Bob Kirkpatrick

Bob Kirkpatrick

Bob Kirkpatrick is a Dallas-based blues guitarist, singer and songwriter from Louisiana. Born in 1934 in Haynesville, Louisiana, he begins with piano at the age of six before switching to guitar. He works with Ivory Joe Hunter while attending school at Grambling and plays some road dates, but he becomes especially committed to the blues after seeing B.B. King in 1958.

Career in Texas blues

After an illness leads doctors to recommend time away from school, Kirkpatrick moves to Dallas and plays clubs while also working a range of day jobs. He builds a regional reputation across Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana over several decades, but keeps family as his first priority and does not pursue recording as aggressively as some of his contemporaries. In 1968, he is offered a road slot as substitute guitarist for Bobby “Blue” Bland’s regular guitarist, but stays home with his young children instead.

He continues to play in the Dallas area, including weekend performances at the Elks Lodge in south Dallas for 16 years. After retiring in 1986, he returns to playing at local blues clubs and starts writing new songs again, remaining active in the Texas triangle region.

Recordings

Kirkpatrick records Feeling The Blues for Folkways Records in 1973. Folkways later becomes marketed through the Smithsonian Institution. He does not record again for 23 years before Going Back To Texas appears in 1996 on JSP, a release noted for reflecting B.B. King’s influence on his singing and guitar style. He follows it with Drive Across Texas four years later.

Live profile and regional standing

Although not a widely known national figure, Kirkpatrick has a long-standing reputation as a regional Texas blues performer. His work is associated with blues, electric blues, electric Texas blues and Texas blues.