Bill Kirchen is a renowned guitarist known as a The Titan of The Telecaster for his musical prowess on that guitar. He was a member of Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen from 1967 to the mid-1970s. Kirchen was born in Bridgeport in Connecticut and he grew up in Ann Arbour Michigan. There in high school he learned to play the trombone. After Commander Cody he formed a new band called the Moonlighters and began a decades-long collaboration with British musician Nick Lowe. He later recorded and toured with Lowe before he formed his trio Too Much Fun around 1986. Since that time he has recorded several albums under his own name. He is considered a pioneer of what is now know as Americana. He has just released a double CD of the three albums he released through the Proper label in the UK as well as a version of these recordings as a double vinyl set. Lonesome Highway took the opportunity to catch up with him as asked a few questions.
An obvious question maybe, but why the Telecaster over any other classic iconic guitar?
The Telecaster was born and grew up in California along side the country music I was most attracted to, the Bakersfield twang of Merle Haggard and Buck Owens. Those two, plus their long time guitarists Roy Nichols and Don Rich respectively, plus James Burton and many more, all seemed to play Teles almost exclusively, so that is how I got interested. It’s completely lacking in ornament, but the design is elegant in its simplicity. As I said in the song, it was born at the junction of form and function. It seems to me to impose its will on the music less that any other electric. Hence you will see it in the hands of Keef, Buck, Prince, the disparate list goes on and on.
You have noted that you saw Bob Dylan back in 1964 at the Newport Folk Festival. What and who were you listening to up to that point?
Although I got to Rock’n’Roll late, I was already listening to The Beatles and Stones, also lots of Folkways and RBF records, which I’d buy as cut-outs when I hitch-hiked to New York. They included the Harry Smith collections of great old 20s-30s-40s American music, and collections of the great country blues players: Mississippi John Hurt in particular, Son House, Skip James, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Sleepy John Estes, Robert Pete Wilkins. Also Doc Watson, Pete Seeger, New Lost City Ramblers, and the whole axis of New York/Cambridge based folk singers: Joan Baez, Kweskin Jug Band, Dace Van Ronk, Tom Paxton, Carolyn Hester, Bob Dylan. With the exception of the Beatles, I got to see live every one of those artist and many more, the majority of them at Newport in ’64 and 65.
Tell me a little of the time you spent with Commander Cody? It seems to have need a good time for the exploration of roots music and western swing influences.
We discovered Bob Wills in the cutout bins in Ann Arbor. Billy C, who had came up from Alabama had a repertoire that included lots of Hank Williams and Sonny Boy Williamson. George Frayne had learned Boogie Woogie piano back in New You, and he and John Tichy had fronted working frat bands, and knew tons of 50s and 60s R’n’R. I found a Johnny Bond platter with both Smoke That Cigarette and Hot Rod Lincoln, both of which songs became chart records for us.
You came to prominence as a solo artist being related with Truckin’ and the Dieselbilly songs and stories. Did your days on the road give you a deeper insight into the life of a truck driver?
It didn’t hurt. We ran the same roads and hit the same truck-stops as the truckers. At that time Truck Driving music was a legitimate sub-genre of Country, with it’s own aesthetics, and I was drawn to it.
Although your music covers a range of styles and topics you are considered an Americana artist. How do you feel about that?
I think it’s more because I cover a wide range of styles, all of them obviously rooted in some of the traditions I got to witness first hand coming up. It’s not up to me to assign categories, so that’s OK by me. Of course the “American” music I heard coming up was not very far removed from the songs and styles of our ancestors’ native lands, often the British Isles, continental Europe and Africa.
The Proper albums were either recorded with some very English musicians or in London. How different was that experience to working back home?
Well, people are people, so there were no great culture clashes. It was all a big huge plus as far as I’m concerned. The mechanics of recording all pretty much the same wherever I’ve worked. Most importantly, I’ve known most of that London crew for many years. The cast of my first Proper album, The Hammer Of The Honky-Tonk Gods is the exact group that we had recorded and toured the world with as Nick Lowe and the Impossible Birds. Plus I was already an Anglophile well before I met them, having grown up with English uncles who kept me up to speed with Eagle Annuals and cricket gear. I’d also spent a lot of time in England with Commander Cody, doing lots of gigs with some wonderful sightseeing snuck in when we could.
Are there any musicians (past or present) that you would have liked to work with - have you an ideal line-up?
I’ve been lucky enough to have played with a whole lot of wonderful folks. There are literally hundreds of musicians that I would love playing with, and could learn so much from, but I can’t really whittle it down to a wish list.
How do you like to record - in a live studio session with everyone together or is that more of an economic necessity - though, obviously, some of the work was done on different continents?
It’s not so much the economics, more the necessities of modern recording. It is nice to get as much as possible with everybody playing at once, but you have to be focused on the results, and what needs doing to get the best possible rendering of the song. I feel fortunate every time I set foot in a studio, or break out the DAW at home.
Do you have a particular favourite of the albums you have recorded?
Hmm, tough one, so many reasons why different ones stand out. But The Proper Years is the one I’d be happiest listening to right now, out of the dozens I’ve made.
The world for musicians, more than most, has changed dramatically. What has the effect been for you?
Something I did very regularly for 50 years came to an abrupt halt on March 12 of this year, that being playing to live audiences, often on the road. Although it was a very big change for me, it’s hard not to realize that in this world-wide catastrophic event, I’m luckier than many. A great many. I miss being with others, I miss hugging my grand kids. But my family is still healthy, I’m enjoying being home more, and we have social interaction with friends via Zoom and other social media. My performing life is an every-other week live stream from my living room which I enjoy. But the biggest obstacle to serenity is of course watching a corrupt and criminally negligent administration play Godzilla with a democracy. At great cost of human life.
On Hot Rod Lincoln you imitate a lot of classic riffs and renowned guitar players all done with the Telecaster and without pedals. A difficult thing to achieve or simply good fun?
The task at hand is creating with technique alone a caricature sketch of each lick that triggers the listener’s the memory. People may say, wow, all those licks sounded exactly like the record! Of course they didn’t, but that’s the illusion I’m working to create, so that the listener gets immediate identification. And yes it’s good fun, but let’s just say it does take some doing.
What does the future hold in the light of everything for Bill Kirchen?
Well, I imagine I will keep putting one foot in front of the other, just the way the rest of the world is trying to. I feel very fortunate for the life I experienced before the shut the shut down. I’ll continue to write and play music however I can, and I’ll be right there with all the rest of you, waiting to see what the future holds.
Interview by Stephen Rapid