Artist Spotlight - Bill Kirchen

Bill Kirchen’s Cat Out of the Bag rocks (the title track) and rolls (“City Mix”) with effortless elegance (“One More Ride”). We spoke with the Titan of the Telecaster about surviving the pandemic, leaning into live streaming and the new album.

“I wrote almost all these songs for Cat Out of the Bag, but I did have a couple others kicking around,” Kirchen says. “The ones that weren’t written specifically for this album were covers: ‘One More Ride,’ ‘Black Sheep’ and ‘Hamburger Man.’

Alt. Country Specialty Chart: I like the title ‘Hamburger Man.’ 

Bill Kirchen: Joe New wrote "Hamburger Man."
He’s a great songwriter whose songs I’ve done before. Del McCoury’s family band just did one of his songs. He has a connection with David Bowie in that they both wrote songs called “China Girl.” Joe’s was (first recorded and released by The Band’s Levon Helm in 1980).

Explain how the title track came about.

I wrote “Cat Out of the Bag” right when the pandemic was breaking. The song is about how I was fully vaccinated and excited to get back on the road again. My old compadre in Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen John Tichy had the title. He said that and I was like, “I’m the cat that needs to get out of the bag.”

What was most surprising about the pandemic?

The first thing that surprised me was that I didn’t mind not touring. I thought I would be more itchy, but what I did do was stream twice a month. Streaming was important. Also, I had a neighborly Zoom call with a bunch of people here in Austin every Sunday. We talked about social stuff like cooking and movies, but there also was a doctor on these calls who would keep us informed about the pandemic conditions.

So many musicians depended on streaming.

Yes. The streams were interesting because I would have four or five hundred people on there from all over the world. Some occasionally checked in from South America, Europe, and even Japan. They would talk amongst themselves in the chat rooms.

Did you pick up any new habits or hobbies during the lockdown?

Danged if my wife and I didn’t get hooked on British detective shows. We would watch those shows every night. Those BBC stories like Inspector Morse are extremely well acted. I got really attached to those shows. I sang every song in the world on those live streams, but I didn’t do too much writing during that time.

Speaking of timeframes, ‘City Mix’ sounds like Austin in the Seventies. 

My friend Tony Johnson wrote that song. I don’t know why, but I hear early Dylan in that. Neat song. “Sometimes we take off our clothes / And squirt each other with a garden hose.”

– Brian T. Atkinson