Biography
Kirk Fletcher works today as an electric blues guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter whose playing bridges classic Chicago and Texas blues idioms with vintage soul and R&B. After issuing his debut album, I'm Here & I'm Gone, in 1999, the California native has refined his approach both as a bandleader and as an accompanist. Beyond directing his own ensembles he has performed with blues figures such as Charlie Musselwhite, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Mannish Boys, and Joe Bonamassa. Five Blues Music Award nominations and one British Blues Award nomination have recognized his work. Widely praised for its rotating cast of singers—Kim Wilson, Janiva Magness, and Finis Tasby—Shades of Blue appeared in 2003. Following a four-year tenure as lead guitarist with the Fabulous Thunderbirds that produced both studio and concert recordings, Fletcher resumed fronting his own projects with My Turn in 2010. He issued the self-released sets Burning Blues: Live at the Baked Potato in 2014 and Hold On in 2018; each earned favorable notices and solid sales. Cleopatra Blues brought out My Blues Pathway in 2020.
Born in Bellflower, California, in 1975 as the second son of a Baptist minister, Fletcher took up the guitar at age eight under the influence of his older brother, Walter, and soon joined him in their father’s church services. Placing music ahead of every other pursuit, he pursued studies in theory, harmony, and composition while also performing jazz with the high-school band and undertaking early club dates along the California shoreline. During a visit to a neighborhood guitar-repair shop alongside Walter, he met Jeff Rivera, Robben Ford’s longtime guitar technician and producer; the two struck up a friendship that allowed Fletcher to assist Rivera and observe sessions from the sidelines. In the process he absorbed both Ford’s celebrated technique and his practical insights on assembling bands, selecting sidemen, and fostering collaborations.
Before long Fletcher began associating with Al Blake, the lead singer and harmonicist of the Hollywood Fats Band. Through Blake he forged ties with Junior Watson and Richard “Lynwood Slim” Duran while beginning to headline his own engagements. Blake also supplied the musicians who appeared on Fletcher’s 1999 JSP debut, I’m Here & I'm Gone. Further introductions from Blake led to vocalist/harmonicist Kim Wilson, who hired Fletcher for Kim Wilson’s Blues Revue; the guitarist also contributed to Wilson’s 2001 Grammy Award-nominated live album Smokin’ Joint. After hearing Fletcher with Wilson, Charlie Musselwhite extended an invitation to collaborate, an experience the guitarist later credited with shaping his personal voice because the bandleader “was comfortable with me being me.”
Fletcher delivered his second album, Shades of Blue, on Crosscut Records in 2003. Wilson, Magness, and Tasby again supplied vocals, and the record attracted international press attention; that summer Fletcher toured the United States and Europe. In 2005 Wilson enlisted him as lead guitarist for the Fabulous Thunderbirds’ Painted On. Over the ensuing three years Fletcher maintained a relentless touring schedule with the T-Birds yet still returned to Los Angeles for his own performances and sessions with Mannish Boys, Hollywood Blue Flames, Johnny Mastro, and Clarence Bucaro. Between 2006 and 2010 he appeared on releases by Mannish Boys, Chantelle Barry, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, and Joe Louis Walker.
In 2010 Eclecto Groove Records released My Turn. Alongside three original compositions the album included interpretations of material by Jimmy Reed, Jesse Ed Davis, Jimmy Johnson, Sly Stone, Wilton Felder, and Travis Carlton. Its title underscored Fletcher’s first sustained turn as lead vocalist. Global acclaim followed, opening European festival stages to him; upon his return he worked live with Cyndi Lauper and Michelle Branch. Subsequent years found him headlining his own shows while recording with Mannish Boys, Bob Corritore and Tail Dragger, Smokin’ Joe Kubek, and Kara Grainger. In 2013 he joined Italian pop star Eros Ramazzotti on tour and appeared on the concert DVD Cincetta Live. The self-released Burning Blues: Live at the Baked Potato arrived in 2014, and Fletcher briefly rejoined Joe Bonamassa’s band as second guitarist for the concert recording Muddy Wolf at Red Rocks; he resumed that role three years later on Live at the Greek Theatre.
Fletcher self-released the studio album Hold On in 2018, which featured the topical single “Two Steps Forward” as a duet with Mahalia Barnes. The set fused contemporary electric blues with soul, funk, and jazzy rock, earning worldwide critical praise and enabling tours across the United States, Europe, and Asia. Afterward he returned the favor by playing on Barnes and the Soul Mates’ Hard Expectations. For the next couple of years he worked again as a guitarist for hire. In 2020 he contributed lead guitar to William Shatner’s The Blues on a version of “I Can’t Quit You Baby.” That same year Cleopatra Blues issued My Blues Pathway. The self-produced collection contained six Fletcher originals plus covers of Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Fattening Frogs for Snakes” and A.C. Reed’s “I’d Rather Fight Than Switch.” Charlie Musselwhite guested on a reading of Weldon “Juke Boy” Bonner’s “Life Gave Me a Dirty Deal.” The album reached number 15 on the Blues Albums chart.
