{"id":127619,"date":"2025-06-04T11:20:13","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T16:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=127619"},"modified":"2025-06-04T11:20:32","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T16:20:32","slug":"qa-with-kirk-fletcher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=127619","title":{"rendered":"Q&#038;A with Kirk Fletcher"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1545664804358300\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block; text-align: center;\" data-ad-layout=\"in-article\" data-ad-format=\"fluid\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1545664804358300\" data-ad-slot=\"8616314829\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=127619\" rel=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=127619\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-127620 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/3C9F4E01-ECFF-4E6D-994C-89146F335121-300x300.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/3C9F4E01-ECFF-4E6D-994C-89146F335121-300x300.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/3C9F4E01-ECFF-4E6D-994C-89146F335121-1024x1024.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/3C9F4E01-ECFF-4E6D-994C-89146F335121-150x150.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/3C9F4E01-ECFF-4E6D-994C-89146F335121-768x768.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/3C9F4E01-ECFF-4E6D-994C-89146F335121-1536x1536.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/3C9F4E01-ECFF-4E6D-994C-89146F335121.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Exclusive Interview by Karen Beishuizen<br \/>\nPhotos courtesy of Kirk Fletcher<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Kirk Fletcher is a blues guitarist who was a member of The Fabulous Thunderbirds. He performed with Cyndi Lauper, Michelle Branch, Eros Ramazotti and Joe Bonamassa. His solo album \u201cHold On\u201d garnered a nod in the category of Best Contemporary Blues Album at the 2019 Blues Music awards. He is touring this summer and has a new album with Blues covers possibly coming out. So Keep Checking In On Him!<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>KB: Did you always want to be a singer and musician growing up?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>At first I grew up just playing guitar, I had no interest in singing. But as I got older, I searched for expressing myself even more with my music and also fronting my own band. I just felt the need to try to sing myself. I also got so inspired by my fellow bandmate the great Nick Curren at the time I was in the Fabulous Thunderbirds.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>KB: What is so special about the blues?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Well, the Blues is the most special thing for me. Blues means a lot of things to a lot of people. But for me Blues music is not only a certain genre of music but a way of life, culturally, spiritually and where my music starts and ends. It\u2019s so connected with so many things. To me it\u2019s soulful and I try to have it in some way in every thing I do. So many artists have a strong Blues influence, think about it: Aretha Franklin or ZZ Top are completely different artists but they both have heavy Blues background, to me at least.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>KB: You were a member of The Fabulous Thunderbirds? How did you become part of this?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>I had played with the T Birds front man Kim Wilson\u2019s solo band for a couple years off and on. So when the guitar slot opened for the TBirds Kim called me.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>KB: You played alongside Cyndi Lauper: what was it like working with her?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Cyndi is a great person and a great artist. I did a benefit show with her in LA, but I didn\u2019t get the chance to tour with her unfortunately. But it was definitely fun playing with her.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>KB: What makes a great blues guitarist and who is in your personal Top 5?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Well that\u2019s a good question. I feel these days you should be well rounded and have studied the greats and understand the difference between the different styles in Blues. It\u2019s a little bit more involved than a lot of people think. The nuances and those subtle things is what makes Blues guitar great. My Top 5 probably changes everyday.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>1. BB King<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n<em><strong>2. Otis Rush<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n<em><strong>3. Robben Ford<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n<em><strong>4. Eddie Taylor<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n<em><strong>5. Buddy Guy<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>KB: Are there any current artists you would love to collaborate with and why?