Kirk Fletcher

THE NASHVILLE-BASED BLUES MASTER ISN’T AFRAID TO ADD SOME II’S, III’S AND VI’S TO THE TRIED-AND-TRUE I-IV-V

- Adam Kovac

EVERYONE KNOWS HOW to write the blues. String together a I-IV-V chord progression, doodle on the minor pentatonic, cobble together some lyrics about how your baby left you and maybe throw in a line about a train or whiskey if you’re feeling frisky. It’s tried, true and — some would argue — very much stuck in the past.

That’s why Kirk Fletcher wanted to stretch out. The writing process for his new album, Heartache by the Pound, saw the L.A.-born musician trying new things in an effort to invigorate his take on a genre that too often gets stuck on the same old tropes.