Born in Bellflower, California, in 1975 as the second son of a Baptist minister, Fletcher took up the guitar at age eight under the influence of his older brother, Walter, and soon joined him in their father’s church services. Placing music ahead of every other pursuit, he pursued studies in theory, harmony, and composition while also performing jazz with the high-school band and undertaking early club dates along the California shoreline. During a visit to a neighborhood guitar-repair shop alongside Walter, he met Jeff Rivera, Robben Ford’s longtime guitar technician and producer; the two struck up a friendship that allowed Fletcher to assist Rivera and observe sessions from the sidelines. In the process he absorbed both Ford’s celebrated technique and his practical insights on assembling bands, selecting sidemen, and fostering collaborations.
Before long Fletcher began associating with Al Blake, the lead singer and harmonicist of the Hollywood Fats Band. Through Blake he forged ties with Junior Watson and Richard “Lynwood Slim” Duran while beginning to headline his own engagements. Blake also supplied the musicians who appeared on Fletcher’s 1999 JSP debut, I’m Here & I'm Gone. Further introductions from Blake led to vocalist/harmonicist Kim Wilson, who hired Fletcher for Kim Wilson’s Blues Revue; the guitarist also contributed to Wilson’s 2001 Grammy Award-nominated live album Smokin’ Joint. After hearing Fletcher with Wilson, Charlie Musselwhite extended an invitation to collaborate, an experience the guitarist later credited with shaping his personal voice because the bandleader “was comfortable with me being me.”
Fletcher delivered his second album, Shades of Blue, on Crosscut Records in 2003. Wilson, Magness, and Tasby again supplied vocals, and the record attracted international press attention; that summer Fletcher toured the United States and Europe. In 2005 Wilson enlisted him as lead guitarist for the Fabulous Thunderbirds’ Painted On. Over the ensuing three years Fletcher maintained a relentless touring schedule with the T-Birds yet still returned to Los Angeles for his own performances and sessions with Mannish Boys, Hollywood Blue Flames, Johnny Mastro, and Clarence Bucaro. Between 2006 and 2010 he appeared on releases by Mannish Boys, Chantelle Barry, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, and Joe Louis Walker.
In 2010 Eclecto Groove Records released My Turn. Alongside three original compositions the album included interpretations of material by Jimmy Reed, Jesse Ed Davis, Jimmy Johnson, Sly Stone, Wilton Felder, and Travis Carlton. Its title underscored Fletcher’s first sustained turn as lead vocalist. Global acclaim followed, opening European festival stages to him; upon his return he worked live with Cyndi Lauper and Michelle Branch. Subsequent years found him headlining his own shows while recording with Mannish Boys, Bob Corritore and Tail Dragger, Smokin’ Joe Kubek, and Kara Grainger. In 2013 he joined Italian pop star Eros Ramazzotti on tour and appeared on the concert DVD Cincetta Live. The self-released Burning Blues: Live at the Baked Potato arrived in 2014, and Fletcher briefly rejoined Joe Bonamassa’s band as second guitarist for the concert recording Muddy Wolf at Red Rocks; he resumed that role three years later on Live at the Greek Theatre.
Fletcher self-released the studio album Hold On in 2018, which featured the topical single “Two Steps Forward” as a duet with Mahalia Barnes. The set fused contemporary electric blues with soul, funk, and jazzy rock, earning worldwide critical praise and enabling tours across the United States, Europe, and Asia. Afterward he returned the favor by playing on Barnes and the Soul Mates’ Hard Expectations. For the next couple of years he worked again as a guitarist for hire. In 2020 he contributed lead guitar to William Shatner’s The Blues on a version of “I Can’t Quit You Baby.” That same year Cleopatra Blues issued My Blues Pathway. The self-produced collection contained six Fletcher originals plus covers of Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Fattening Frogs for Snakes” and A.C. Reed’s “I’d Rather Fight Than Switch.” Charlie Musselwhite guested on a reading of Weldon “Juke Boy” Bonner’s “Life Gave Me a Dirty Deal.” The album reached number 15 on the Blues Albums chart.
Albums
Keep On Pushing
2025
Cocaine (Instrumental)
2023
My Blues Pathway
2020
Hold On
2018
My Turn
2010
Shades of Blue
2004
Singles
