Most bluesmen in the B.B. King \/ Albert King \/ Buddy Guy vein are two things: they are guitar players, and they are singer-songwriters. If we\u2019re being honest, they\u2019re usually better at one than the other\u2014and the one they\u2019re usually better at is playing guitar. <\/p>\n
Which brings us to modern bluesman Kirk Fletcher, a gifted guitarist who handles a slow blues with a soaring solo as adeptly as a righteous funked-up stomp, and whose vocals continue to feel like a work in progress. On his latest release Heartache By The Pound<\/i>, Fletcher demonstrates above all that he continues to grow as an artist, and that\u2019s a beautiful thing to witness.<\/p>\n
There are exceptions to the maxim noted in the first paragraph above, of course; Robert Cray is a great example of a superb blues guitarist who\u2019s also an accomplished vocalist. This time around, Fletcher takes Cray\u2019s example to heart in more ways than one, co-writing four of five self-penned tunes with Cray\u2019s longtime bassist Richard Cousins and covering two others written by frequent Cray collaborator Dennis Walker. (Both men also worked with B.B. King.)<\/p>\n
The album was mostly recorded at FAME Studios in Nashville, \u201cthe mother church for soul music\u201d according to Fletcher, who notes \u201cIt\u2019s the same building where all these fantastic people like Otis Rush and Aretha Franklin have recorded. I wanted the vibe.\u201d The band he assembled for these sessions, which extended to Los Angeles as well, is extraordinary: keyboardist Reese Wynans (Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble, Buddy Guy), drummer Terrence F. Clark (Robert Cray Band, Joss Stone), bass players Randy Bermudes (The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Charlie Musselwhite) and Travis Carlton (Sara Barellies, Larry Carlton), backing vocalist Jade MacRae (Joe Bonamassa, Jimmy Barnes), trumpet player Mark Pender (Bruce Springsteen, Southside Johnny), and saxophonist Joe Sublett (Taj Mahal, Bonnie Raitt). If that lineup leaves you expecting an album full of tight, powerful ensemble playing, you will not be disappointed.<\/p>\n
The Fletcher-Cousins opener \u201cShine A Light On Love\u201d rides an easygoing r&b strut, featuring punchy horn accents, gospel-tinged background vocals from McRae, and a smoking Fletcher solo over the fade. After that sunny, upbeat opening we dig into the serious-minded \u201cAfraid To Die, Too Scared To Live,\u201d a more traditionalist mid-tempo number with a strong Cray influence; it\u2019s a soulful, thoughtful piece about the need to seize the moment and live fully while you\u2019re alive, and one that Fletcher sings with genuine passion and commitment.<\/p>\n
The title track\u2014and third Fletcher-Cousins co-write in a row\u2014splits the difference, offering upbeat accompaniment as Fletcher sings of \u201cHeartaches by the pound \/ So easy to be lost \/ So hard to be found.\u201d It pairs nicely with the Albert King-penned \u201cI\u2019ve Made Nights By Myself,\u201d whose steady blues pulse closes out with an extended bee-sting guitar solo. Then they slow things down for \u201cThe Night\u2019s Calling For You,\u201d a slow blues that\u2019s right in the pocket musically and tonally as Fletcher spins a tale of cheating, regret, and longing, as gentle Hammond organ in the background adds an extra measure of pathos. <\/p>\n
The strut returns for Fletcher-Cousins co-write \u201cWrapped Up, Tangled Up In The Blues,\u201d and it really suits this surging number, with McRae\u2019s harmony vocals on the chorus adding dimension and punch. A pair of Dennis Walker-penned cuts follows as Fletcher gives the mid-tempo \u201cWrong Kinda Love\u201d extra snap before easing off the gas for the airy slow blues \u201cI Can\u2019t Find No Love,\u201d singing \u201cI can\u2019t find no love in our home anymore\u201d over a searching, mournful guitar line.<\/p>\n
If that sounds like it calls for a change of pace, Fletcher delivers again with a tasty cover of Tarheel Slim\u2019s rollicking roadhouse blues \u201cWild Cat Tamer\u201d (\u201cI\u2019m a wildcat tamer, and I\u2019m gonna try my hand on you\u201d) that\u2019s pure exuberance from start to finish. Fletcher closes things out with his solo composition \u201cHope For Us,\u201d a languorous, lilting blues that find him struggling through what may be the closing scenes of a troubled relationship, asking \u201cIs there any hope for us?\u201d Eventually the stately paced number gives way to a smoky, somewhat understated solo that builds steadily, wringing every last bit of melancholy out of the song.<\/p>\n
Fletcher\u2019s guitar playing throughout is world-class\u2014every bent note and speed run full of emotion and craft, never overplaying but always giving the song his all. And if there are times when it feels like he\u2019s still building confidence in his keening vocals, there is equally no mistaking the improvement he\u2019s achieved there. The emotion he pours into tracks like \u201cI Can\u2019t Find No Love\u201d and \u201cHope For Us\u201d is compelling; he\u2019s putting himself out there and sharing his heart with the audience, and the results are powerful. It\u2019s also true that when you witness an artist working to get better at one particular aspect of their art, the progress they make along the way can be rewarding for both the performer and the audience.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
A five-time Blues Music Award nominee, Kirk Fletcher is only getting better year by year, an already-great guitar player who is rapidly becoming a genuine triple-threat performer. Heartache By The Pound<\/i> demonstrates not just the power of blues music in the hands of an artist as talented as Kirk Fletcher, but the potential that\u2019s always there when an artist insists on continuing to grow and refine their craft. I\u2019m already looking forward to whatever\u2019s next.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":34561,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[8561],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-46407","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-kirk-fletcher","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46407\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=46407"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=46407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}