Guest
The Texas Music Series at the Cultural Activities Center, Temple, Texas, features full concerts of singer-songwriters and bands mostly from the Austin music scene. Check out the coming TMS line-up at . Or call 254-773-9926. Consider buying a season ticket for the whole year's series of concerts. It will save you lots of money! This is an excerpt, a taste, of the November 9, 2019 concert of telecaster masters Redd Volkaert and Bill Kirchen. Byron Lovelace did sound and video. Jesse Wyman did lighting. Grammy nominated guitarist, singer and songwriter Bill Kirchen celebrates America’s musical traditions of rock ‘n’ roll, Western swing and California honky-tonk. He’s been called a “Titan of the Telecaster” by Guitar Player Magazine, “an American treasure” and “one of our best” by Rolling Stone Magazine. Kirchen co-founded the original Americana band, Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen. His telecaster licks drove their version of “Hot Rod Lincoln” into the Top Ten of 1972. He has recorded and/or played guitar with a who's who of roots music, among them Hoyt Axton, Elvis Costello, Hazel Dickens, Bo Diddley, Sammy Hagar, Emmylou Harris, Linda Rondstadt, Dan Hicks, Nick Lowe, Maria Muldaur, Doug Sahm, Danny Gatton, Gene Vincent and Link Wray. One of the Commander Cody albums, Live From Deep in the Heart of Texas, made Rolling Stone’s list of the “100 Best Albums of All Time.” Bill has made 13 CDs with his own post-Cody bands, the most recent of which, Transatlanticana, stayed on the Americana Top 40 Radio chart for 5 months, cracking the Top 10 in 2016. Redd Volkaert is the favorite of guitar lovers the world over. He can make a Telecaster do things that are just barely legal as he entertains crowds in Austin and around the world. Originally from Canada, Redd moved to Nashville in 1990, eventually hiring on with the legendary Don Kelley Band, which has been a springboard for such Nashville guitar greats as Brent Mason, Johnny Hiland, and Guthrie Trapp. In 1997, Redd got a call from Merle Haggard, asking if he wanted to play guitar in Merle's band, The Strangers--he can be heard handling lead guitar duties on Merle's classic Live at Billy Bob's Texas album. Since 2000, Redd has been a fixture in Austin's live music scene, while keeping busy in the studio, and teaching some of his tricks to earnest Telecaster players all around the world. Over the years, Redd has played with just about everyone in country music (and beyond), including Ray Price, Rose Maddox, Dale Watson, George Jones, Bill Monroe, Johnny Paycheck, Vince Gill, Mavis Staples, Neko Case, Charlie Pride, Asleep at the Wheel, Brad Paisley, Dolly Parton, and many more.
