TELL ME
A little Q&A
When the TWANGBANGERS roll into the Sportsmen’s Tavern (326 Amherst St.) tonight, it will be the trad country supergroup’s first largely intact show since it toured and cut a live album in 2002. It features hotshot guitarists Bill Kirchen (a Grammy nominee known for his solo work and as the guitarist on “Hot Rod Lincoln” with Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen in the 1970s) and Redd Volkaert (a Grammy-winning instrumentalist known for his work with Merle Haggard). Also coming are singer and Sirius/XM DJ and programmer Dallas Wayne and the rhythm section of Jack O’Dell (drums) and Johnny Castle (bassist for Washington,
D. C., blues legends the Nighthawks). Kirchen spoke this week from his own tour stop in California.
This appears to be a single show, not part of a tour. How did that happen?
I had that date firm I thought for a festival, but the festival moved to two weeks later. The up and down of it was that we decided we would just come do the Sportsmen. It’s a special place. It’s a cool place, and I believe I was the first national touring act to play there. I love [booker] Ken [Biringer] and [owner] Dwane [Hall], and so we said, “Let’s just do it, fly in and fly out.” It’s the last of the great honky-tonks.
What happens when you put two star guitarists on stage?Do you have to stay out of each other’s way?
By now it’s sort of second nature. I have the utmost respect for Redd. I really believe Redd is the end of the line for just hot, imaginative skillful Telecaster playing. I feel that I have to try to make it in a different way, I have to count on my sense of melody and sense of humor. In other words, if I was to get into a shootout with Redd, a blazing speed shootout, where you know where every note exactly is on the Telecaster, I’m gonna lose. But I don’t put us in competition that way. And I’ve got something to bring to the party.
What does Dallas Wayne bring to the mix?
He’s a superb singer and songwriter, that’s what you’ve got there. He’s got the great big baritone. When he starts singing, you go, “now that’s country.”
When you do your version of “Hot Rod Lincoln,” is Redd going to get a chance to do some of the guitar heroes, too?
He’s kind of stayed out of the way and let me do it. But I’m going to try to figure out ways to work him in there. If I can drag him in there, I will. He’ll also twin me on stuff. That’s the great thing about Redd. If I’m playing a line, he’s probably able to play absolutely simultaneously a harmony part to it. That’s how good he is. —Elmer Ploetz
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