Photo/Writer: Ed Conway
Guitarist extraordinaire, Bill Kirchen, made is annual trip to Troy, NY at The Hangar On The Hudson. If you’re not familiar with Kirchen, he was a guitarist, and original member of Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen. Listen to their version of “Hot Rod Lincoln” and that famous guitar riff, that’s Kirchen. He has been traveling with a who’s who of musicians, including Nick Lowe, since the Lost Planet Airmen broke up in 1976. His current band, Too Much Fun, include Rick Richards on drums and Jack Saunders on bass and harmony vocals, with Kirchen performing, rhythm and lead guitar as well as lead vocals. He has been dubbed “Titan of the Telecaster” in recognition of his prowess. Many young thrashers should sit back and listen to his melodic and tasteful style, while providing enough speed to make any metal head happy.
On this night, he ran through his originals, as well as, some Commander Cody hits, opening with his “Fool On A Stool” a nice honky tonker with plenty of telecaster twang before going into the deeper “Rocks Into Sand.” After a couple more tunes, including the Commander Cody song “Wine Wine Wine Do Your Stuff” and Kirchen original “Get A Little Goner,” Kirchen brought up his former Lost Planet Airmen band mate, and RPI Professor, John Tichy for a few songs. As John mentioned, a YouTube video surfaced of a past Commander Cody performance of “Long Time To Forget,” a song they hadn’t performed in more than 50 years, but sounded as if they’ve been playing it right along. After a couple of covers, Tichy stepped off the stage and let the rest of the band settle back into their routine. Ending the first set, Kirchen went into the familiar strains of “Hot Rod Lincoln” and did it in his own fashion, which includes running through a litany of musical stylings for brief vignettes from such artists as BB King, Albert King, Bo Didley, and a ton of others, all while the band was switching styles seamlessly behind him.
The Second set started with Kirchen’s ode to the Fender Telecaster, “Hammer Of The Honky Tonk Gods.” He also played a couple of songs he wrote for an album of duets he did with various artists called Word To The Wise, with “Ain’t Got Time For The Blues”, he originally sang with Maria Muldaur and the title track “Word To The Wise” he did with Dan Hicks. The band then went into a couple of Cody songs, the sad “Down To Seeds And Stems Blues” and “Semi Truck” before bringing Tichy back for the Willie Nelson penned “Family Bible” and a few more Cody songs.
The entire night flew by with the crowd, while not as big as it should have been, was wildy enthusiastic. It is always wonderful to see two long time friends get together and enjoy themselves. Kirchen, as always was on fire and the rest of the band sounded so tight, they almost sounded like one. Tichy was in fine voice and even took a few solos on his own. Telecaster. Even though Kirchen comes back at least once a year, his shows are always fresh and well worth not missing.
