ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 22, 1996 TAG: 9602220073
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Off the Clock
SOURCE: CHRIS HENSON
You'd best put your good clothes away, 'cause on Saturday night, you're gonna get oily.
That is, if you have the good sense to check out Bill Kirchen, the King of "Diesel-Billy," at the Coffee Pot on Brambleton Avenue. Kirchen is a master of the Texas roadhouse guitar. With his trademark Fender Telecaster and his band - Too Much Fun - he promises to ripsnort his way through a set of four-barrel, high-octane, overhead-valve, boot-banging truck-stop shuffles.
"On a good day, I have the best job in the world," Kirchen told Guitar Player magazine last year. "I'm working all the time... on the road. People respond well to neat tunes that are played with enthusiasm."
Kirchen has long been a favorite of critics and of some big-time roots rockers as well. You've heard Kirchen's unmistakable low-string twang on "Hot Rod Lincoln" from back when he was one of Commander Cody's Lost Planet Airmen. Kirchen has recorded or performed with a who's who of cool-O musicians like Gene Vincent, Link Wray, Danny Gatton, Hoyt Axton, Emmylou Harris and Elvis Costello.
He lends his chops to Nick Lowe's current album, "The Impossible Bird," as well as his earlier "Party of One."
Meanwhile, his own new album, "Tombstone Every Mile," serves up humor and finesse that is winning people over. The Record Roundup, describing its mix of Western swing, rockabilly, boozy ballads and hammer-down rock 'n' roll, said the record was "as hot and substantial as a trucker's breakfast."
In short, the guy requires a briefcase full of adjectives.
Though he's mighty influential in his on right, Kirchen has a long line of mentors. Roy Nichols, James Burton and Scotty Moore, for instance.
"Hearing that Bakersfield twang really did it for me," he said in the magazine interview. "Today I still love that stuff as much as when I first heard it. It still provides a center of what sounds right on the guitar to me."
In 1994, Kirchen walked away with eight "Wammies," or Washington Area Music Awards, including "Musician of the Year." He recently toured Japan, Europe and North America and reportedly left every house ranting and raving for more.
Kirchen is a kind of down-home nut - accessible and energetic.
"I don't know how I got to be one of the main players of truck-driving songs," he told the Washington Times. "It's a sort of arcane sub-genre of hillbilly honky-tonk music."
He plays a road-worn Telecaster that he bought in 1969. It's the bottom end of the old guitar that gives him his sound.
"My left hand tends to play straight-up melodies," he says. "My right hand wants to play too many notes. Somewhere in between it all comes together."
The Saturday night event at the Coffee Pot comes courtesy of Standing Room Only, an area partnership dedicated to raising money for local children's charities and to giving Roanoke nightlife a needed booster shot. SRO plans to book nationally ranked musicians at a discount for "pick-up" dates between larger shows on the bands' circuit.
"Carroll Bell, owner of the Coffee Pot, agreed to let SRO keep the proceeds from ticket sales," says organizer Ed Walker. "Our goal is to contribute at least $2,000 to a worthy local organization, and with his help the goal is quite possible."
"Essentially the effort is to create a First Fridays at Five kind of organization," says an SRO press release, "with a live music focus, that hosts events two or three times a year."
Walker points out that a specific charity has not yet been chosen to benefit from Saturday's show. "We're taking suggestions," he says. "We like to put them all in a hat and pick one at the gig. The point is, we're hoping to give to a different charity each time. We want to kind of see how the idea works."
Tickets for Bill Kirchen and Too Much Fun are $12.
So climb into your big rig, grab your CB and spread the word - there's good rockin' Saturday night. You'll want to tank up on this Diesel-Billy even if you've never driven anything bigger than a hatchback. It's the kind of fuel that'll get you through the rest of the winter - in style.
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: You'd know that twang if you heard it: Bill Kirchen'sby CNBthe guy playing guitar in Commander Cody's "Hot Rod Lincoln."
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