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Los Lobos, Keb Mo, Jason Isbell to name a few<\/p>\n<p>Because these guys make great music and write great songs. Songs are probably my favorite part of it all. I can try and put neat guitar parts to great songs. So it\u2019s fun \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>KB: You can make an album with 7 of your most favorite songs (not your own): what would you pick and why?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Oh boy now that\u2019s a very difficult question. I would probably pick those songs off the album \u201cDreamer\u201d by Bobby Bland. That whole album just moves me so much in every way. It\u2019s just highly crafted Blues music with a certain steamy late night vibe.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>KB: What are you currently up to? Touring, new material?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m touring this summer a fair amount. Going to Korea next month for the first time and later Portugal, South America, Romania so looking forward to my travels. I have an album of Blues covers coming out possibly by the summer on the Vizztone Label.<\/p>\n<p>Check out Kirk\u2019s website: <a href=\"http:\/\/kirkfletcherband.com\/\">HERE<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; color: #808000;\"><a style=\"color: #808000;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.authorhouse.com\/en\/bookstore\/bookdetails\/232300-BOXING-INTERVIEWS-OF-A-LIFETIME\">Click Here to Order Boxing Interviews Of A Lifetime By &#8220;Bad&#8221; Brad Berkwitt<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"wpforms-container wpforms-container-full\" id=\"wpforms-126533\"><form id=\"wpforms-form-126533\" class=\"wpforms-validate wpforms-form wpforms-ajax-form\" data-formid=\"126533\" method=\"post\" enctype=\"multipart\/form-data\" action=\"\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F127619\" data-token=\"6c9afb880c378b3bfa48e5385d03b33c\" data-token-time=\"1778448992\"><noscript class=\"wpforms-error-noscript\">Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.<\/noscript><div class=\"wpforms-field-container\"><div id=\"wpforms-126533-field_1-container\" class=\"wpforms-field wpforms-field-name\" data-field-id=\"1\"><label class=\"wpforms-field-label\">Name <span class=\"wpforms-required-label\">*<\/span><\/label><div class=\"wpforms-field-row wpforms-field-medium\"><div class=\"wpforms-field-row-block wpforms-first wpforms-one-half\"><input type=\"text\" id=\"wpforms-126533-field_1\" class=\"wpforms-field-name-first wpforms-field-required\" name=\"wpforms[fields][1][first]\" required><label for=\"wpforms-126533-field_1\" class=\"wpforms-field-sublabel after\">First<\/label><\/div><div class=\"wpforms-field-row-block wpforms-one-half\"><input type=\"text\" id=\"wpforms-126533-field_1-last\" class=\"wpforms-field-name-last wpforms-field-required\" name=\"wpforms[fields][1][last]\" required><label for=\"wpforms-126533-field_1-last\" class=\"wpforms-field-sublabel after\">Last<\/label><\/div><\/div><\/div>\t\t<div id=\"wpforms-126533-field_4-container\"\n\t\t\tclass=\"wpforms-field wpforms-field-text\"\n\t\t\tdata-field-type=\"text\"\n\t\t\tdata-field-id=\"4\"\n\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t<label class=\"wpforms-field-label\" for=\"wpforms-126533-field_4\" >or Name Message<\/label>\n\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" id=\"wpforms-126533-field_4\" class=\"wpforms-field-medium\" name=\"wpforms[fields][4]\" >\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div id=\"wpforms-126533-field_2-container\" class=\"wpforms-field wpforms-field-email\" data-field-id=\"2\"><label class=\"wpforms-field-label\" for=\"wpforms-126533-field_2\">Email <span class=\"wpforms-required-label\">*<\/span><\/label><input type=\"email\" id=\"wpforms-126533-field_2\" class=\"wpforms-field-medium wpforms-field-required\" name=\"wpforms[fields][2]\" spellcheck=\"false\" required><\/div><div id=\"wpforms-126533-field_3-container\" class=\"wpforms-field wpforms-field-textarea\" data-field-id=\"3\"><label class=\"wpforms-field-label\" for=\"wpforms-126533-field_3\">Comment or Message<\/label><textarea id=\"wpforms-126533-field_3\" class=\"wpforms-field-medium\" name=\"wpforms[fields][3]\" ><\/textarea><\/div><script>\n\t\t\t\t( function() {\n\t\t\t\t\tconst style = document.createElement( 'style' );\n\t\t\t\t\tstyle.appendChild( document.createTextNode( '#wpforms-126533-field_4-container { position: absolute !important; 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He performed with Cyndi Lauper, Michelle Branch, Eros Ramazotti and Joe Bonamassa. His solo album \u201cHold On\u201d garnered a nod in the category of Best Contemporary Blues Album at the 2019 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":127620,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28132,17984],"tags":[32879],"class_list":["post-127619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns-by-karen-beishuizen","category-entertainment-news","tag-qa-with-kirk-fletcher"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=127619"}],"version-history":[{"count":-3,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127619\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/127620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=127619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=127619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=127619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}