Basses

Bill Kirchen on his dream Telecaster, seeing Merle Haggard open for Buck Owens and his guilty pleasures

September 4, 2020

//The moment it all started//
“Mississippi John Hurt. First on record and then live at 1964 Newport Folk Festival.”
//I couldn’t live without my…//
“A Telecaster and an acoustic. Oh, did you say just one? Sorry.”
//The one that got away//
“Maybe my first guitar, a Harmony Sovereign. I sure liked it; it would be fun to hear it today. I bet it was a good one.”
//My signature model//
“Just a regular Telecaster with a three-position switch, the switch plate and the tone and volume knobs all reversed. I’d probably have my granddaughters, seven & 11-years old, design the paint job. That would come out extra cool.”
//The first thing I play when I pick up a guitar//
“Fingerpicking stuff in G. Or maybe //Buckaroo// on the Tele!”
//The best advice I’ve ever been given//
“Find people better than you to play with.”
//My Spinal Tap moment//
“Playing a Christmas party where the hosts hired a stripper dressed like Santa Claus. She was doing her thing on a picnic table, slipped in her high heels and fell on my trombone. It kind of cushioned her fall, so she was okay. It wrecked the trombone though.”
//My guilty pleasure//
“It’s hard to feel guilty about music, but I know the category you mean. I still like //Popsicles and Icicles// by The Murmaids, but I’m not a bit guilty about it. At 72, that train has luckily sailed. It was the last pop hit like that before the Beatles rolled in.”
//I’m in the band//
“The Beatles!”
//I wish I was there//
“I’ve been lucky; I saw Merle Haggard open for Buck Owens, Dylan goes electric, Son House, Howlin’ Wolf… Ray Charles up close in a night club. So, I’m good, thanks. Don’t want to be greedy!”
//If I could just play one thing//
“Jazz from the 30s, 40s, 50s. I can play jazzy, so some people think I can play jazz. But nobody who actually does play jazz thinks that.”
//Bill Kirchen’s new retrospective album, The Proper Years, is out now via The Last Music Company Ltd//

The post Bill Kirchen on his dream Telecaster, seeing Merle Haggard open for Buck Owens and his guilty pleasures appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.