Guitar Frenchie

“On a Sunday morning in July 2001, a 20-year-old Kevin “Frenchie” Sciou was sleeping on the couch in the living room of an Arizona home when he was awakened by country legends Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter singing “Storms Never Last.” Not on record, in the flesh, just a few feet away, with Jessi on the grand piano!

The parents of Frenchie’s then-frontman Shooter Jennings were gently stirring awake a house full of late-night partiers. “It was surreal,” recalls Frenchie.” Just two months earlier, I had been in L.A. with a backpack and $200, answering ads for ‘guitar player wanted.’”

Things were happening fast for the hot-shot south paw guitarist from Nimes, France, who had funded his move to the States by selling his Gibson Les Paul guitar. He slogged ahead through a rough-and-tumble 20 years, from jamming with blues legend Lucky Peterson at a French festival as a 17-year-old high school dropout, to playing for hire as he found his place and formed his own band, to now.

“I grew up on all American music — Rock ’n’ Roll and Blues — but back when I was playing in France I felt somewhat like a copycat,” Frenchie says. “But as soon as I landed in the U.S. I felt at home, because this was where the music I loved was born.” A gig brought Frenchie to Texas in 2003, and four years later, he replaced guitarist Chris Masterson (Steve Earle) in Jack Ingram’s band and started writing his own songs on the side.

Although he’s played with many greats over the years, Frenchie says “the highlight of my musical career was becoming a U.S. citizen” in August 2016. “I have followed an uncommon path, never been married nor held a regular job, so becoming an American citizen solely based on my musical merits was the greatest day of my life.” Frenchie currently resides in Clarksdale, Mississippi, living an authentic blues lifestyle. America has certainly inspired Kevin “Frenchie” Sciou to follow his own path in his pursuit of the American Dream.