Rosie Flores is turning 75 in style with a stacked triple bill featuring Bill Kirchen and Alejandro Escovedo at the Continenal Club on August 30!
Writes Rosie Flores....
"I can’t really be turning 75, it doesn’t feel like I’m even 27! But this might be the last time I count the years, the numbers are just numbers when you feel 18 on stage playing with your favourite musicians, the Talismen, and as a matter of fact we will also be celebrating our first single release this night “Lines” off of our upcoming LP, Impossible Frontiers! The players: Chris Sensat, Mike Molnar, and Josh Williams rock this night when the magic happens and the notes start flyin’ around the room!
"So thrilled to see those who’ve made themselves available to fight for their right to party with me this evening! There’s Tele king Bill Kirchen kicking at 7:am, come early, stay late! Followed by my hero and rock 'n' roll soul brother Alejandro Escovedo! Then me and the Talismen play our favourite tunes and then bring up a few of my talented girlfriends who have influenced me so, and celebrated the accolades through the years!
"Fausto Faucito may make an appearance backing Jungle Rocker Jason! Who knows who else may show up!! Love to Steve at the Continental Club for having me play his room since 1985 and keeping me going strong! Oh and Wayne Nagel, thanks for being there too! This is gonna be an epic evening…let’s all party!!"
Watch an interview with Rosie followed by a few performance clips.
Rosie Flores will the opening act for Robert Plant's Saving Grace on their "Roar In The Fall" tour across North America which has a Toronto stop at Massey Hall on November 10th. Doors at 6:30 pm, show at 7:30 pm. Get tickets here. See the poster below for a full list of upcoming dates!
Guitar slinger Bill Kirchen plays a rare gig on Wolfe Island south of Kingston on Wednesday. Check out a recent show below.
Here's the scoop...
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. Named a “Titan of the Telecaster” by Guitar Player Magazine, he celebrates a musical tradition that embraces rock ‘n’ roll, blues and bluegrass, Texas Western swing and California honky-tonk. Nick Lowe describes Bill as “a devastating culmination of the elegant and funky… a really sensational musician, with enormous depth.”
Justly famous for his indelible Telecaster sound, Bill Kirchen has been everywhere over the span of a 40-plus-year career: he was a founding member of the legendary Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen; he released eight critically acclaimed solo albums; he toured internationally with Nick Lowe and has performed with Doug Sahm, Gene Vincent, Elvis Costello, Dan Hicks, Emmylou Harris, Bruce Hornsby and Link Wray.
Bill received his Grammy nomination in 2001. A winner of multiple Wammies over the years, in 2002 he was one of three artists inducted into the Washington D.C. Area Music Association Hall of Fame along with Dave Grohl (Nirvana, Foo Fighters) and John Philip Sousa. Bill is an architect of what is now known as Roots Rock ‘n’ Roll and Americana, and still continues to be one of its most active proponents, playing, writing and performing throughout the world.
In demand on the lecture circuit, Bill has spoken at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC as part of the “Electrified, Amplified and Deified – The Electric Guitar” exhibition and at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. He was interviewed on the national TV special “Yesterday and Today: Honky Tonk & Western Swing” at the Broken Spoke in Austin, TX, where he performed along with Hank Thompson, Doug Sahm, Don Walser and more. Bill was a keynote speaker at the International Conference on Elvis Presley in Memphis and currently finds time to lead workshops at Jorma Kaukonen’s Fur Peace Ranch and the Augusta Heritage Center.
Catch Bill Kirchen at Hotel Wolfe Island (1237 County Rd 96, Marysville, Wolfe Island, Ontario) on Wednesday (July 12) at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $35. Get 'em right here.
Bill Kirchen's new recording with Eggs Over Easy's Austin de Lone features "Oxblood" by Butch Hancock.
Here's the Red House press release for Transatlanticana...
Bill Kirchen and Austin de Lone team up for a hands-across-the-Atlantic collection with their new studio album, Transatlanticana, out now on Red House Records. This long-overdue release unites the pioneers of two major musical movements: Kirchen co-founded the original “Americana” band, Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen, and his trademark Telecaster licks drove their hit “Hot Rod Lincoln” into the Top 10 in 1972. De Lone dropped out of Harvard to start Eggs Over Easy, moving to London and recording with Jimi Hendrix’s producer/manager and The Animals’ bass player Chas Chandler in 1970. The Eggs are the progenitors of British pub rock, the first link in the chain to punk rock, new wave and beyond. Backed by both their all-star British and American bands, Transatlanticana finds Kirchen and de Lone trading songwriting credits and lead vocals on this soulful and rocking collection. They kick it off with the timely “Hounds of the Bakersfield,” a tribute to the late Merle Haggard and the Bakersfield, CA sound.
