Pedal to the Metal

The press materials for Bill Kirchen’s latest album calls his music “nitro-fueled dieselbilly,” and even in an age of record industry hyperbole, the phrase seems to hit the bull’s-eye.

The former lead guitarist for Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen got hooked on truckin’ songs back in 1966 when he heard Red Simpson’s cult classic “Nitro Express.”

And yes, that was Kirchen’s twangy guitar work that drove Cody’s 1972 single “Hot Rod Lincoln” into the Top 10. Since forming his own roots band around Washington, D.C., in 1987, he has saluted the open road numerous times with such songs as Del Reeves’ “Looking at the World Through a Windshield,” “Mama Hated Diesels” and “Big Mack’s Off the Blocks.”

“I’ve had this fairly unexplained fascination with truck-driving music that goes back at least 25 years,” Kirchen said by phone from his home in Maryland during a short tour break. “I think it all started with Red’s ‘Nitro Express.’ Then I started playing a Telecaster because I love that twangy sound of truckin’ music. Also, I guess I do like that image of the freewheelin’ ramblin’ man.

“My addiction doesn’t really extend beyond the music, though,” he was quick to add. “I mean, I don’t own a truck or hang out at truck stops or anything like that. It’s more that distinctive sound that gets to me.”

It’s no surprise he was tapped to contribute a track to last year’s “Rig Rock Deluxe” all-star compilation of truck-driving songs featuring Steve Earle, Son Volt, Buck Owens, Red Simpson and Nick Lowe, among others.

Along with Wilco, Son Volt, Jim Lauderdale, and Orange County’s-own Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys, among others, Kirchen is part of a burgeoning return-to-roots movement that’s been tagged “Americana.” The sound is nothing fancy--just a rich mix of honky tonk, swing, rockabilly, rock, blues and hillbilly.

“I think as a teenager, you listen to music that’s generational-specific,” said Kirchen, who’s in his late 40s. “Pop is mass-produced music that basically appeals to kids and their peer groups. . . . So this bonding kind of thing can happen. There’s this component at work of someone else deciding what you and your friends should be listening to.

“As you get older, a yearning develops for more soulful, adult themes . . . for music that’s less contrived and more heartfelt,” he said. “Our ears have gotten bigger, and we want to hear something real and rootsy--music that goes deeper than today’s commercial offerings.”

Over the years, Kirchen has added his touch to a variety of musical projects. In addition to his work with the Lost Planet Airmen, which disbanded in the early ‘90s, Kirchen formed the Moonlighters,which recorded two albums in the 1980s. One was produced by English pop-rocker Lowe. Kirchen subsequently played on Lowe’s “Party of One” (1991) and “The Impossible Bird” (1994) albums, and also was Lowe’s touring guitarist in 1995.

Kirchen has released three solo albums: “Tombstone Mile” (1994), “Have Love Will Travel” (1996) and his new one, “Hot Rod Lincoln--Live!” His 16-stop tour of the U.S. with bassist Johnny Castle and drummer Jack O’Dell includes a show Monday night at Linda’s Doll Hut in Anaheim.

Kirchen was raised in Ann Arbor, Mich., and was drawn early to the old-school country sound that made legends of Webb Pierce, Jimmie Rodgers, Merle Haggard and Buck Owens.

“I just loved listening to them all, but I think in many ways it’s Merle Haggard who’s my favorite,” Kirchen said. “He’s been writing these great, gritty songs for so long. He came out with some pretty brave concept albums--like ‘Swinging Doors’ [1966] and ‘I’m a Lonesome Fugitive’ [1967] back at a time when that just commercially wasn’t done [in country music]. We owe him such a debt of gratitude.”

Kirchen speaks far less favorably about the slick sounds coming out of Nashville today.

“Today’s country sounds a lot like ‘70s rock ‘n’ roll, and the boot scootin’ boogie thing certainly doesn’t deliver what I came looking to country for,” he said. “Still, there are some good songs out there . . . like the Jim Lauderdale tune [“Halfway Down”] that’s on Patty Loveless’ latest album. No sense throwing out the baby with the bathwater, I say.”

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Kirchen enjoyed moderate commercial rewards while working for Commander Cody, a genre-bending group that one critic called “the perfect band for pot-smoking truckers.”

Yet the members often were unhappy working in the shadow of such higher-profile country-rock outfits as the Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers and Poco.

“With Cody, we felt like failures a lot,” Kirchen said. “Either we didn’t get as much recognition as somebody else, or our albums didn’t go triple-platinum. We were young and restless, and I don’t think we realized what a good thing we had going.

“Now, I try to enjoy what I have and do today, rather than what I don’t have and want to be doing. Man, this is a great career for me,” he said. “Most people don’t leap around and get to make a lot of noise in their jobs. And my craving for attention and affection gets satisfied every night we’re onstage. I’m having a blast.”

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* Bill Kirchen and Shot to Hell perform Monday at Linda’s Doll Hut, 107 S. Adams St., Anaheim. 9 p.m. $5. (714) 533-1286.