spotlight with 2010's My Turn. Fletcher self-released 2014's Burning Blues: Live at the Baked Potato and 2018's Hold On; each drew positive critical attention and sales. 2020's My Blues Pathway was released by Cleopatra Blues.

Fletcher was born in Bellflower, California in 1975, the second son of a Baptist minister. He began playing guitar at eight, inspired by his older brother, Walter; he eventually played alongside him in their father's church. Drawn to music above all other disciplines, the younger Fletcher began studying theory, harmony, and composition in school and later played jazz in the high school band, as well as fledgling gigs with friends along the California coast. While visiting a small guitar repair shop with Walter, Fletcher met Jeff Rivera, Robben Ford's guitar technician and producer. The pair became friends and Fletcher began assisting Rivera and being a fly on the wall. He witnessed not only Ford's world-renowned skill but absorbed his ideas about leading a band, choosing sidemen, and collaborating with others. 

A bit later, Fletcher started spending time with Al Blake, lead singer and harmonicist for the Hollywood Fats Band. Through Blake he met and established connections with Junior Watson and Richard "Lynwood Slim" Duran. He also began fronting his own gigs. Thanks to Blake, Fletcher encountered the musicians who would appear on his 1999 JSP debut offering, I'm Here & I'm Gone. 

Further, Blake introduced Fletcher to vocalist/harmonicist Kim Wilson. Fletcher won the gig playing guitar in Kim Wilson's Blues Revue. He also played on the singer's Grammy Award-nominated live album Smokin' Joint in 2001. After hearing him on the stand with Wilson, Charlie Musselwhite invited Fletcher to collaborate. The guitarist credits Musselwhite with helping him to develop his own sound because the bandleader "was comfortable with me being me." 

Fletcher released his sophomore outing, Shades of Blue, for Crosscut Records in 2003. It featured Wilson, Magness, and Tasby as vocalists, and won worldwide critical attention. He toured the U.S. and Europe that summer. In 2005, Wilson recruited Fletcher as lead guitarist for the Fabulous Thunderbirds for Painted On. Over the next three years, Fletcher toured incessantly with the T-Birds and returned to L.A. occasionally to play his own shows and work with Mannish Boys, Hollywood Blue Flames, Johnny Mastro, and Clarence Bucaro. Between 2006 and 2010, Fletcher appeared on recordings by Mannish Boys, Chantelle Barry, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, and Joe Louis Walker. 

In 2010, Fletcher issued My Turn for Eclecto Groove Records. In addition to three originals, it contained covers of tunes by Jimmy Reed, Jesse Ed Davis, Jimmy Johnson, Sly Stone, Wilton Felder, and Travis Carlton. The record's title reflected Fletcher's freshman journey as a lead vocalist. The recording won accolades across the globe, enabling him to play the festival circuit in Europe. Upon returning, he did live work with Cyndi Lauper and Michelle Branch. 

Fletcher spent the next few years headlining his own gigs and recording with the Mannish Boys, Bob Corritore and Tail Dragger, Smokin' Joe Kubek, and Kara Grainger. In 2013, Fletcher took a touring gig with Italian pop star Eros Ramazzotti and appeared on his concert DVD Cincetta Live. In 2014, Fletcher self-released Burning Blues: Live at the Baked Potato, and temporarily joined old friend Joe Bonamassa's band as second guitarist for the concert offering Muddy Wolf at Red Rocks. He reprised that role three years later on Bonamassa's Live at the Greek Theatre. 

In 2018, Fletcher self-released the studio outing Hold On, featuring the topical single "Two Steps Forward" in duet with Mahalia Barnes. The album seamlessly wed contemporary electric blues to soul, funk, and jazzy rock. It won global acclaim from critics, affording Fletcher the opportunity to tour the U.S., Europe, and Asia. In the aftermath, Fletcher returned the favor and appeared on Barnes' and the Soul Mates' Hard Expectations. He made the rounds as a guitar for hire for a couple of years. In 2020, he appeared on William Shatner's The Blues, playing lead guitar on a reading of "I Can't Quit You Baby." Fletcher also issued My Blues Pathway on Cleopatra Blues. The self-produced set included six Fletcher originals, covers of Sonny Boy Williamson's "Fattening Frogs for Snakes," and A.C. Reed's "I'd Rather Fight Than Switch." Musselwhite made a guest appearance on a cover of Weldon "Juke Boy" Bonner's "Life Gave Me a Dirty Deal." The set peaked at number 15 on the Blues Albums chart. ~ Thom Jurek, Rovi

Kirk Fletcher

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