Kirk Fletcher - I'm Here and I'm Gone (1999/2009)

► Get the album at the usual place...

Here and not gone

For a debut album it's a hell of a great album ! It's titled “I'm Here And I'm Gone” but the 24 years old Southern California native Kirk Fletcher is never gone since, active and acclaimed ! An exceptional guitar player and thrilling vocalist, Fletcher was lucky to find a talented producer, the excellent Jimmy Morello, who wrote more than half the songs and brought with him some of his pals : guitarist Alex Schultz, bassist Rick Reed, drummer Paul Fasulo, and John Marx, here on vocals.

Fletcher belongs to this new generation of bluesmen who do not limit themselves to one blues style but explore most of them and blend them together to forge their own personal signature. Fletcher debut album mixes jump, swing, boogie, Texas style, Chicago or Memphis sounds, infusing a rock'n'roll energy in many of the songs, and delivering long soulful guitar solos. The only kind of blues absent from the album is acoustic roots blues.

On the opening track, “I Ain't Doing Nothing Wrong”, written by Morello, the horns give a Memphis sound flavor while Fletcher's scorching vocals and guitar shine on the bewitching rolling rhythm of “What Is Going On”. Or he gets rather jazzy on the instrumental jump blues “Church Street Boogie”, also featuring appealing sax and a striding piano.

Fletcher's delivers torn vocals and gutsy guitar on his soulful version of Tutu Jones' “I'm Not Your Fool” backed by the horn section, before diving into the swing/jump “What Happened To You” with a big band sound. Featuring sax and piano, “School Street Shuffle” has a strong rock'n'roll flavor enriched by Fletcher's guitar and again the omnipresent horns.

Jimmy Morello

“Silver Spoon” reminds SRV's sound on slow soulful blues, and on the horn-full “You Went Back On Your Word”, Fletcher delivers scorching vocals and guitar. The outstanding instrumental “Mr Mann” is one of the highlight of the album, followed by the steady rocking “Bye Bye So Long”. Finally Fletcher is going through one of his long great solos on “Watsonized”, a rejoicing jump blues with a live barrel-house atmosphere of customers talking and shouting in the background.

Here was ending the original 1999 release of the album. But this 10th Anniversary re-issue has been augmented with four demo tracks Fletcher had recorded when looking for a label : covers of “Worried All The Time” (Howlin' Wolf), the excellent “I Smell Trouble” (a Don Robey song first recorded in 1957 by Bobby "Blue" Bland) and “Next Time You See Me” (signed by Earl Forest & Bill Harvey ― please don't ask me who they are ! ― and originally recorded in 1956 by Junior Parker), and the demo version of “Watsonized” which shows what Morello has brought when compared to the definitive version. Let's say it, these demos do not unmatch from the preceding 11 tracks, explaining how Fletcher got his ticket to the studio from the JSP label.

Everything is amazingly superb on this album : the global sound mix, the arrangements, a tight casting of appealing musicians, a large choice of instrumental enrichment (piano, sax, harmonica...), Fletcher's great tortured guitar playing, his scorching soulful voice… Each one of the fifteen tracks (you heard right, I said each one !) is a model of contemporary blues in itself, each one has a distinctive musical inventiveness, not a single one is under level. Something rare enough to be pointed out.

The album is so rich that it makes you dizzy. Rarely have I heard such perfection in a debut album ! ■

► Live videos... are better than long speeches

● The Borderline, London, UK, 2014 : https://youtu.be/v90_7pW3VUI
● Blythe River Blues Festival, CA, 2014 : https://youtu.be/oesnxrTCRb4
● With Josh Smith and guests Matt Schofield, Eric Gales & JD Simo, Fort Lauderdale, FL, 2016 : https://youtu.be/iF5jPth5EcM
● The Baked Potato, Los Angeles, CA, 2016 : https://youtu.be/Sqh4AO2B4gg
● Cirivellos, Long Beach, CA, 2016 : https://youtu.be/kzBSWpFKJOE
● With Guy King & Paulie Cerra, the Sugar Mill, Tarzana, CA, 2016 : https://youtu.be/OWSTsthTsc4
● La Plata, Argentina, 2017 : https://youtu.be/GzJmCm5oKIM
● The Workers Club, Fitzroy, Australia, 2017 : https://youtu.be/N6hzFMtlwVI
● With Josh Smith, Joe Bonamassa & Eric Gales, KTBA (Keep The Blues Alive) Cruise, 2017 : https://youtu.be/9XIIO63a5-Q
● With the Dany Franchi Band, Rome, Italy, 2017 : https://youtu.be/yvZhlQFxUJ4

● Kirk Fletcher & Friends, 2017 :
→ https://youtu.be/N3_IGCpm-ww
→ https://youtu.be/jxkbpyv3R-w
● With John Nemeth band, Bay Car Festival, Grande-Synthe, France, 2017 : https://youtu.be/QJLFqSV2IGE
● With Michael Landau, The Baked Potato, Los Angeles, CA, 2017 : https://youtu.be/pQBivGlAwDU
● Blues Spring Festival, Vienna, Austria, 2018 : https://youtu.be/89lMbDG42i0
● Club BeBop, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2018 : https://youtu.be/0USAOC5Tdws
● Lahnsteiner Bluesfestival, Lahnstein, Germany,  2018 : https://youtu.be/nra5fVgcWWQ?t=121
● Noardewyn Live, Omrop Fryslân TV, Netherlands, 2018 : https://youtu.be/zm-fi2sXDIw
● Sant Adria de Besos, Spain, 2018 : https://youtu.be/SQuEZ9Jim4A
● With Josh Smith & Davy Knowles, KTBA Cruise, 2018 : https://youtu.be/0MLf9GJKhFo
● The Slidebar, Fullerton, CA, 2019 : https://youtu.be/RGDWMtjKgbs
● Brasov Jazz & Blues Festival, Romania, 2021 : https://youtu.be/OQ7WZH-AcEc?t=132
● With Franck Goldwasser, the Pineapple Hill Saloon & Grill, Sherman Oaks, CA, 2021 : https://youtu.be/uYQhX_EinPk
● Jam with Roosevelt Collier, Campania Blues Festival, Salerno, Italy, 2021 : https://youtu.be/mRq1hkkYgBg