Rest in Peace Good Time Charlie Brechtel

Post & Images by Jack McIntyre

This morning, April 26th, 2020, I received the terrible news that Guitarist Charlie Brechtel was taken from us as a result of a motorcycle accident. Our hearts goes out to his family.

I’ve been attending Charlie’s shows for at least 20 something years. I first met him in Daytona during Bikeweek, possibly 1999 or 2000, then he popped into our industry party at the Blue Grotto (Daytona), guitar in hand, and joined in with the band we hired that night and blew the house away. We had Dan Lawson playing for our guests who as well is a master at the guitar, but Charlie & Dan played like two brothers, note for note, seamless good old blues & rock. Moving forward a handful of years, I began shooting more & more at the Buffalo Chip in Sturgis thanks to Marilyn Stemp and our work together on Iron Trader News. Being part of the Buffalo Chip family means the world to me, not many get to experience what I do, and I appreciate every moment of that. So, Charlie is a regular at the Chip, when I check the shooting schedule, I ALWAYS checked for the Charlie Berchtel Band first. I’m posting a few images here in this post, but I have hundreds more. If you are reading this and are curious about his musical style, he was a master of blues and good old fashion rock. I’ve shot with Charlie with no one watching, and with thousands in attendance. His music, his way of being, drew you in, made you feel like part of the band. Heavy rain, extreme winds… didn’t matter, he never left the stage. I think you get the picture, I’ll post some more images below, feel free to share them, copy them for yourself.