HERALD DEMOCRAT

Kirby Kelley, the extraordinary blues picker who makes his home in Sherman, is headed to Hollywood and taking his guitar with him.

Kelley has been quietly battling his way through a series of guitar-picking contests until he's found himself selected as one of five musicians vying for the title 2009 "King of the Blues." The final competition in the Guitar Center-sponsored event is being held in Hollywood, Los Angeles, Thursday night. More than 4,000 guitar pickers from 42 states have tried to get to that stage where Kelley will play next week.

It's all about finding "the top five undiscovered players in the country, according to Guitar Center's Web site.

It's hard to imagine Kirby as "undiscovered," since he such an icon in Texas. Kirby has also traveled around the world, having played in England and other European countries. Locally, he's been a Music on Main mainstay.

"Quietly battling" is just how Kelley wanted it. He's not the sort to toot his own horn and this contest was no exception. He said he entered the Dallas Guitar Center retail store, won that store's competition, moved on to district and finally regional, which covered at least six states.

"Now, they are sending me to Hollywood for the finals," Kelley said with awe in his voice.

In Hollywood, Kirby will be competing against four other pickers, one each from California, Florida, Illinois, and New York.

Two other Texoma blues musicians, Jason Elmore and Oliver White, had nothing but the high praise for Kelley, the man and the musician.

Elmore said, "Aside from being a close friend, Kirby is one of the biggest influences on my playing. White agreed, saying that Kelley's "guitar playing is iconic. The man is a living, breathing blues machine."

Kelley, who performs acoustic blues most of the time, is well-known for his sensitivity when playing slide guitar, his signature style, and his ease in picking an acoustic guitar, or when he picks on a dobro.

In Hollywood, Kelley will be playing electric guitar, he said. Throughout the contest, he has been playing to pre-recorded tracks, laid down by Grammy award winner Pete Anderson, the guitarist who has been with Dwight Yoakum for years. At the finals, Anderson will accompany Kelley and the other contestants on stage.

The winner of this final event will also play with an upcoming blues artist, Joe Bonamossa, who returned recently from an event at the Royal Albert Hall in London, having traveled there with Eric Clapton.

Kelley said he doesn't know whether there will be major record label A&R (Artist & Repertoire) agents at the Hollywood event. He said he doesn't look at this as a competition, just another chance to play. "I Just like to play. I feel like that friends and family having been with me all this way I have already won." He's got at least a dozen of those friends and family making the westward trek with him next week.

"It's a beautiful feeling," Kirby lamented. "Fame is so fleeting. If I don't win, it'll be all right. I'll just come back to Sherman and mow my grass. I'd much rather be known as a nice guy who is a musician than a musician who is a nice guy."