Bill Kirchen returns to The Freight for, as he says, "the umpteenth time." The Freight’s old store front location on San Pablo Ave. marked the very first of the thousands of shows he'd play in California. In September 1968, Bill accepted an offer to play bass with High Country, at the time a duo of Butch Waller and Mylos Sonka. A guitarist, Bill had never played bass before, but hey, how hard could it be? Hard enough, it turned out. So his career as a bass player was unanimously decreed over. One and done. A couple years later he returned to that same store front as the guitar player with his band, Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen. The Freight marked their first gig in California as well.

Bill’s experience in the Bay Area, (1968-1986) with Commander Cody and later The Moonlighters, launched a career that continues today with the release of his 15th album Cat Out of the Bag, on the Last Music Company label, to be released on May 22, 2026. Coming out from Austin, Texas, with Bill are his band -  the core players who made this record: Jack Saunders (Tom Russell, Shake Russell, Ray Wylie Hubbard) on bass and Rick Richards (Joe Walsh, Mary Gauthier, Jimmie Dale Gilmore) on drums.

Joining the band for a select run of shows is guitar player and accompanist to the stars extraordinaire, the mighty Nina Gerber. Nina, born and raised in Sebastopol, saw and was so inspired by Kate Wolf that she dedicated herself to guitar. Within a few years she had won Kate's respect and earned herself a place as Kate's principal musical collaborator. Nina teaches, arranges and produces and has played and toured with an A-list of performers, among them Kate Wolf, Greg Brown, Karla Bonoff, Dave Alvin, Laurie Lewis, Rosalie Sorrells, Lucy Kaplansky, Peter Rowan, Mollie O’Brien, Eliza Gilkyson, Chris Webster and so many more.

Bill Kirchen is a founding father of Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen, proto-Americana band 1967-76. His diesel-fueled lick drove Hot Rod Lincoln into the Top 10. Grammy nominated in 2001 for Country Instrumental Of The Year with his chicken-pickin’ composition Poultry In Motion, he was beat out by the great Earl Scruggs. In a 50+ year career Bill has released well over 2 dozen albums, from the Commander Cody catalogue on through his 15 solo releases on Black Top, HighTone, Cracker Barrel, Proper and currently the Last Music Company labels.

Bill has played guitar for in performance or on recordings with Gene Vincent, Link Wray, Hot Tuna, New Riders, Ralph Stanley, Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, Austin De Lone, Sarah Elizabeth Campbell, Nina Gerber, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Emmy Lou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, Susan Hoyt Axton, Doug Sahm, Flaco Jiminez, Maria Muldaur, Phil Lesh, Doug Kershaw, Dan Hicks, Hazel Dickens, Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer, Bo Diddley, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Nicolette Larsen, Robbie Fulks, Chuck Prophet, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Ryan Bingham, Marcia Ball, Rosie Flores, and more.

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