Bill Kirchen

Bill Kirchen
Kirchen with his original Telecaster in Shirlington, Virginia (2003)
Background information
Born	(1948-06-29) June 29, 1948 (age 68) Bridgeport, Connecticut, United States
Genres	Ameripolitan, rockabilly, rock and roll, country, country rock, Bakersfield sound, blues, jazz
Instruments	Guitar vocals
Years active	1967–present
Labels	Hightone Records, Proper Records

Bill Kirchen (born June 29, 1948) is an American rockabilly guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was a member of Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen from 1967 to the mid-1970s and is known as a "The Titan of The Telecaster" for his musical prowess on the guitar.

Kirchen was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut but grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan where he attended Ann Arbor High School and learned to play the trombone. He met folksinger named David Siglin, long time manager of local folk music venue The Ark, and joined the local folk scene. While learning to play banjo and guitar his musical interest began to extend beyond folk music and included the blues and various string bands. During his student days at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Kirchen started a "psycho folk-rock" band and later a country band that included George Frayne and John Tichy which formed the basis for the Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen band.

In 1969, Kirchen took Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen to California and they developed a reputation as musical "outlaws" that were praised by other outlaw musicians and bands like Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, The Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers Band. Kirchen's band "played a collection of rock 'n' roll, hard-core country, boogie and rockabilly sounds produced in a "high-octane mix" that made them a "happening" group in the San Francisco Bay area.