Kirchen and de Lone cut the album in Austin and London, capturing on disc the best of their 30-year collaboration. Kirchen is Austin-based; de Lone is in the San Francisco Bay Area, but both artists have longtime ties with the UK scene: Kirchen has toured as a guitarist with Nick Lowe and put out three albums on UK label Proper Records; de Lone has toured as keyboard player for Lowe and Elvis Costello and put out his first solo album on UK label Demon Records.
They first collaborated in the mid-1970s, writing together as The Moonlighters: “We sent Nick Lowe a bunch of songs for Rockpile, but unbeknownst to us they had decided to break up,” Kirchen says. What de Lone got back was a letter from Lowe that began, “Dear hero o’ mine. There’s not many of us left…” Lowe then offered to produce them in London, and the resulting Moonlighters album, Rush Hour, came out in 1983 on the Edsel label. Since then, Bill and Austin have teamed up with with Lowe and Costello many times: de Lone has worked with Lowe, Paul Carrack and Costello on several tours and Kirchen held the guitar chair for Lowe’s critically acclaimed Impossible Bird disc and tour. In 2008, Costello borrowed the title cut from Kirchen’s album Hammer Of The Honky-Tonk Gods for his band name at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco featuring de Lone, Kirchen, Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welsh and Jim Lauderdale.
The songs of Transatlanticana represent the core elements of Americana music – R&B, country, rock and even a gospel track. Butch Hancock sings his song “Oxblood” with Kirchen. It’s a meaty slice of Texas boogie recorded with the Austin contingent. “I guess they used to color concrete with ox blood; I thought it was just an old shoe polish color” says Kirchen. Check out a live clip below.
Spirited and served up with wit and humor, Transatlanticana is a gem –- a ringside seat to these transatlantic sessions by a group of like-minded, top-of-their-game players enjoying each other’s musical company. For tour dates and more info go to www.billkirchen.com. You can read a recent Pollstar interview with Kirchen discussing Transatlanticana right here.
Currently, there are no Toronto-area dates scheduled for Bill Kirchen and Austin de Lone – who would've been a perfect fit for TURF – but they'll be in Buffalo to play Sportsmens Tavern on Monday, September 19 and again Saturday, December 3. See their complete tour routing below.
Bill Kirchen and Austin de Lone on tour
Sept. 9 – Greensboro, N.C., Center City Park (National Folk Festival)
Sept. 10 – Greensboro, N.C., Center City Park (National Folk Festival)
Sept. 11 – Greensboro, N.C., Center City Park (National Folk Festival)
Sept. 15 – Wimberley, Texas, Wimberley United Methodist Church
Sept. 16 – Baton Rouge, La., Red Dragon Listening Room
Sept. 17 – New Orleans, La., Chickie Wah Wah Sept. 19 – Buffalo, N.Y., Sportsmens Tavern
Sept. 23 – Bordentown, N.J., The Record Collector Store
Sept. 24 – Albany, N.Y., Private Function
Oct. 2 – Occidental, Calif., Private Function
Oct. 8 – Huntington Beach, Calif., Don the Beachcomber
Oct. 28 – Austin, Texas, El Mercado's Music Lounge
Oct. 29 – Houston, Texas, McGonigel's Mucky Duck
Oct. 30 – New Braunfels, Texas, Gruene Hall
Nov. 3 – Fairfield, Iowa, The Depot Brewery
Nov. 4 – Minneapolis, Minn., Lee's Liquor Lounge
Nov. 5 – Berwyn, Ill., FitzGerald's
Nov. 19 – Bethesda, Md., Private Function
Dec. 2 – Shirley, Mass., Bull Run Restaurant Dec. 3 – Buffalo, N.Y., Sportsmens Tavern
Dec. 4 – Rochester, N.Y., Lovin' Cup
Dec. 8 – Philadelphia, Pa., Tin Angel
Dec. 11 – Piermont, N.Y., Turning Point
Dec. 16 – La Salle, Ill., Uptown Grill
