Bill Kirchen first learned his musical chops in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he was a founding member of Commander Cody And His Lost Planet Airmen. From 1967-1976, his lead guitar sound helped the band incorporate rockabilly and western swing into their brand of good-time rock and roll. Since the breakup of the original Commander Cody band, he has remained active in the studio and on the road. <\/p>\n
His new studio album, Seeds And Stems<\/i>, arrives just after he was named \u201cthe titan of the telecaster\u201d by Guitar Magazine <\/i>and is a fine illustration of what that moniker means. The sound is similar to that of Duane Eddy in his prime; there is some reverb mixed in with the twang, plus each note is distinct. He is still very much connected to the rockabilly school of music, and there is also many times a tongue-in-cheek approach as he blazes through the material.<\/p>\n
He re-invents the old Commander Cody staple, \u201cHot Rod Lincoln,\u201d but with some twists and turns along the way. It began as a stage concept with his band members yelling out the names of artists that the Lincoln was passing on the highway. Kirchen would then respond by playing classic licks of the artist. This recorded version features him channeling everyone Johnny Cash to Count Basie to the Sex Pistols. Throw in the Merles (Travis and Haggard), The Kings (Freddy, BB, Albert, Ben E, Carol, Billie Jean, and Elvis), plus Carl Perkins, The Ventures, and Jimi Hendrix to name a few, and you have an epic and entertaining track.<\/p>\n
Kirchen reaches back to his Commander Cody days on several more tracks. He ramps up the first song he ever wrote for the band, \u201cToo Much Fun.\u201d Then there is \u201cHere I Sit All Alone With A Broken Heart, I Took Three Bennies And My Semi-Truck Won\u2019t Start,\u201d which is reduced to \u201cSemi-Truck,\u201d but retains its goofy nature. The title track, \u201cDown To Seeds And Stems Again,\u201d remains just about the most depressing song, lyrically, that you will ever hear.<\/p>\n
He does travel in a different direction at times. His former rocker \u201cWomb To The Tomb\u201d is slowed down and given a bluesy treatment. Likewise, Bob Dylan\u2019s \u201cIt Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry\u201d travels in the same direction. <\/p>\n
In the end, it always comes down to fun for Bill Kirchen, and \u201cRockabilly Funeral,\u201d \u201cFlip Flop,\u201d \u201cMama Hated Diesels,\u201d and \u201cTalkin\u2019 About Chicken\u201d are all light-hearted and amusing romps through his odd world of rock and roll.<\/p>\n
The album was recorded very quickly in between dates on his two-week U.K. tour and thus has a live vibe to it, which serves his music well. The release date for Seeds And Stems <\/i>was June 18, and no doubt Bill Kirchen was somewhere on the road twangin\u2019 away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":31505,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[7470],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-43206","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-bill-kirchen","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/43206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/43206\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43206"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=43206"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=43206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}