NOVEMBER 13th, 2009

Kirby Kelley Crowned America's Top Undiscovered Blues Guitarist in World's Largest Guitar Competition!



On Thursday November 12th in front of a capacity crowd at House of Blues in Hollywood CA, Kirby Kelley of Sherman, Texas beat out more than 4,000 guitarists to be crowned Guitar Center's 2009 King of the Blues. Kelley competed against four other undiscovered blues guitarists from all across the country to a panel of celebrity judges that included Jimmy Vivino of the Tonight Show Band, Elliot Easton of The Cars, accomplished session musician Blues Saraceno, blues legend Hubert Sumlin of Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters, renowned blues guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Grammy Award winner Pete Anderson, Steve Lukather of Toto, Editor-in-Chief of Guitar World Brad Tolinski, and Dweezil Zappa.

Hosted by Grammy-Nominated blues guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd, the event was a celebration of guitar and the music (The Blues) that has defined and influenced generations of musicians and all of today's popular music. Grammy Award winning producer and guitarist Pete Anderson kicked-off the show with a set of red-hot blues, which was followed by the King of the Blues final competition where each of five contestants fronted a vintage black tuxedo-clad live band lead by Pete Anderson. Performing to a live rendition of 1 of the 25 official King of the Blues backing-tracks, the five contestants also were required to perform a two-minute solo-performance on a Gibson acoustic guitar to display their ability to master two major aspects of the guitar. Following the contestants' performances Guitar Center's King of the Blues Finals culminated with an electrifying performance by blues-great Joe Bonamassa, who invited a series of surprise special guest musicians to join him on-stage for an exclusive colla boration which included Hubert Sumlin, Steve Lukather, Jimmy Vivino, Elliot Easton, and Glenn Hughes of Deep Purple and Black Sabbath.

Kelley's victory was his crowning moment on the long road to being named Guitar Center's King of the Blues. A life-long blues player, Kelley has been playing the blues for his family and friends for years. Entered by a friend in the King of the Blues competition, Kelley beat out over 4,000 other guitarists in five rounds of grueling competition. After his victory, Kelley was awarded an impressive package of prizes, including $25,000 cash, along with a Gibson '59 Les Paul reissue guitar, a $2,500 Levi's® shopping spree, a Marshall Vintage Modern 50 watt half stack, a Boss GT-10 Guitar Multi Effects Pedal, a feature in Guitar World magazine, worldwide distribution of their music in iTunes and more, plus endorsement deals from Ernie Ball, Marshall Amplification, VOX Amplification and Gibson. Additional regional, district and local prize packages were also awarded, thanks to the generous support of Gibson Guitar, Levi's®, Ernie Ball.