DATE: Saturday - June 16, 2012
TIME: 8:00PM (doors open at 5:30PM)

TICKET PRICES:
   Advanced: $20.00 / At Door: $22.00
   Members save an additional $2
   Advanced 24 hours prior


GENRE: Blues, Bluegrass, Country and Western Swing

BIOGRAPHY:

Grammy nominated guitarist, singer and songwriter Bill Kirchen is one of the fortunate few who can step on any stage, play those trademark licks which drove the seminal Commander Cody classic Hot Rod Lincoln into the Top Ten nationwide, and elicit instant recognition for a career that’s spanned over 30 years and includes performances with names like Nick Lowe, Emmylou Harris, Doug Sahm, Elvis Costello and Danny Gatton.

Bill Kirchen plays American roots music. He received a Grammy nomination for Best Country Instrumental Performance 2001. A Titan of the Telecaster guitar (Guitar Player magazine May 1998 & June 2002), he celebrates an American musical tradition where country music draws upon its origins in blues and bluegrass, and in the Western swing of Texas and California honky tonks. Bill Kirchen first gained renown as lead guitarist and a vocalist for Commander Cody & his Lost Planet Airmen, the renegade country-rock band that tuned a whole generation of rock fans into the joys of unvarnished country, boogie and rockabilly. It was the resonant twang of Kirchen's battered Telecaster that drove "Hot Rod Lincoln" into the Top Ten in 1972. Kirchen has played guitar on recordings and performances with Gene Vincent, Link Wray, Danny Gatton, Emmylou Harris, Hoyt Axton, Nick Lowe and Elvis Costello.

In 2002 Bill Kirchen was inducted into the Washington Area Music Association Hall of Fame, along with Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters, Nirvana) and John Phillip Sousa, as well as winning 10 additional Wammies including Artist of the Year and Musician of the Year. In previous years, he won 2000 Rock/ Roots Rock Instrumentalist of the Year, Roots Rock Album (Raise A Ruckus) and 1999 Instrumentalist of the Year at the WAMA Awards, as well as being a multiple winner in 1997 and 1998, receiving ten awards, including Songwriter of the Year. Seamlessly integrating the band's sound is Kirchen's incredible fluency in the tradition of American electric guitar, roots division. A Kirchen performance recalls a half century of guitar legends from virtuosos like Merle Travis, Joe Maphis and Grady Martin to rock legends like Scotty Moore, James Burton and Duane Eddy and extends their brilliance into the nineties.