Fret Killer, the All-American guitar player, is back. He was off YouTube for a long time. His previous YouTube channel was removed by YouTube for copyright issues, I’m guessing.

Although I can make a guess, I don’t know for sure who Fretkillr is. (And If I knew, I wouldn’t say, because it’s clear he wants to remain anonymous.) He never shows his face. He plays steel-string, 12-string, country, blues, oldies, Broadway, flat-picking, finger-picking, Scottish fiddle tunes and I don’t know what else. He had over a hundred videos up on YouTube at one time and many of them were gems. His new YouTube channel is called FretKillrLives.

I think he must be an old pro who’s played with everyone, but I can’t say for sure. Maybe he’s sitting in San Quentin waiting for a train. But he’s someone most Americans would recognize immediately as “a real guitar player.” I think he’s great.

From Wikipedia:

“The Wayfaring Stranger” (aka “Poor Wayfaring Stranger” or “I Am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger”), is a well-known British spiritual/folk song originating in the early 18th century about a plaintive soul on the journey through life. It became one of Burl Ives’s signature songs, included on his 1944 album The Wayfaring Stranger. Ives used it as the title of his early 1940s CBS radio show and his 1948 autobiography. He became known as “The Wayfaring Stranger.”

As with many folk songs, the words are often changed. “While travelin’ through this world below” has also been sung “this world of woe” and “this world alone.”