Local musician is rebuilding,
creating new songs and a new home:
Last November, Kirk Fleta came back to the Smokies from a trip to Nashville to find that he lost everything: family heirlooms, guitars and dozens of journals and recordings of his songs, photos and recordings of his mother (famed Spanish singer Paloma Fleta) and his grandfather (world famous opera tenor Miguel Fleta), all of the songs he had down on paper, the audio and video recordings of his performances, and journals of his travels from all over the world.
Fleta is slowly rebuilding. He got money from FEMA, crowdfunding and other organizations.
“Everybody’s really wanting to chip in and help the recovery process,” Fleta said. “It’s kind of reinstated my faith in humanity because there’s so much kindness…We’re a strong, mountain tough community. It’s real.”
He says he wants to write songs that stand the test of time and wants to build a house that stands the test of time, too.
Fleta is writing songs for a new album, some of which are inspired by the fires. He is an optimistic guy and says he says he doesn’t like to dwell too much on the past. Fleta says he is ‘leaning on a promise of a bright future’ with new songs and a new house.
Here is a link to his website, and here is a link to his fundraising fund: https://www.crowdrise.com/kirk-fletas-wildfire-recovery-fund
–Stephanie Haines interviewed Kirk Fleta for WBIR Ch 10 news.
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