“One of the greatest traditional blues players of all time” — Joe Bonamassa

With every string bend and sustained vocal, the Los Angeles-born and Nashville-based singer, guitarist, and producer Kirk Fletcher summons the spirit of classic blues and spins it with his own fresh fire. A preeminent 21st-century bluesman, Fletcher has collaborated with luminaries such as Cyndi Lauper, Michelle Branch, Joe Bonamassa, and The Fabulous Thunderbirds.

Born and raised in Bellflower, CA, Fletcher built a foundation for the blues in the Compton church where his father served as pastor. Inspired by his older brother Walter (seventeen years Kirk’s senior), he cut his teeth in front of the congregation, playing guitar regularly in the church until his early twenties. He eventually toured as a guitarist in Kim Wilson’s Blues Revue and recorded on Wilson’s Smokin’ Joint (2001), which garnered a GRAMMY Award nomination.

Fletcher’s album Hold On (2018) cracked the Top 15 of the Billboard Top Blues Albums Chart and garnered a nomination in the “Best Contemporary Blues Album” category at the 2019 Blues Music Awards. His seventh full-length album, Heartache by the Pound (2022), was produced at the legendary FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, which Fletcher calls “the mother church for soul music” and is where greats such as Aretha Franklin and Otis Rush recorded. About the album, Fletcher says: “I got back to my gospel and blues roots.”

“When you hear this, I hope you think, ‘Man, somebody understands me’,” states Fletcher. “If I can do that for one person, it’s worth it. I want you to put this on and feel like someone relates to you. We’re all in this together.”