 That same year, he released his first CD "Kentucky Guitar", which earned very positive reviews.The next year, 1995, he went to Winfield for the third time and became the "National Fingerstyle Guitar Champion" in the Walnut Valley Festival competition.In 1996, Kirtley was chosen to participate in a project for Narada Records, a CD titled "Guitar Fingerstyle", featuring a collection of tracks from leading contemporary acoustic guitar artists.