Back in the mid / late nineties I was living in Memphis and being a big fan of blues guitar you can imagine the Euphoria I was experiencing regarding the local music scene. Great music, great food, although not necessarily a great place to live… at least not the area I was living in. Any way, I went out on a mission to find a decent band to listen to and stumbled into Young Avenue Deli (great place for music) and Bill Kirchen happened to be playing that night. At that time, I hadn’t heard of him so I had no idea what to expect, but he completely blew me away with his guitar playing. His band was a little trio and they sounded so good that I went out and bought everything I could of his. It wasn’t until later that I found out that he was in the band Commander Cody – so of course I had to get all of their material too, if I hear something I like I have to have EVERYTHING, I can’t just settle on an album or two (I’m kind of OCD like that). He calls his style of playing “diesel billy” – and writes a lot of truck driving music.
Also, if you’re a fan of twang, he’s about as good as it gets. So anyway, if you aren’t familiar with Bill Kirchen I highly recommend visiting his website and seeing if he is playing in your area any time soon, you won’t regret it. Here’s a clip of him playing (without a band) his big hit with Commander Cody, “Hot Rod Lincoln”. Great guitar impersonations in this one.
Amazing.
Thanks very much for posting this, Brian.
Bill is the Mac Daddy of rockabilly hot rod picking!
That brings back some memories, I have that Commander Cody album, probably sitting in the same box as John Mayall and the Blues Breakers with Clapton. Fun stuff!
Rob
I discovered Bill on SiriusXM Outlaw Country. Wow….
I went right to Amazon and bought me some Bill Kirchen.
Check out the album ‘Seeds & Stems’
Fantastique , simplement fantastique…… MERCI BRIAN .
Am a yuge fan of Bill Kirchen. Appreciate your interest, which I suspect influences your playing.
I am also a follower of Kenny Vaughan. Haven’t seen him (yet) but when last in Nashville I happened to catch Dan Didonato at Robert’s Western World. Amazing, although a tad too busy in the details.
BTW, I love the etudes wherein you include the tabs for the backing track, as in EP380. These are a game-changer for me. They help my efforts to record my own backing tracks to solo over. This is the area in which I find the most learning & discovery going on.
RF